Losing TOO Fast?!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Well, this has been one crazy week. For starters, last Wednesday marked the first day we were going to have our friend from Canada come stay with us for about a week. Delayed for various reasons, he actually arrived two days late. Nevertheless, our routine was changed and this can mean serious trouble for diet and exercise. I've been on high-alert this week, for sure. I'm glad I'm in charge of the meal plans! :)

On Sunday, I weighed in at 189.6 pounds. That was a 2.8 pound drop from the previous week and it put me into the 180's and right out of the 190's! It's really something to celebrate, right? I was excited for sure.

NOT SO FAST! Almost three pounds a week is cause for concern! In order to lose weight safely, you should only lose 1-2 pounds a week. There are very good reasons for this, but I'm no expert. Instead of me telling you, I thought I'd post a video of an EXPERT telling you WHY you should lose slowly.

 

 I didn't post "Part 2" because it's only about 38 seconds long, has similar information that's covered in Part 1, and you can certainly find it yourself, if you're very curious.

I know losing weight slowly is important. Weight Watchers doesn't let you forget it, either. This week, when I lost 2.8 pounds and made my second high-loss week in a row, a warning popped up saying I was losing at an unhealthy rate. Sometimes though, I think my body just decides to drop weight. I cannot predict sometimes, what it is going to do. 

I didn't eat very little or exercise very much this last week. I ate far more than my daily Weight Watchers points every day. Some weeks, I lose very little. I've had plenty of 1/2 pound or less lost weeks. I think it evens out; at least I hope so.

On the Weight Watchers website, I see many people losing 3-5 pounds EVERY week. I'm sure they're excited about dropping the weight fast and not ever dipping into their Weekly Points. I'm certain they are ignoring the warnings thinking that saying they're losing too fast is CRAZY. However, losing this fast is setting them up for failure. It can potentially (and most likely) mean they will gain the weight back and possibly be one of the many Weight Watchers repeat customers.

I don't want to be a repeat customer. I want to get to my goal and STAY there. Who DOESN'T want that for themselves?! I refuse to yo-yo diet EVER AGAIN!

If this Sunday, I get on that scale and see another large number, I will adjust what I'm eating to slow my loss. I seriously doubt I will see another big number, however. I typically do NOT sustain the large loss weeks and, like the contestants on The Biggest Loser, which I'm currently only on Season 5, I have a "not so good week" after a "great week." So, I am anticipating a small loss as my body hangs onto the weight. We'll see. 

If I have a low number, I won't change a thing until I have a streak of low numbers. If I change my tactics every time I have high numbers or low numbers, I'll never do the same thing one week to another. Unless my body PROVES to me that something is NOT working, I won't change it. I like to cut my body some slack to adjust itself to the drastic changes I'm forcing it through.

Well, everyone, I've done fairly well with the rest of the time we had guests. Now, our house is back to normal and we can re-focus a bit. We'll have to wait and see how my body reacts this Sunday! I'll update you next Wednesday! Until then, stay stress free, get moving, and eat well!

 

 

Slow, but steady!

I've heard the saying, "Slow and steady wins the race." It always makes me think of the tortoise and the hare, of course. Those crazy, "Lose 10 lbs this week!" diets have never been for me. I know the hare loses. Every. Time. I've always known that this was going to be a long process. I'm the tortoise. I have to be.

This week, I lost 1.6 lbs. Not the huge exciting number of previous weeks, but a loss nevertheless. Slow and steady. I consider 1.6 pounds a huge win considering that I worked out on Tuesday at the gym, but no aerobics. And, I did Pilates, but didn't get back to the gym on Thursday. In fact, my husband and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Thursday night together at an Italian restaurant where I loaded up a HUGE salad from the salad bar and then topped it off with 4 pieces of their wood-fired, thin-ish crust pizzas. Oh, yeah! I saved up my Weight Watcher's Points all week so I could go out and go nuts.

Unfortunately, I found out that going crazy (I had 78 points that day to my 33 daily allowed), made the next day, hell. I saw for the first time how overeating leads to more overeating as my body screamed at me the next day to match the day before. I used 44 points on Friday - 11 points over my goal. Yesterday, I got back on track, but it was hard.

I consider this last week a bust. I'm happy to see that I lost anything. I was prepared to see zero weight loss, so still meeting the recommended 1.5-2 lbs/week was a major thrill. I certainly can see that I would not be happy if I went out and had a binge night every week (which is one system some use). I would rather use my weekly points as a safety net in case I go over my daily points.

This week will hopefully be better than last week and I hope to see a bigger loss. Unfortunately, I get to start my next week (not this Sunday, but next Sunday) out with my Dad's birthday celebration, which will surely result in clams, shrimp, salad, and CHEESECAKE... Eek. We'll see how well I do then. God knows what temptations I'll face.

Watching the Biggest Loser, which I've never watched before, has been a big will-power booster. It keeps me going and I can watch it whenever I find myself struggling. Those trainers and the contestants are huge inspirations. I hope I can stretch the show out for a while. I have a lot of seasons to catch up on and that's good.

So, let the week begin!

As for the infection I mentioned last week, I got that horrid answer, "Nothing." Yeah, and it's better, but still there. There's still a little lump in my chin, but it's smaller. So, who knows. I guess I won't worry about it. It's clearly not cancer itself, or it'd show up and then get bigger and bigger. I'd like to know why my lymphatic system is flipping out, but I guess I have to wait and see.

Anyway, here's to another week of loss. I've almost lost 10lbs since starting. I will do this. I can't wait until that 10 pound mark gets here. I'm so EXCITED! BRING ON THE SMALLER PANTS! YEAH!