Food column: 4 stickers and 3 Fs. FAIL. This week was completely out of hand. My schedule was out of whack because of a lot of unusual things and my food choices suffered for it. This week I will have to pay close attention to food because I already know I won’t be able to exercise every day.
Exercise column: 4 stickers and 3 Fs. FAIL. I thought for a couple of days that I broke my big toe, but it turns out it was a pretty bad sprain. I would like to tell you I got the 3 Fs because I couldn’t exercise, but it’s not true. I was limping for a lot of the week but the elliptical didn’t seem to hurt my toe at all. Now that’s ironic! No, the reason I got the 3 Fs is because I ran myself ragged and shorted myself on sleep. As a result I had a lot of problems getting up early to work out. It’s my fault completely.
This week I already know the best I can do is 5 stickers and 2 Fs because I have company coming to town. In addition to not wanting to wake them up at 4 am (which is when I exercise) the room with my elliptical will be occupied this week. This is life though. Things come up and we are not always given the ideal circumstances for weight loss. I will do my best!
Water column: All stickers. PASS! I’m loving my body’s response to all of the water. It really can’t get enough and I’m happy to oblige.
Lose 2.2 lbs this week?: Not only no, but I gained a pound! That’s not even failing forward…that’s just failing. Like I mentioned last week though, failing is punishment enough so I’m not going to beat myself up over it. I don’t want to give the impression I’m trying to sweep it under the rug though. Believe me, I feel the sting. I also know the deck is kind of stacked against me this coming week and I’m going to need to focus all of my attention on that so I don’t make the whole situation worse. I simply don’t have the time to dwell and kick myself.
How will I feel if I reach my goal this week?: This week does not feel like a week where I can attack the problem. This week feels more like a week where my defenses will be tested. If I can get 5 stickers in each of the food and exercise columns, I will feel like I have succeeded. In addition to the exercise restrictions, we will be going around town to theme parks and playing the tourist. That means my food choices are going to be very important. There will probably be more chances to cheat than to make good choices, but I’m going to have to learn how to deal with this. That is what the real world is like, right?
How will I feel if I don’t reach my goal this week?: I will be deflated. I definitely can’t afford to move backwards any more pounds than I did this week. Plus, I am STILL in this 10 lb range I hate. I need to get out of it soon!
I was thinking this week about how much planning we do to lose weight. We plan everything down to the detail and yet losing weight is still a bit out of our control. What I mean is, we can plan our food, exercise, water, sleep, and other variables, but possibly the most important variable is still uncontrollable: how our body reacts to all of that. Isn’t that just plain frustrating? It is kind of the constant unknown. It’s sort of like doing algebra, but never really knowing what “x” stands for. The thing is, we may never know exactly how it will respond, but it is absolute that it will be a contributing factor.
From a physical perspective, really listen to what your body likes and dislikes. What it thrives on and what makes it crumble. Set your expectations around those.
From a mental perspective, understand that our will and logic will only take us so far. We can set goals based on right and wrong; addition and subtraction; time and weight; and we can try to say we passed or failed based on those results. The problem is our bodies don’t measure by any of those things.
If you find that your decisions are not matching to your physical capabilities, it’s probably your decisions that need tweaking. As they say, “It is useless to push a cart sideways.” Study the rules of the game your body is playing and set reasonable goals around that.
Total weight loss: 13.1
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