Well, I continue to plateau. I went to my Weight Watchers meeting last night and yet again, I find myself at essentially the same place that I have been for months. This week was actually two weeks because of a Monday meeting and Memorial Day Holiday - my two biggest challenges the past two weeks were Memorial Day and a family wedding. I didn't do terrible at either, I ate reasonably and drank little. I don't think they were much of a set back, but I think though that I have some theories on what is not helping me in my effort right now.
I'm a stress eater. Life has been high stress lately, especially at work, as such, I find myself snacking at random times, not because I am hungry, but because I am stressed and it is my natural response. Unfortunately, this habit of eating is becoming, well a habit, even on days where it is calm, I still find myself eating out of habit. I need to break this cycle - or at least bring in a big crunchy bag of carrots, so that I am eating more healthy when I stress, instead of just eating whatever I can locate. (We talked about eating by the clock last night at Weight Watchers - an interesting conversation that really showed me that my stress eating might have become habit eating - something I hadn't thought of)
I need to get back to a regular sleep schedule. When I stay up later than planned, it does two things - it leads to more eating and less exercising. More eating - this is really a combination of eating later at night because I am still up and need some fuel to keep going (why this makes more sense at the time than going to bed escapes me) and eating the next day to keep me going. I saw this first hand on my road trip this weekend. I was tired and so I had a can of soda with caffeine driving to my destination and on my return trip. Did I mention I don't drink diet, can't stand the case. This means that over the weekend, I started out with about 400 extra calories. Well, I also nibbled on food while driving because keeping my mouth busy and getting some sugar was another way to keep me from being tired while I drove. The candy that I ate certainly was another few hundred calories. The less exercising is a result of hitting snooze in the morning. For months I got up right at 4:45, lately it has been drifting back to 5:10, leaving me with less time in the morning and the same amount to get done. What do I cut? Exercise. Thankfully, I still exercise, even if I know I can't do the full DVD, but certainly cutting exercise is not supporting my weight loss cause.
The worst part of it all is realizing the next time I weigh myself and the needle hasn't moved that if only I hadn't done x, y or z, that I probably would have lost. After all, if I could eat and drink and not lose, if I had kept to a more normal Points range, wouldn't I have likely lost?
The good thing is now that I have friends that attend with me, I am motivated to continue to attend my Weight Watchers meetings, even though I am on a plateau.
I still have 13-ish pounds to go. I would like to be half way there by the 4th of July.
I, too had a bad week. I beat myself up and got down about it. Then I thought "why?" I mean what does beating myself up really do? So, I squared my shoulders and said I can do this!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
Ok -- yes, snacks. That was a HUGE deal for me; I am also a stress eater and loved to "crunch" and "chew" the stress away.
ReplyDeleteWe have started pre-packing our own snacks for week when we come back from the grocery store. It's been a HUGE help for me and my husband -- not only to get the right portions but to also avoid grabbing for the easy, bad snacks.
So -- 1 cup of carrots and 2 tb of hummus or Greek Tsatziki (or, however it is spelled) could be one snack. I keep snack bags and these teeny-tiny tupperware containers (or my kiddos take-n-toss containers) on hand for this particular snack.
Another good one is 1-2 TB of nuts with a fruit (I usually use almonds and apples or almonds and dried fruit). I divide the almonds out into my snack backs and keep apples in the fridge. If I'm using dried fruit, it gets added to the snack bag as well.
The almonds/dried fruit mix is an easy one to keep in my diaper bag!
{{hugs}}
This next week can be better!
Make that sleep a priority since it will help get the eating (especially stress eating) and exercise in check. The stress and lack of sleep feed off of each other but getting them both under control will help you so much. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHead up chicka! We can do this! We are here to support you!
ReplyDeleteI am also a stress eater. I try to find other things to do to vent by stress. I mostly choose running but, you could go for a walk, call up a friend or read a book.
ReplyDeleteKeep on going you can do this!! :)
I too am a stress eater:( But take it one bite at a time. Baby steps. Remember to breathe and be positive! We are all here for you to vent your stress:)
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