Shrunk

So officially, I lost 6.6 pounds this week. (The WW website is serving up a scolding for losing too fast, because I have no way to tell it that it was a perfectly reasonable 1.6-pound loss before I got sick and stopped eating for the better part of three days.)

Of course, being sick probably put the hard brakes on my metabolism, so next week might be a maintain or a gain, to balance it out. And Thanksgiving will make up some of the difference, too. (I'm pondering going off-plan entirely for dinner and then just assuming all my flex points are gone for the rest of the week. We'll see, I guess. I should probably at least try to journal.)

So now I'm down to just a smidge over 250. I'm finally noticing a difference. Not really a visual one, but in my clothes -- my brown pants are no longer cutting into my waist, and my 2X shirts are fitting comfortably.

250 is less than 5 pounds from my first 10% goal, which I'd tentatively set for the end of January. Looks like I might get there in time for Christmas! (Though Christmas might undo that. Sticking strictly to a diet over the holidays, especially while I'm traveling, is just not something that's going to happen.) We'll see, I guess. If I can make it through the holidays without too much damage, then there just might be some hope for me.

Now We Are Sick

The Weight Watchers website does not have any advice whatsoever to offer for the sick.

Well, I take that back. It recommends not trying to exercise if you have nausea or vomiting, and to start back at a lower intensity once you've recovered, which strikes me as kind of obvious advice.

But it doesn't talk about food. It doesn't suggest trying to stick to the plan; it doesn't condone departing from the plan; it doesn't talk about eating plans for when you're recovering from being ill... nothing. Doesn't mention it at all. Which, I guess, sort of translates to, "eat whatever makes you feel better."

Today isn't weigh-in day, but out of curiosity, I stepped on the scale this morning. I'm down something like four pounds.

Two days of nothing but broth and (for an adventure) toast -- and puking half of it back up again -- will do that to a person, I guess. I might put some of it back on over the course of today as I start to recover lost fluids, but I'm thinking I'm in pretty good shape for tomorrow's weigh-in, and maybe even ahead of the game enough to not really worry too much about Thanksgiving.

Another Week, Another Weigh-In

Another pound and a half this week, which seems to be my "usual," and drops me officially below the 15-pound mark.

Is it weird to anyone else that the week of my birthday, the week that I had a slice of fat-and-sugar-laden coconut cake every night for half the week, I lost more weight than the weeks that I'm only having one or two small treats?

Obviously, the solution to losing weight is to eat more cake!

In other news, yesterday I had my first completely unprompted, "you look like you've lost weight" remark.

Awesome!

Weekly

I was proud of myself for managing all the special events this weekend without going too overboard.

I've had a slice of cake every night since my birthday, and only the one actually on my birthday was a big slice. The others have been a respectable 1/16th of the cake slices (for 7 points each). I won't say I didn't want more, but I stopped with that, and it fit into my day's allowance.

As of this morning's weigh-in, I'm down 4.2 pounds, which drops me solidly below the 260-pound mark, and puts me within a spit's distance of 15 pounds lost.

Losing weight is a trip through time: The last time I was below 260 was before I got pregnant with Alex, which was over a year and a half ago.

The Weight Watchers website is chiding me for losing too quickly. I'm looking at it as insurance against the slower losses of the onrushing holidays, and the nearly inevitable gains of Christmas week.

I still don't feel any different. Or look any different. My clothes still feel more or less the same.

But I am going to eat my last small slice of coconut cake tonight, and tomorrow, on my way back to the office from getting my allergy shot, I am going to stop at the Cold Stone Creamery and collect my free birthday club ice cream. It will cost me 14 points, and I may well have to dip into my flex points for it, but I will savor it, and know that I earned it, dammit.

Birthday

That wasn't as bad as I feared.

I think I managed to avoid using flex point on Friday -- again with the estimating amounts of stuff. But I only had one plate at the Chinese buffet (and part of that plate was a bowl of egg drop soup) and then I caved in to decadence and had chicken korma for dinner, with rice -- but I went easy on the rice, and I tried to leave most of the cream-drenched korma sauce in the bowl -- but only one piece of naan. I suggested dessert, but the hubs was too full to want any, and I didn't press it.

And I only used one or two flex points on my birthday. One eighth of a coconut-creme cake works out to about 15 points, nearly half my daily allowance. Luckily, I had planned light-ish meals all day, and skipped my snack entirely.

If I manage to have not gained weight this week, then on Thursday (which has the lightest dinner of the week, if I eat fat-free hot dogs) I plan to use my Coldstone Creamery free ice cream coupon. That's another 14 points there, so I'm likely dipping into flex points again, a bit, but at least there's nothing dangerous planned for the weekend.

Resistance

I am currently resisting an iced cinnamon and raisin bun that someone left in the kitchen.

I might consider giving in, but I'm going out to lunch and dinner, so I need to hoard those points.

So I am not considering it, and I am resisting.

Go me.

Ten

Weekly weigh-in: 262.4. This week's loss: 1.8. Total loss: 10.6.

Whoo, ten-pound mark! That gets me more than 1/3 of the way to my first goal.

This week is going to be pretty rough, though.

A friend is coming from out of town and wants to go out to eat on Friday. Friday evening, the husband and I are dropping child #1 off for a sleepover, and child #2 off with my mom, and enjoying a rare dinner for two out. (Two restaurant meals in one day, whee.) Sunday is my birthday, and I already know that the hubs is planning an ice cream cake.

Any one of them, I could scrounge and save points for -- that's what the flex points are for, after all. Even two would be manageable. But all three... Ug. I don't know if I can do that.

Well, I'll give it my best shot. But just in case, I think I will not expect a loss, next week. I'll be happy if I manage not to gain.

I Will Survive

I made it through the weekend.

I splurged on candy Friday night, a bit. I went to the party on Saturday and didn't touch the chips until the very end of the evening (so I only had about a serving) and only had two slices of thin-crust pizza, and didn't have any candy.

I think I managed to finish both days more or less within my points budget (it's hard to tell; I had to estimate portion sizes, which I'm bad at, and there was no nutrition information for most of it) but even if I went over, I don't think I used more than a few of my "extra" points. And I'm not planning on anything today or tomorrow that should dip into the extras, so I'm well within-plan for the week, even if I fell off for one or both of those days.

And I got on the scale this morning (I weigh every 2-3 days instead of every week, which is a habit left over from when I was trying the Hacker's Diet) and I was down, so whoo! Go me!