I'll be sharing some of the things that I'm going to put into practice. Perusing the tech highway of info has been so interesting. It's helped me to read and make decisions. I didn't read anything that was sponsored by weight loss programs/diets etc. I looked at studies and articles on things that I wondered about. Things I'm considering doing.
I remember the WW days and also the Diet Center days and the agony of the weigh-in. Standing in line, hoping you don't look fat, having your booklet in hand so your weight can be recorded and stamped, stepping on the scale and feeling doomed as the needle either stayed where it had been or nauseatingly went upward!! Feeling like I was being patted on my head and hearing....things will be better next week...maybe to much salt?...don't give up...did you drink your water? and on and on. Then listening for tips on eating foods when you are craving sweets or whatever. Plus...insult to injury...I paid someone to weigh me and give me that sticker.
Usually I maintained. Let's be honest or gained. seldom did I lose for long. I remember one especially horrible experience of driving from Homer to Soldotna for a Diet Center weigh-in...My previous week had been eating to the nth degree. I mean I did it all. total exactness. I was sure I'd be rewarded! Wrong! I lost 1/4 a pound. 4 ounces! A friend had gone with me and she was startled when I burst into tears. Sobbing. Eventually the psychology of dieting and especially paying someone to weigh me just got the best of me and I vowed I'd never go a diet again.
True I didn't go on any eating program I paid for...but I did buy books enough for a library on all sorts of eating programs and I still have some books. And I did try them. Some with gusto and some with no oomph at all. Every once in awhile I'd purge the books and discard them in the drop box at the Library...after hours or when they were closed. I've done a lifetime of eating programs and now here I am. Again!
This time I will figure out my own stratagem! I have a list of things that I'm researching and at this point I have the first thing that I'm going to do. First I have to explain that I have not
weighed from the time I started biking nearly 6 months ago (oh, yes. got to get the 6 month brag in there!) The scale was just such an enemy and sort of gave me some sort of, harmful only to me, PTSD. If the scale showed I lost then I celebrated. If the scale showed I gained then I mourned. Both ways it was either junk food or comfort food or a combo. Oh, were they one and the same???
So I want to get healthy. I'm way to big. I have to lose some pounds. Some = A lot! I will need to use the scale to see how I'm doing so I can adjust what I'm chowing down on. and my exercise level. It is essential and makes total sense that I weigh.
It is changing things up for me, 100%, to embrace the thought of weighing. In reading I learned there is a weight loss cycle. Typically people lose weight during the week (busy and working etc.) and they gain weight on the weekend. The best day to weigh is Wednesday to get your true weight BUT it's not just that mid-week weigh-in...it's a daily weigh-in and then averaging the days weekly. It was found that the most accurate reading and the best day to do the weekly average was Wednesday.
I'm doing that. Daily weigh-in and average weekly. I'll start on a Wednesday.
Fluctuation. All sorts of stuff on that word. So all those times of meltdowns for me with a weekly weigh-in was not an accurate number. Our weight can fluctuate throughout the day or even hourly. So it's sort like a roulette wheel...you never know how things are going to go. Up and down and all over the place. Read several things about fluctuation and it made sense to me. "perfectly normal" to have 1-5 pound fluctuation- not necessarily a weight gain.
One study ...weighing daily/averaging weekly...lost more weight and had better weight control and maintenance than those who weighed weekly.
Another clinic study... daily self-weighing can produce significant weight loss (along with the weekly averaging)
another... daily weighing/weekly averaging- lost twice as much as weekly weigh in. 12 pounds lost vs 6 pounds lost. those who never weighed gained 4 pounds (this was an obesity study so big numbers on the pounds lost).
When trying to monitor weight...the scale gives the facts of Gain or Lose or Maintain. These facts can then be used to adjust food intake and what kinds of food. Also to check exercise level. Weighing will help me to figure things out. So...yes. I'm weighing daily/averaging weekly and will use that number to help me adjust my physical activity and my food intake.
As I mentioned...not a fitness blog here (makes me laugh to think of me doing that) but... There is an app called TrueWeight if you want to see it and if you need/want to try it. I don't have a cell phone etc. but when I read that, I decided to tell you about it.
One summation was...easiest and most common way of tracking progress (daily weigh-in/weekly average).
This is One step, my first step!, in my plan that will have several steps, for increased health through losing weight. I'm actually excited about it. I always stand on the edge of cliff with this blog and proclaim loudly what I will do and you have seen me nosedive and flail all the way down to the next plateau!
I'm not going to wait two weeks from Tuesday to start weighing. I'll start on Wednesday and then just keep deciding the other things I'm going to do. I'm excited to weigh and I'm glad I didn't toss my scale this time!
As I said earlier...this is not a fitness blog and all I've talked about is weighing on a scale!! hey!- lining up my ducks here!
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I do know the Church is true and am loving our reading of the Book of Mormon.
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