I'm Giving it 21 Days

A few years ago, I was a member of Weight Watchers (online) for about 2 years until I finally gave myself permission to accept that the program, although great for some people, just wasn't working well for me. I think that I lost and gained the same 2 pounds about 6 different times over the course of the 2 years.

I tend to have an all or nothing attitude and when I felt that I had had a bad day, points-wise, I would just end up writing off the rest of the week. And that pattern repeated itself over and over.

More recently, when I hit a plateau after having great success losing weight on my own, I decided to give counting calories a try. I signed up for My Plate through livestrong.com and did well. For about 2 weeks. It's a lot of work to keep track of everything that goes into my mouth! But, it's easy to find statistics out there about how much more successful people are at losing weight when they keep food journals.

I would like to say that I don't need to keep such careful track of what I eat. Or that I'm just too busy to do that. But, I think that the time thing is just an excuse. I have so much mental chatter in my brain about my weight and how I haven't finished what I started and I need that to stop. I either need to accept my body for what it is or I need to stop my complaining and just do it. Counting calories and keeping a food journal is an excellent way to move in the right direction. So...I am going to do it. I am promising myself to keep track for 21 days (21 days to make a habit, right?). Then, I can evaluate it and see if it's worth it to continue or not. I'm not going to even worry about staying within my "allotted" calories every single day. I just need to keep track.

Today is Day 1 and I successfully tracked what I ate :)20 days to go!

Back to business...

I have gone backwards and it doesn't feel good. I miss that feeling of being in control and doing what is good for me. From 2008-2009, I lost 40 pounds. I maintained that loss for close to a year but have gained about 6 pounds in the past month! That's crazy! I got very complacent and it's time for that to end. Which brings me to this. I need a place to talk about how this journey is going. I think that my loved ones and Facebook friends probably get tired of hearing me talk about it. The food, the exercise, the vents, etc. I don't need to worry about that here :) Readers (if any) will be here by their own free will :)

Anyway...good news for the day...2 walks for a total of 4.5 miles. Felt great!