I could have put this in motivation/support, but.....

kimpossible471

….but, I’d rather focus on the positives.

Recently, I was faced with a dilemma. Let me start this by saying I am a chronic weigher. I know we are “supposed” to do that once a week. I, however, weigh myself twice a day – before bed, and officially each morning before eating. The fluctuations don’t bother me, and I feel it helps me dial in to how diff foods affect me, and helps keep the process on track. I also travel a lot for work. This last week, I was scheduled to travel all week for a sales meeting. Here’s the dilemma. Do I pack the scale, or don’t I? Don’t laugh – I was SERIOUSLY considering it. You see, while I travel a lot, I hadn’t been more than a couple of days without it. This particular trip was causing anxiety for a bunch of reasons, and I thought of the scale as a bit of a security blanket. You see, in the two months since I joined MFP, I have lost 18lbs, and at a rate of 1-2lbs a week, I was due to hit that magic 20lb “I’ve lost a car tire” milestone. I was due to hit that magic number in a week where I was going to have 6 flights, and very little control over my food. This was not a “try to make smart choices in the restaurant” week – it was a “group meals, and everyone gets a plate with the same thing on it” week. I decided to bite the bullet, leave the scale at home, and do my best. Here’s what that looked like:

I walked nearly every day.
• Monday – 40 min @ roughly a 3.5MPH pace (in the airport, in dress clothes…boarded the plane a wreck, but felt great.
• Wed – 2.6 miles
• Thur – 2.6 miles
• Fri – 3 miles

For food – loaded up on the veggies at every opportunity, tracked food religiously, and was pretty much on target. (OK, Thurs I was over, thanks to the piece of crème brulee cheesecake that was placed in front of me). I took my best guess at the foods, and over-estimated quantities. Not sure exactly how everything was prepared though – so may have missed some oil/butter/etc. I’m certain I was overloading on salt. I had a glass of wine with dinner on Tuesday, but otherwise avoided alcohol and drank water or iced tea with every meal. In retrospect, probably not enough water overall though.

I flew home on Friday night, and resisted the urge to weigh in until Sat morning….and the verdict was…..

….I was up a pound and a half. UGH.

How is that a success, you ask? Well – I do know that I retain water each and every time I fly. It usually takes a day or two and it comes back off. I also am CERTAIN my salt intake was higher than normal, and I am confident that my calorie intake was ok – within a respectable margin of error. I also noticed some other very exciting NSV’s this week:
• I can now bend over to paint my toenails without feeling short of breath – apparently 18lbs less of fat squishing up against your lungs makes a huge difference
• I now fit much more comfortably in those first few rows of coach class on the airplane. You know the ones….there is no armrest that lifts between the seats, it is like you are sitting in a narrow little “box”.
• I lost INCHES. 1 off the waist, 1 off the thigh, 1 off the hips, 1 off the ribcage. (I’m sure this directly relates to the first and second points
• The walks are getting easier, and I actually feel great afterwards. I never had that pleasure from exercise before.

The “I’ve been flying and eating too much salt” water weight is coming off as expected – a pound was back off this morning, and I have no doubt I’ll be back to normal tomorrow. This morning I walked nearly 4 miles, jogged a couple of stretches of it and added on a 10 min bike ride. So – any disappointment I felt at coming home and finding out I hadn’t hit the magic 20lb mark is shadowed by how great I feel. In my book, that's a success story. :happy:

DangerJim71

I would agree that it was a success. I know we have a goal weight that we want to get to but at the end of the day reaching a point on a scale is meaningless if we don't make the changes in our habits that will keep us there. It sounds to me like you are doing that (we can't always pass up creme brulee) in your food choices and exercise.

Interestingly, when I went camping last week I ate all kinds of junk food. One of my friends joked that I was on the Honey Bun diet. When I got back, I was up 2 lbs which didn't surprise me but two days later I had lost 5. It is funny how our bodies react to different circumstances. It had been hot and I was drinking water like crazy in addition to some foods that were high in sodium.

I can't imagine how hard it is to drop pounds with all the travel. It sounds like you are doing great. Keep it up.

kimpossible471

Thanks, Jim! You're doing so well - apparently not even a week of honey buns is enough to dereail it. (I'm thinking your exercise while camping was probably GREAT).

I had avoided desert for the most part all week. But creme brulee and cheesecake are my two favorites. When they combined them into one, and put it in front of me....there was no way I was going to pass....and it was TOTALLY worth it.

Your lovely wife was awesome - getting up at 5:30 AM for daily walks before the meetings started. It was the only way we had a chance of staying within calorie goals on this trip. I really appreciate the motivation and support from both of you.

Now - when are the 4 of us golfing again? Next weekend maybe??

gogojodee

Thank you for posting this! I had unforeseen events occur since Thursday - no way to run since then - a whole days Road Trip that was unexpected and eating horribly. I only gained 5 lbs but half of it or more is due to the amt of sodium I had, which is a 1000% more than I normally have. I just need to flush it out. I don't have to ruin this week, just because I "ruined" 3 days.

kimpossible471

Thank you for posting this! I had unforeseen events occur since Thursday - no way to run since then - a whole days Road Trip that was unexpected and eating horribly. I only gained 5 lbs but half of it or more is due to the amt of sodium I had, which is a 1000% more than I normally have. I just need to flush it out. I don't have to ruin this week, just because I "ruined" 3 days.

No way you truly gained 5 pounds in 3 days - it would require a rediculous amount of calories. Salt, on the other hand, will definitely do that to you. Don't let it derail you. Since I've been back, I've been drinking rediculous amounts of water...it will help you flush out the salt and get back on track.