😀😀😀***November 2022 WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE***😀😀😀

Here's a weird one.

This post doesn't really conform to the standard format. It's not my weekly check-in. I thought it might be an interesting perspective for anyone who's had the scale move up one day and let it get in their head.

I ~NEVER~ thought I would be relieved to see the scale go UP. Especially up over a pound. Well, it happened.

Could this just be confused emotions from the brain fog I'm experiencing with this virus? Yeah, it could be, but I don't think it is. Could it be that I am at risk from becoming underweight? Ha ha; that's a good one. No way. Well then, what could cause me some relief to see the scale weight go up 1.6 pounds in a day?

Some context: You ~know~ that I tend to do my best to ignore day-to-day variations, and I'm reasonably good at it. I like to look at trends because the number on the scale isn't just a measure of my muscle, bones, organs and fat. It's food in transit. It's also water. Not just water "in transit," but water associated with glycogen, water held as the body heals, and water held because of salt intake. So I ask again, why am I relieved?

Here's why: Even though I've been struggling to get back to goal the last couple years, and even though my mass got to the BMI ceiling of healthy weight, I really don't have an enormous amount to lose at this point. We all should know by now that those last twenty pounds are tough. Those last ten our tougher, and that last five are nearly impossible. Then in maintenance we gain and lose those last five pounds over and over and over. Been there; done that. But over the last week, I've been losing at a very unsustainable rate. It's because I'm sick, but I should NOT be dumping weight at 1.5 to 2.0 pounds per week. It should be more like an average of 0.5. So seeing the drastic loss rate take a pause means I'm possibly getting over my illness. I still have mass to lose, and I intend to do it. I want to do it safely.

So now I can step back and keep trying to get well. I can let my mass drift down without worrying too much that I'm making myself sick.

Oh. Yeah. Even with that 1.6 pound bounce, my ten-day average weight is still down 0.4 from yesterday, and my "True Weight" (weighted rolling average) is down 0.3.

Oh. Yeah. I also know that I only really ate one big meal last night, but it was late. I made a batch of delicious split pea soup. I ate four bowls close to bed time. I bet my mass will be down again tomorrow, but that's OK. Today I might make roasted cauliflower or I might make lentil barley miso vegetable soup and soak some garbanzo beans so I can roast that cauliflower tomorrow and make a "roasted cauliflower and chick pea ginger stew." It's really good. I promise I won't eat it all. I would pop.

And it's also a success that I for SURE am not letting a one-day gain get in my head. Weight daily and looking at trends the last five years has worked to help me focus on what's most important.