From weight gain to weight loss

Last week I had my first in-person weigh-in of the year. It wasn't pretty. After maintaining during thanksgiving and losing around Christmas time, the new year was filled with stressful situations. I did the best I could and went to the meeting. Last week I saw I gained 5 lbs. I left the meeting with a solid plan. I didn't like the gain but there was nothing I could do about the past. All I had was the future so I went to work. Here is what I did. 

• I planned for special days. I don't believe in cheat days. I do believe in special days. My wedding anniversary was Monday. We planned to bake an Italian Cream Cake. I added the recipe to my tracker. I tracked ahead. I enjoyed both baking and eating the cake. I didn't eat all of my dinner (a quinoa bowl) so I brought the rest of it home to be enjoyed the next day. Planning for special days work. I ended the week with a bunch of weeklies so I share a cupcake with my daughter. All foods are allowed at WW. The key is to plan for them. 

• I planned my weekly menu. I have the habit of writing a menu and developing a shopping list from there. I also plan to cook the foods I buy. Then, I pre-pack whatever I can for easy access. I want to say that I had 3-4 days of pre-made meals. They make eating healthy easy and delicious. 

• I planned to sleep the correct amount of hours. Sleeping well makes a difference because when I rest well I can exercise efficiently. My decision-making ability is high when I rest well. I feel much better when I rest well at night. 

My WW coach said, "don't be in denial of your systems." This quote touched me so much because I felt like denial led me to that 5-pound gain. If I am to lose, I can't deny my systems. James Clear says "we don't rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems."

My systems (most of them) were faulty for the first 3 weeks of the year. My coach's comment (You can’t deny your systems) led me to the following questions: 

• What are my systems? - Activity, Rest, Tracking, Water. 

• How do I implement my systems on a daily basis? I exercise 4-5 days a week; I rest 7 hours per night; I track most days; I drink 40-60 oz of water per day. 

• How do I strengthen the weak parts? Each week, I identify each of the 4 areas need improvement and I set a goal to improve them.

• How do I uphold the strong parts? I celebrate the strong areas. I set goals to improve them too. I can't stop growing.

I experienced quite a bit of stress. The thing is, I can't control the source of stress nor change a lot of stressful situations. Still, I learned the following from my difficult weeks:

1. I can’t control the cause of my stress. I can control tracking, activity, water intake and sleep.
2. I can move the chocolate chips out of sight. They were completely out of mind once it was an inconvenience to grab them after dinner.
3. I can pre-pack my meals. Just 3 days does the trick. Most of all, don’t give up. Taking care of your health will make a difference. ❤️

All of this led to a 1.4 lb loss. I am excited about reaching my goal for the upcoming week and my overall goal to reach lifetime status at WW. 

Thank you for reading!