"Put one foot in front of the other..."

It's taken a little while, but I'm back on track with Weight Watchers. I lost the three pounds I had gained two weeks ago and then another three pounds, bringing my total weight loss so far up to 18 pounds in 9 weeks, or 2 pounds a week. I am satisfied with that. I wish I hadn't lost time with my "experimentation" with points, but I've still lost weight and am feeling a lot better about myself now, so it's still a win.

It helps that I'm working now. I'm a school photographer, meaning I'm on my feet for close to eight hours a day. I haven't worked out in two weeks because my feet are always killing me when I get home from work, but that's still a ton more movement than I'm used to, so it's still a positive thing. I'm also frequently carrying and setting up heavy equipment, so I'd get some APs just from that. It takes 30-60 minutes to set up the camera equipment, and about that same amount to take it back down at the end of the day. That's about 3 APs a day just from the first and last part of the day, not including the walking back and forth taking pictures, posing children, and keeping the lines moving smoothly.

I need to work on eating better, though. Dad's been making some pretty points-heavy meals for dinner since I started working (since I'm not there to help plan), and I'm generally so hungry by the end of the day that I eat too much of it. I've bought some of those 100-calorie packs that are about 3 points each, but they're not quite enough. I've written out some WW-friendly meals, so hopefully those will be made from dinner more often.

Uncertainty

I'm nervous about the WI tomorrow. Weight Watchers says you can use all your Weekly Points and still lose weight. This week, I'm testing that theory. I have 49 points but have only ever used 22 in one week before. I haven't counted up a total for this week yet, but I know it's at least in the 30s. I wouldn't be surprised if I used up all of them.

Sadly, most of those points were used up yesterday. We went out with my boyfriend's family for lunch, and I had cake and pizza for the rest of my meals. It was my sister's boyfriend's birthday, so we had a lot of junk laying around. Usually I wouldn't have had any, but since I had already decided to test the point thing, I decided to go with it.

I still exercised almost every day, though, so I'm hoping I haven't gained back anything, even if I haven't lost. Friday we were at my boyfriend's house, so I didn't work out then, but I exercised every other day this week for at least 20 minutes. Plus today was my first day of work (training to be a school photographer), so I was on my feet, carrying and setting up heavy equipment for about 8 hours, so I definitely got some APs in that way.

I guess tomorrow we'll know the truth.

Restaurant woes

Apparently we're going to Ruby Tuesday with boyfriend's family tomorrow for lunch. I went online to look up the menu and try to decide the best options, and I found that they don't list protein. It's better than the last place we went with them (Longhorn, whose website didn't list protein OR fiber), but still...is it too much to ask that restaurants post ALL their nutritional information online? How can they expect people to make good choices if they don't have all the information they need in order to decide? Sure, I know grilled chicken is better than fried, and that tomato sauces are better than cream sauces, but it would still be nice if I could calculate the points for each option I'm considering.

Everyone criticizes fast food places for having terrible food, but I have yet to go on one of their sites and not found their entire menu's nutritional information. Some even have interactive menus where you can choose all the different foods you're going to get, and it calculates the information for everything in your basket. How come fast food places can help you make good (or at least decent-ish) choices but restaurants can't?


My boyfriend says I'm being ridiculous because I could just go to the waiter tomorrow and ask for the complete information. But I'm not good at that. Like I said yesterday, it was a huge step to ask for sf powder instead of syrup, and the week before was the first time I had ever ordered sf/ff anything because I always felt like the cashier was looking at me and thinking, "Really? You think that's going to be enough to lose weight, fattie?"


Yes, I'm being ridiculous with that last part (because even if they are thinking it, who cares?), but I still don't feel comfortable asking for that information when I'm out with his parents and two other people I have only met once. I only just told them I was on WW yesterday, and that's because they were talking about ways his brother could lose weight (he's 15-20 pounds away from being able to join the navy). I don't want to be the annoying person who makes everyone wait to order because she has to pull out her calculator and figure out the points. I would rather go online and figure it out beforehand.


I eventually found the information that I needed (I had to go to several different sites and trust that their information was correct). It just really hurt that my boyfriend, who's constantly complaining about things I think are stupid, would tell me I was being unreasonable for wanting restaurants to post all that info online.

A single step

Some look at obese people and wonder how they could have let their weight get so out of control. They look at the five-hundred-pound woman and think, Couldn't she have done something before she reached that point?

What those people don't undersand is that there isn't any one point when a person goes from being a healthy weight to being obese. It's a gradual change. In the six months after I graduated from college, I went from a size 18 to a size 22 without realizing it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's experienced weight gain like that and not realized it. Some might not understand how a person could gain 50 pounds and not realize it, but it's actually rather simple.

Because the weight gain is gradual, the close you already own grow with you to some extent.  Shirts you've worn for years still fit because as your waist grew, it stretched out the fabric. Shirts you've purchased in the last year don't fit nearly as well. You tell yourself that you're still an XL because, after all, all your other XL shirts fit. These newer shirts must have been made differently, is all. You must not have broken them in yet. After all, you aren't really a 2X, you tell yourself. You just wear them because they're more comfortable, because you can wear them without having to worry about your stomach sticking out.

It's the same with pants. You get used to your pants not fitting properly, so you continue to squeeze into them and don't register that you're actually getting bigger. You tell yourself that they're tighter because they were just washed and haven't loosened yet. If you're a woman, you're used to pant sizes' being different depending on which cut and brand it is, so the fact that the 18 you grabbed to try on is too small doesn't really tell you anything. You tell yourself that a different brand's 18 would fit. It's just that one cut that you have to buy in a size 20.

Then you get used to those pants, and you forget that they're not the same size as all your other ones. You just think of them as the comfier pants. It's not until months later that you finally have to face the fact that not only do you not fit in any 18s but you also do not fit in any 20s. It's only then that you accept that you're not wearing bigger clothes because they're more comfortable; you're wearing them because they're the only clothes that fit.

I'm not 500 pounds, but I can understand how someone could get that heavy and not realize it. I'm just glad I noticed in time to stop it from getting worse. I started Weight Watchers the week of Christmas, and I've lost seven pounds so far. The goal is to reach my goal weight of 160 by the end of 2012. I'm hoping to be down to a size 14. Smaller would be nice, but I'd be happy with 14. That would be smaller than I have ever been in recent memory. Even after a semester of PE in ninth grade, when I lost 20 pounds and was looking better than ever, I was still a size 16 and weighed almost 200 pounds.

They say that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I have 127 pounds to lose. Other people have done it. So can I. Let's go.