Weekly Weigh-In, 6/9/08: 215

Pleased to have a good loss this week, because I had a few splurges this weekend, and it’s positive to see I can still lose weight without strict adherence to *Draconian measures. The splurges were the little carton of Ben and Jerry’s I had on Saturday, and a medium bag of movie theatre popcorn yesterday. Movie theatre popcorn is a non-negotiable treat for me. I know it’s not supposed to be good for you, but I love it, and I don’t think that the occasional indulgence will do me in, diet-wise. What I have learned to do, though, is compensate for those splurges. I’d eaten lightly Saturday, and the popcorn was my lunch yesterday, (with a goat-cheese salad an hour earlier to tide me over), and I didn’t have a carb at dinner. I was able to juggle food to fit in some special things without overdoing it or feeling deprived or hungry at any point. Is that what “normal” people seem to do intuitively?

Here’s what I ate this weekend: Breakfast (both days), my usual fair consisting of whole grain cereal (cold one day, warm the next), a fruit (grapefruit one day, banana the next), milk, 2 eggs, and coffee. Lunch Saturday was a blueberry smoothie with a salad (mixed greens, cheddar cheese, tomato, walnuts, light dressing); Dinner Saturday was stir fried beef and vegetables (home cooked) with a serving of amaranth (it’s a whole grain like millet); then the ice cream later (after a walk); Lunch Sunday was the popcorn and the salad (mixed greens, goat cheese, tomato, walnuts and light dressing); Dinner was baked salmon and steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, with a dessert of SF Jell-O and light Cool Whip (I know it’s just a bunch of chemicals, but I’m not ready to give it up yet).

Now that I think about it, I had a bit of chocolate cake and a handful of chips earlier in the week, too.

So, not starving myself; not depriving myself, either. Of course, I still have the “advantage” of not being near my goal weight, so there’s probably still a higher calorie margin for me to play with, and for all I know, I’ll gain it back next week. Eh—if so, I’ll live. Like I said, I've been feeling like a science experiment lately--trying to figure out what works and what doesn't, and what my limits are. Can't do that without taking some trial-and-error risks.

Today, I am wearing size 16 trousers for the first time in 15 years. They’re a generously cut 16 with some kind of nice stretchy fabric, and I think I’m a real size 18, but still! They’re also the first dressy trousers I’ve worn in a long time that have buttons and a zipper. And the fabric feels wonderful.

Like I said in my last post, it’s the small things that excite me nowadays.


*Actually, my food plan hasn't been purely strict for several months--it's nice to keep seeing that I can eat sensibly 95% of the time and still see results. It's good psychologically--I don't get trapped into that mentality of "I just ate a chocolate cookie and now I'm going to gain 5 pounds as a result so I might as well eat the bag."