Got a grip

Thanks to writing my blog, a lot of thoughtful consideration, some teeth-gritting and some VERY APPRECIATED comments from Vickie that I kept running through my mind at tough times, I have gotten my groove back this week. Whew!

I have been perfect on the Crack and have gotten rid of the terrible 8 pounds from last weekend plus another pound for good measure. It goes to show how "easy" it is to get those first lbs off...mine are generally mostly water...when I stop the bad carbs and start drinking lots of water, the first few days are really rewarding. But now it's time to get back into the business of losing and maintaining.

I am happy that I weigh every day and write down every day (since last year). This means that I can go back and see where I was last year, where the weight starts edging up...this gives me clues as to what things are challenging for me, i.e., what I need to work on.

From looking at this record (I've actually been writing down my weight for three years at least weekly), I can see my progress (I weigh substantially less than three years ago), my trends and tendencies (I settle into a 10-pound range where it seems pretty "easy" for me to maintain even when not being perfect), and when I tend to fall (VACATION).

That 10-pound range is something I've been thinking about a lot. The bottom of it is the lowest I have been in the past several years (right before Halloween last year) and the highest is where I am today. I maintained in the lower 5 pounds of that range from last summer until January. When we started skiing (lots of mini-vacations), I drifted to the higher 5 pounds of the range. The weight I am today is the HIGHEST I can really let myself weigh without damaging my knees and without feeling truly awful. Even one pound above this weight feels bad.

The other thing is that I want to edge this "maintenance" range down 10 pounds so that my upper limit is 10 pounds less than I am today. That is my next little step...and it seems that I've been doing this the past three years...each year I'm about 10 pounds less than the year before...so hopefully I will be successful and, next year, will be in the range I want to be.

I'm doing very little exercise since we quit skiing...a couple of beach walks a week with DB (3-4 miles round trip) are pretty much it. I am still struggling with my thumb, but I NEED to get back to yoga. Easier said than done. I'm not sure why it's so hard for me to do things for me that make me feel better!

I guess this is all part of the journey...I've been thinking a lot this week about how I will always have these struggles to some extent...and how I need to get myself back in the healthy ruts that make the struggles less.

Thanks to everyone for your comments...it really really helps.