Wednesday Weigh In: Week 50

That is not a mirror-image photo, although it looks like it at first glance. I can't remember what brought it up last week (I think Jerry saw me take a mirror selfie for Wednesday Weigh-In), but Jerry asked me why I always photograph the same side. He wondered if I have a favorite side and I only do photos of that side of my body.

I told him no, that I'm right handed and it's just easier to hold the phone in my right hand (that's the picture on the left--it looks backwards, but that's because of the mirror image). Then it made me wonder if other people are curious about the same thing--if I only take pictures from that angle because it's my "better" side. I never really thought about having a better side!

Today I did both. And holy cow, is it hard to take a mirror selfie with my left hand! It's super confusing. Try looking in a mirror and doing your hair or apply make-up with your opposite hand and you'll see just how awkward it feels. So, the answer is no--I don't photograph a particular "side" for a particular reason. Although, looking at those two photos, I think I like my left side better! (The photo on the left.)

Anyway, after the last two weeks' weigh-ins being pretty good, I didn't have high hopes for this week. My pattern has been lose, lose, gain, lose, lose, gain, etc. until a couple of months ago where it started going up and down about every week. I was happy, then, to see that I had a loss for the third week in a row!

Last week I was at 147.4, so I didn't lose much--but a loss is a loss and I'll take it! My starting weight last May was 197.0, so I "officially" hit 50 pounds lost for Week 50. 

Now, I'm really hoping to lose three more pounds before my Week 52 weigh-in. It would be awesome to reach a "normal" BMI (a weight of 144) on my one-year mark (May 24). Not that there is anything special about one year of calorie counting and weigh-ins, but it would be a nice way to start year two. 

This is the longest I've gone doing weigh-ins every week. In the past, when I would see a relatively large gain or if I gained a couple of weeks in a row, I would just stop doing weigh-ins. But this time, I decided that I'm going to weigh-in every week no matter how embarrassing it is. I even had a five-ish pound gain several weeks ago! I don't know how long I'll keep it up, but I do like the accountability.

Since I did really well last month when I challenged myself to 10 days of a few habits, I decided to do that again for 14 days (starting today) and maybe that will help me to drop the 3 pounds I'm aiming for. The daily habits I plan to do:

• Eat about 1600 calories. 
• Drink 4 liters of water.
• Do some sort of exercise (walk, run, bike ride, etc).
• Read 10 pages.
• Write in my five year journal.
• In bed by 10:00 PM.

Nothing too difficult, but they make a big difference in how I feel. I even made a little sticker chart to keep track, even though I'm 40 years old ;)  

It's hard to believe it's been 50 weeks since I saw my weight approaching 200 and I felt like it was hopeless to get it back down to a comfortable number. I'm glad I stuck with it!