Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 73

I'm not really sure where to start my post today. The week has been very uneventful as far as weight loss/maintenance goes. Jerry and I went out to eat at a vegan restaurant in Detroit called Chili Mustard Onions. It's basically vegan junk food--chili dogs, fries, burgers--stuff like that. My therapist is the one who recommended it to me.

I had only gone out to eat twice since becoming vegan--once at Red Robin with Jerry and the kids, and once at Panera when we took Luke and Riley. Both of those were a big "nope" from me. At Red Robin, the only thing I could get was a vegan burger patty wrapped in iceberg lettuce with broccoli on the side. Meh. (I later learned that their fries are vegan, but they are cooked in the same fryer as non-vegan food--so Red Robin cannot call them vegan.) And Panera was the other restaurant; that experience was unbelievable, and not in a good way. (I wrote that story on my blog, in case you missed it.)

I was very glad that we went to a vegan restaurant this time, because I could order anything on the menu and not have to make substitutions or modifications. Even dessert was vegan. I wrote about this on Friday Night Photos, so I won't get into the whole thing, but the loaded fries were amazing. I wasn't crazy about the wrap I got because it was very heavy on the cumin, but I ate the entire plate of fries.

I was curious how the fried food would affect my body (stomachache, indigestion, etc.) since I hadn't eaten fried foods or much junk food at all this year. And it would be interesting to see how much water I'd retain after a restaurant meal. Later that night, I had heartburn--and I'm guessing it had to have been due to the food. I never get heartburn! My weight was up 2.2 pounds the next morning in water weight, which wasn't surprising. It was worth it, going out with Jerry to a fun new restaurant, but I definitely don't want to eat out very often.

I don't know if it was the fact that I ate a plate of fries and an oatmeal cream pie for dessert, or that my body is finally catching up for the amount of weight I dropped over the past couple of months, but I had the biggest appetite this week. My stomach felt like a bottomless pit. (It also could have been from the iron supplements, which made my stomach feel crappy in general.)

I stopped taking the supplements for a couple of days because I just needed a break from my constant headache. It was so nice! Two glorious days without a headache. Then I tried a new iron supplement, which is supposed to be better on the stomach, and I was glad that it actually was better. My headache is back, but thankfully it's milder than before. I'm going to try to ride it out and see if it goes away after I get used to the iron. But I am *not* a fun person to be around when my head is killing me--I get super irritable and I can't concentrate on anything.

Anyway, after a week of eating much more than usual (mostly apples and bananas, haha--it's just what sounded good) I wasn't surprised to see my weight was up a couple of pounds:

I think I was at 125.4 last week. I'm actually kind of relieved to see the gain this week. As odd as it sounds, I was getting worried that I'd continue dropping weight without trying to. I remember when I was losing weight back in 2009-2010, there was a point when I got to about 140 pounds and I kind of freaked out. I can't really explain why, but I was scared at the amount of weight I'd lost and scared of trying to keep it off. It was a very panicky feeling. This time hasn't been nearly as bad, but I was starting to get kind of nervous about it.

Anyway, I'm happy with my weigh in (I never thought I'd be happy to gain weight!). I've been thinking about maintenance and what my plan is... I didn't really have one. And I still don't! Haha. But I think I'd like to try to keep my weight between 125 and 135. That's a broad range, but I like the idea of having a range rather than trying to stay close to a particular number. It will allow for my appetite changes; I went several weeks with practically no appetite, and now it's come back to make up for lost time, apparently.

Since I'm not counting calories, I'm not sure how to try to maintain my weight. It's such a weird problem to have! (Well, for me anyway.) I'm just going to listen to my appetite and eat how I have been ("normal-sized" portions of vegan food). If my weight gets below 125, I'll add more food; if it gets up to 135, then I'll cut back.

It sounds so simple when I write it out like that, but that has never been easy for me! So, I guess I'll see what happens from here ;)