Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 175

A reader sent me this shirt and the cat looks so much like Duck--I love it!

Happy Leap Day! For not being a holiday-person, there is something that I love about Leap Day. Probably because of numbers and I definitely *am* a numbers-person.

Holy cow, I just realized it's been three weeks since my last weigh in...? I knew I skipped Valentine's Day, but I don't remember why I skipped last week. I wasn't avoiding the scale, so I just probably didn't feel like writing. As I step further from blogging, it's actually getting harder to make myself write. I like the accountability of my weigh-ins, though, so I really want to try to get back to doing them every single week.

I've been hovering in the low- to mid-140's for a while now. Today, I was at 143.6, and I don't remember what my weigh-in was three weeks ago, but I think it was similar.

However, I've recently run into a problem I've never really had before during weight loss, and it's been a challenge...

I've never had a "regular" schedule--Jerry's work schedule was always all over the place and since I'm a "homemaker" (saying "stay-at-home parent" sounds kind of odd now that Eli is a senior in high school!), I based my schedule around Jerry's. Having a swing shift has advantages for sure, but it's terrible when you thrive on a consistent schedule.

I'd never been able to plan meals for the same time every day, have a standing date with friends, or have an available time slot that was open every week (I'm a homemaker by choice, but if I'd wanted to work outside the home, my availability was all over the place--nothing consistent).

All of this is to say that every day was pretty much the same--it wasn't like, "Yay, it's the weekend!", because sometimes a Wednesday and Thursday were like weekends to us. Or a Monday and Tuesday. Or whatever. So, I never had that "weekend mentality"--eating really well during the week and splurging on the weekends, etc. Having such a inconsistent schedule actually seemed to work well in that sense.

Now that Jerry has a consistent schedule, SO MUCH has changed. We're still getting used to it, and we definitely need to work on our diet. We've fallen into the "weekend mentality" cycle. And it's hard to get out of!

I make dinner at the same time every day, which has been so so so nice for planning purposes, and our weekdays are very consistent. However, we've started treating the weekends like a free-for-all when it comes to our day to day life. Mainly regarding food.

It started when we were eating super clean during January. There was a lot of vegan "junk food" that I wanted to make, but it didn't fit in with a whole foods diet. So, I suggested we make Friday a "junk food" dinner night: vegan burgers, pizza, fried tofu, etc. That way, we'd be eating (mostly) clean six days a week and could still enjoy our favorite junk foods. Sounds like a good idea, right?

[I want to note that this is NOT something I call a "cheat day"--we aren't on a diet. We've just been trying to eat much healthier and, in general, I think that having one junk meal a week fits just fine into a healthy diet. Honestly, the junk meals aren't even horrible--just far less nutrition, while still being vegan. I don't like the phrase "cheat day" because it implies bingeing or overeating just to squeeze it all into one day.]

Anyway, what started as a great idea turned around fast--from one meal to then eating whatever all day Friday, then Friday and Saturday, and then pretty much the whole weekend. And on Monday, it's back to the norm. This is a problem we've never faced before!

My weight has been fluctuating much more than usual, and certainly more than it should. I'm talking a difference of 10 pounds in a weekend! It's clearly not all fat, because after a couple of days of eating healthy, it comes right off. But the whole cycle is not something I'm happy with--especially considering I am trying to get my weight back down under 135.

This weekend will be a big test. Jerry and I have been talking all week about how we're going to handle it, haha. Going into it with a plan in place and acknowledging how the "weekend mentality" is messing with our weight loss goals, we're super determined to stop the cycle this weekend. I do still like the idea of making a "junk food"-type dinner on Friday nights, though. When the kids were younger, we used to plan "Pizza Friday" for when Jerry would have Fridays off--that's the only reason I chose Friday. If I leave it up in the air, we'll likely fall back into the cycle.

So, that's an update of what's been happening over the last three weeks as far as weight loss/diet. I've still been running first thing every morning with Joey. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that, for a week, I was going to add one block (only a tenth of a mile) to the run every day--and I did! I made myself do it for a week to see if I could get used to it (and gradually increase my distance).

However, I found it made me absolutely dread the run, which is so stupid! It's only a tenth of a mile longer (60 seconds on a good day), but there is something mental about the fact that when I know I'm only running one block, it feels so simple because I can see my house practically the entire way. So, after that week, I decided that one block is good if it gets me out and running. A couple of times a week, I'll do two or even three if the weather is nice--not planned, but once I'm out there I sometimes choose to do more.

Something that I am very happy with is that I've missed about four or five runs; it sounds odd to be happy about that, but I was so worried that if I broke the streak I started September 1, I'd just quit altogether. The first time I missed it, I was so mad--I'd gotten dressed for winter running, put Joey on the leash, and started making my way down the driveway. There was literally not ONE bare spot of concrete that wasn't covered with ice. It was the kind of ice that has no traction whatsoever--picture an ice skating arena--and was slightly melting so it had a thin layer of water on top.

I quickly realized it wasn't possible to run. And then I realized it might not even be possible to make it back up the driveway! Hahaha, our driveway has a slight slope and my feet just kept sliding back toward the street. Sure, I could have just run on the treadmill; but my purpose for making this morning run a habit was to get outside in the fresh air to start my day off feeling good.

There have been a few other occasions where I've missed the run, but I'm good with that because I get right back to it the next morning--as long as it's so habitual that it feels weird NOT running each morning, I'd say that's successful. I'm just really happy that I haven't treated it as I tend to treat streaks of any kind--quitting as soon as the streak is broken.

Okay, this post is really long for a weigh-in! My plan for the upcoming week is simply to eat consistently. I've been great about getting in vegetables and my diet throughout the week has been super healthy. It's just the weekend mentality that I need to stop before it becomes a habit.