Wednesday Weekly

Not sure what the meeting room topic is this week, but I'm going to focus on a topic that I'm currently dealing with and that is gaining weight while on maintenance.

I am a free lifetime member - but I'm not at my own personal goal weight.

I like to keep my own personal goal weight about 10-12 pounds under my WW goal weight of 136. There are a couple of reasons for this - one, I'm more self-confident and happy with my appearance at 124-126, and two, I like to have a very generous buffer zone before I have to start paying again. I don't want to have to worry about gaining 5-6 pounds on vacation, ya know?

But as for me, right now, I'm not coming home from a vacation. In fact, the last time I did come home from a vacation, I came home at a happy 124.8. (gained less than 1 pound on vacation!) And I have steadily gained weight since that time (Jan 1, 2017). I am now up to 130.2 as of today. That number has gone up and down a bit the last couple of weeks, but it hasn't dropped below 130 in a while, and it's hovering between 130-131 currently. Yuck.

So I went to www.weightwatchers.com and I decided to poke around a bit. And I started reading an article titled All About Maintenance here:

https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/m/cms/article/maintaining-your-weight-loss

and as I scrolled down I came across some tips for what to do when your weight starts to creep back up (because let's be honest it's GONNA happen - to all of us lifetimers - at one point or another).

Here's what the article had to say...

Tips for Handling Setbacks:

Reaching your desired weight doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll never go up again. Setbacks happen. It's what you do about them that's the most important.

• Choose an intervention weight (the number  that will kickstart you into losing mode again) and write it down. Not sure how to choose this number? For most, it’s usually around 3 to 5 lbs up from your desired weight. 
• Go back to weight losing mode in your Tracker. More specifically, start working with your previous SmartPoints Target by changing your settings from "Maintain weight" to "Lose weight."
• Make an action plan: Write down up to three things you'll do differently with your food choices and activity, as well as any other steps you'll take to reverse your gain. Then make it happen. You have the power! 

(*this is directly copied from the article)

Let's take these one at a time.

1) Choose an intervention weight. Well, it would certainly seem that I'm at that weight so, next!

2) Go back to losing mode in your tracker. Well, I did this too - but it only works if you're tracking, which... I haven't lol. So that's something I have to work on.

3) Make an action plan. This is something that I have not done yet. So here goes...

My Action Plan

Step 1 - TRACKING!!! As we all know, this is sooooooooo important to the program. If you're not tracking, you're not following the program. And this program only works if you work it. So I'm going to track. Even when it sucks. Which it has this week. If I get around to my WW Confessional next Monday I'll share, but let's just say there's a lot of crap in there. And not in the good #eatyourweekliesnation way...

Step 2 - ACTIVITY!!! I have stopped working out. I have only been motivated once or twice a week, but I feel like if I can't workout 5-6 days a week then I may as well not bother on the other one or two days I do feel motivated. Bad attitude, I know. Not sure how I'm going to get over this hump. If you have any words of inspiration, or anecdotes about times you had to overcome this, I'm happy to hear the thoughts or actions that got you over the hump 😀

Step 3 - WHY??? This one is the one place where, when I find myself slipping back, I realize I'm not thinking about this - but I have to find my why again. I've lost that mojo and I have to get it back. Some where...

Step 4 - ASK!!! Is this worth it? I gotta start asking myself this again. I haven't been asking this question lately and I find myself ordering ridiculously high points Frappuccinos at Starbucks 😜 And then when that does happen, I find myself saying "Oh well, I'll start over tomorrow..." Also not the best attitude...

Ok, so I think four steps is good for now. Like I always tell newbies - don't overwhelm yourself.

Oh - wait a minute...

Step 5 - ACCOUNTABILITY!!! Get to meetings and check in with Connect. I do these things often, but maybe I need more...

So that's my struggle. If you're a lifetimer and you have any tips or tricks that have got you through these tough times, please share with me. I always love my meetings because I often get a fresh perspective on things, the same is true here!

Especially if you have any tricks to help with the mindset. Even as I type this up, and I'm not happy with my current weight, and I'm thinking about the action plan I have to make... I'm also thinking about how "Maybe I'll start tomorrow and order that giant Frappuccino on my way home anyway..."

Like, my mindset just isn't into it right now. But that's life.

I know most of my blog posts have been about this very struggle lately, but I think writing about it helping me in a lot of ways. Even if those ways aren't leading to a change in behaviors just yet...

Thanks, as always, for listening.