Not sure what to think.......

So I get on the scale this morning and it reads 182.5, not sure if I can believe it. OK, I haven't weighed in for 3 weeks but I haven't really been watching what I eat, except for the past week, I have been pretty good. I started my new gym routine and I seem to like it, waking up at my normal time, going to the gym and then getting to work an hour later than normal. The bad part was going to the gym yesterday, 20 minutes on the treadmill and then 20 minutes working on my arms and shoulders then having to bowl last night. By the third game that ball was so heavy it wasn't funny but I think I bowled a 147 that game.......not bad!!!! Well, I will keep doing what I have been doing and the scale will tell if this weeks weigh in was a fluke!!!

It's not the heat....

it's the damn humidity!!  I love summer, truly I do - but it has been so humid lately and that I can not take at all.  One of the pitfalls of my self-confessed scale obsession is that when it's humid out, it affects the scale (for me).  It's showing a loss from my official WI on Friday, but these past three days, it's been creeping up a tiny bit - though, I've been 100% on track and working out.  I know it has to do with retaining water (sorry, TMI....but, hey, that's life...) as I can just feel it...so, I'm going to try and up my water intake to see if that actually helps.  With the way my belly feels, I'm surprised I'm not looking at a 5 lb gain on the scale!   But, seeing the scale jump around, even if it's only in a less than half pound range, is annoying and frustrating.  But, this too shall pass.  Official WI, for better or worse, for me will be on Thursday this week as we'll heading to the beach Thursday afternoon and not coming back until Monday.  (woot!!!) 

Seriously, though, I am done with the humidity.  This has been one of the hottest summers on record and within the past couple of weeks, it hasn't rained at all.  What happened to those summer thunderstorms?    Okay, I'll take that back - while I would love some rain (as would my grass), we're leaving our girls (our black lab Molly and yellow lab Maggie - oh, and Bailey the cat) home with various pet sitters while we go away - knowing my luck it will thunderstorm while we are away, leaving them in the dark with no ac (happened to poor Molly once before!)  So, rain is good - just not while I am away and already worrying about them!

While I love summer, especially not working in the summer, I am excited for Fall to get here.  I love walking outside in the fall, going pumpkin and apple picking - with my asthma issues, it is so much easier to be active in the fall.  It is also easier for cooking purposes - my husband works outside in this heat so most days he does not want the stove on and has no desire to grill (I can't blame him).  So, while we do salads, we also eat out a lot which is always a risky situation. 

Well, I need to start getting things ready for our mini-vacation - and put my disappointment in the scale behind me and continue to look forward!  :)

I'm a junkie....

Well, a scale junkie that is! I weigh myself every day - I truly know better, but I do it anyway. I am the queen of research - if there is something I am interested in, or affects my life, then I throw myself into finding out all there is to know. So, I've read "Why the Scale Lies" I know the scale fluctuates all the time, for various reasons. But, my morning starts with a jump on the scale. The only time I don't do it is when I've given up or don't care anymore. Since Friday, the scale has been up and down - higher than my WI on Friday, or just a little lower. Yesterday was a bad day - I had horrible allergies all day so barely moved off the couch. My solution was to graze....all.day.long. Stupid, I know. Counterproductive, I know. But, it was comforting and made me feel better. I know I went way off track - though, not horribly as most things were my normal low-fat/low-calories stuff, and cereal ended up being my dinner...but there was chocolate in there too. So, imagine my shock when I get on the scale today and it's .8 lower than the day before. It makes me crazy! So, even if I'm on track all day today, will the scale move back up tomorrow? Who knows, but it makes me crazy....because it makes no sense! I know I should be looking at the bigger picture and only be concerned with my week, not a day, and with my Friday weigh in, not what the scale says everyday. But, I torture myself with this crap. I have both an iPhone app and a spreadsheet where I track my daily weight - why? I think when it's on a downward trend, it keeps me motivated. But, when it's moving upward, or bouncing all over, it makes me depressed. So, why do I do it? All I need to focus on is today - just for today, I need to stay on track. Just for today, I need to drink my water. And just for today, I need to think about the bigger picture.

Being so oddly anal, I do have a record of my lowest weights over the past 8 years from my many attempts at WW's and these are my mini-milestones that I would like to get to. The first one is only 5 lbs away - totally do-able, right? Here they are -

178.8 on 9/25/05
176.8 on 12/31/06
174.8 on 4/19/06
174.2 on 5/29/05
169.8 on 2/6/05 (will move to "overweight" bmi)
166.4 on 9/19/04
162.2 on 7/4/04
150.8 on 1/28/03

(For the record, this is only WW's weights - I did get down to 160 in 2008 on my own - so I have seen most of those numbers since the dates listed above. But, again, I'm just using my 8 ww's books for this).

Oh - and edited to add....my lowest weight in 2010 has only been 180.8, so, I'm hoping to beat that number by the end of the month. Seriously, enough with the 180's...kicking you to the curb for good! :)

I need to set up little rewards for myself along the way (even though some of them are only 2lbs away from each other). What are your little goals going to be and how will you reward yourself? (obviously, better health and lower weight is a reward in itself, but it's fun to have a prize to keep your eye on! :)