The problem started because I was genuinely hungry later in the evening. All I could think about was carbs. One trick I have to keep myself from eating once my daily food has been consumed is that I brush my teeth and put my retainer in. (I had braces a few years ago and am very interested in keeping my teeth strait!) I had done this, but the hunger was getting to me. So I did something I NEVER do and took the retainer out to eat a little something. Well, a little something turned into a LOT of something. Ugh.
This morning I was trying to figure out what to do with my Weight Watchers Points. In case you don't know how Weight Watchers works, you get a certain amount of points for the day based on your weight. And then you get an additional 49 "flex points" that you can add into the week as needed.
Yesterday was day 1 of my tracking week, so I had all 49 Flex Points still available to me at the end of the day. However, I know that if I subtract as many as I approximate I ate last night, that won't leave me enough for the days when I go to the gym and genuinely NEED more food. (I get ravenously hungry when I lift weights.)
I sat there and looked at my points, and thought of what I ate, and considered what I could do. I was starting to get pretty stressed.
It finally occurred to me to take a look at my "Good Health Guidelines" from yesterday. These ensure that you hit certain dietary goals each day for maximum health. And I realized that, despite thinking I'd eaten them all, I had only eaten 3 of my required 5 servings of produce.
Hmmmmm.......... Maybe if I'd of filled up on veggies I wouldn't have been so hungry. Ya think, Nance?
At that point, I realized that to expect myself to be able to try and somehow make up the calorie difference in the following 6 days was setting myself up for failure. I have a big appetite. My body needs fuel. And if it doesn't get enough I am very likely to go off the rails again. One "blow it" this week was more than enough.
So I have made a decision to have selective amnesia. The part I am forgetting? What I overate. The part I am remembering? To check my Good Health Guidelines before I allow myself to go into my Flex Points.
As for my Flex Points, I did subtract 7, since that is the average daily amount (49 Flex Points divided by 7 days in the week equals an average of 7 points per day). I am just going to proceed through the rest of the week like the overeating didn't happen.
In some ways I feel like I am starting over with my weight loss. I am re-learning things I learned before and assumed I already knew. This is really discouraging. I get impatient with myself, because I've been here before- I should have this down, right?
But then I realize that if I continue to berate myself, I am doing nothing to help myself move forward.
For me, this requires selective amnesia.
And the fact that the gal in that photo has the type of body I'd like doesn't hurt anything, either.
I like 'selective amnesia'...
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