Daily Maintenance Weigh In - Tuesday, December 9, 2014

184.0 - hmmm up. But no workout yesterday - planned day off in my 10 week plan.  

Watching the rain come down in Jersey City, supposed to have some flooding, so we'll see what that means for us as we live 50 feet from the water...

114 today. That's an okay number. 

We are well above freezing temps again so that's a nice break

jubjub after your post about your end of 2013 weight, I thought I'd check my own. It was 115, so I'm on track to finish this year at 115 or less. How cool is that?  I love my wardrobe!!

This time last year I was 139#.  Today 149#  Those 10# don't seem to want to come off!  Apparently, I'm not working hard enough to get them off.  I'm happy and my clothes still fit nicely.

My hubby's 96yo Grandma is in the hospital.  They are doing comfort care.  Please pray she passes quickly.  We're sad, but don't want her to suffer anymore.  We were at the hospital yesterday and I had a moment where I ate my feelings...but quickly decided that really didn't make me feel any better.  And, this morning I'm up. It is what is is...

This time last year I weighed 2 pounds less than today, but last year I was still on an upwards trend (finally got my sh*t together a few days before Christmas).  This year I got it together earlier, but not before I exceeded last year's high weight.  Sigh...

Between last December and April of this year I got a good solid 5 months of on-track, off-sugar eating, and got down to a much happier weight, and here I am ending this year fighting the battle all over again.  I really don't know what set off the sugar spiral, I know it's not something I can dabble in.  I made the mistake of ordering a mug of Gluhwein at a Christmas festival this past weekend, without even thinking about the sugar in it.  I enjoyed about 3 guilty sips before my meal came (honestly, WHY do I ever order a beverage at a restaurant?!?).  Spent all day yesterday fighting the hungries.  I did end up eating more, but avoided sugar and other trigger foods.  Could have been the Gluhwein, may have been the protein bar I had for a snack (Quest bars are iffy for me, unless I'm hiking and burning them off right away).  Anyway, it was really stupid.

I'm still working my way through a really well written blog by an alcoholic in recovery (7+ years), and it's provided a lot of fuel for thought.  He talks a bit about the difference between quitting alcohol and quitting cigarettes, which I think has a lot of applicability to quitting sugar (more like cigarette addiction).  I have no doubt that quitting alcohol is a million times harder in so many ways.  And I've never bought into the argument that quitting our food habits is harder because we can't simply abstain, whereas alcoholics don't drink at all.  I'd argue that alcoholics have to drink to survive, they're just not drinking alcohol, they're drinking water, or juice or soda, or coffee, etc.  Similarly, I have to eat to live, but I don't have to eat my trigger foods.  Those I can (and must) abstain from to succeed.  But I do think there's a lot more acceptance of abstinence when it comes to alcoholics.  Most people accept that an alcoholic simply cannot consume alcohol on an occasional basis and succeed at "sobriety".  But tell someone you've given up sugar (or bread, or other simple carbs) and you're more likely than not to get an argument.  That's one area I wish wasn't such a challenge, but in the end, I'm the only voice that matters.  It's up to me what I choose to eat or not. 

Your reflections are really helpful. Thanks!

Can you post the blog. I'm interested...thanks!!!

Sure, it's Infactorium (dot com).  He's a scientist as well, so many of his posts focus on science and health care delivery issues, but I've gotten a lot out of his insights into 12-step programs.  I'm not really familiar with them at all, but I can see parallels between the life changes we need to make to be successful post-ops and the work AA members do.  It's not really about the alcohol, it's about creating a framework for dealing with life that allows them to cope in productive ways and get the support they need, rather than turning to alcohol.  It's about maintaining focus (by attending regular meetings, and once they have enough sobriety experience, sponsoring other new folks, and sharing the stories that are a vivid reminder of how awful their lives were when they were drinking).  I've heard a lot of weird things about 12-step programs, but there's a lot of appeal to the way he describes the changes it has brought to his life. 

great conversation going here! A lot of what you write resounds with me! Thanks!

122. horrid storms predicted for tomorrow and i am supposed to fly out of here. i may be going nowhere.  diane