Six Sigma Weight Loss
You know, I've read a lot of different ideas about how to track your weight. One friend that's been successful says to weigh only once a week. Another says don't weigh, just measure. Another says..well. You can read anything on the internet. Let's just talk about numbers, shall we? I'm a scientist, damn it!
I weigh daily. Want to know why? Data. I want daily data so that I can see how things trend. See, I'm a chick and dealing with a whole lot of issues now in my 40s that have to do with my body trying to decide if it wants to do menopause, versus pretending it's only 30 and rarin' to go. And every chick reading this will have to solemnly nod about how sometimes you just gain water weight, bloat up, etc near your period.
There's also the matter of what I eat. When I'm a bad girl and eat flour/corn/rice/things that PUFF in the system, I gain. They hang around in the lower GI tract long after I've eaten them. Now, intellectually you can know that 1 lb = ~3k+ calories, but then why does one step on a scale and wail about having gained 5 LBS OVERNIGHT??? If one only weighed oneself once a week, one would find this so disheartening one would want to console oneself with any of one's food consolation prizes.
No, it's not fair that my body can choose randomly to seize up and not process efficiently for 3-5 days, keeping an extra bag of weight inside somewhere that shows ever so slightly in my abdomen. In fact, one could swear at one's body, calling it a pigf*cker and other things, and eat a pound of cherries or beans to get things moving again. Which works most of the time, but I digress.
So I weigh daily, and pay attention to the downward trends. The sudden weight losses of 5 lbs are a great big lie, just like the sudden gains. I really have to look at the trending direction, and do my best to keep it on a downward slope. On days that it pops up, I have to stop and consider what I've eaten, what choices I've made, and sometimes decide what to eat for the next two days based on clearing the system back out.
Sure, you say. Just don't eat Wheat! Just go gluten free! You'll be healthier. Well, fact is that sometimes I have to eat the damned cookie. Or corn chip. Or whatever. I'm not capable of giving anything up cold turkey, cause when I do it builds up emotional issues like resentment that I just can't afford to fight in this battle to be thinner. Why can't I eat whatever I want? Why do I eat it even when I know I'm going to feel like crap after?
I just do. I suck. So what. I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow morning and continue to make my day to day changes based on what I see, trying to make it go down. When I don't weigh myself every day, I gain. That's just how it works for me.
And since I started doing this again, I'm back down 7 lbs. So this time I'm going to try to keep up the daily weighing, as a daily reminder. I accept that weight loss for me is much like being an alcoholic for others. Every day I have to choose to be good. I might fail sometimes. But I'll have another day to make another choice.
I weigh daily. Want to know why? Data. I want daily data so that I can see how things trend. See, I'm a chick and dealing with a whole lot of issues now in my 40s that have to do with my body trying to decide if it wants to do menopause, versus pretending it's only 30 and rarin' to go. And every chick reading this will have to solemnly nod about how sometimes you just gain water weight, bloat up, etc near your period.
There's also the matter of what I eat. When I'm a bad girl and eat flour/corn/rice/things that PUFF in the system, I gain. They hang around in the lower GI tract long after I've eaten them. Now, intellectually you can know that 1 lb = ~3k+ calories, but then why does one step on a scale and wail about having gained 5 LBS OVERNIGHT??? If one only weighed oneself once a week, one would find this so disheartening one would want to console oneself with any of one's food consolation prizes.
No, it's not fair that my body can choose randomly to seize up and not process efficiently for 3-5 days, keeping an extra bag of weight inside somewhere that shows ever so slightly in my abdomen. In fact, one could swear at one's body, calling it a pigf*cker and other things, and eat a pound of cherries or beans to get things moving again. Which works most of the time, but I digress.
So I weigh daily, and pay attention to the downward trends. The sudden weight losses of 5 lbs are a great big lie, just like the sudden gains. I really have to look at the trending direction, and do my best to keep it on a downward slope. On days that it pops up, I have to stop and consider what I've eaten, what choices I've made, and sometimes decide what to eat for the next two days based on clearing the system back out.
Sure, you say. Just don't eat Wheat! Just go gluten free! You'll be healthier. Well, fact is that sometimes I have to eat the damned cookie. Or corn chip. Or whatever. I'm not capable of giving anything up cold turkey, cause when I do it builds up emotional issues like resentment that I just can't afford to fight in this battle to be thinner. Why can't I eat whatever I want? Why do I eat it even when I know I'm going to feel like crap after?
I just do. I suck. So what. I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow morning and continue to make my day to day changes based on what I see, trying to make it go down. When I don't weigh myself every day, I gain. That's just how it works for me.
And since I started doing this again, I'm back down 7 lbs. So this time I'm going to try to keep up the daily weighing, as a daily reminder. I accept that weight loss for me is much like being an alcoholic for others. Every day I have to choose to be good. I might fail sometimes. But I'll have another day to make another choice.