Sweet 16

On Monday the 12th I shared my discovery of an ultra heinous conspiracy by my scale to thwart my weight loss by discouraging me with unshakable fragments of pounds. Specifically, the attempt by my scale to prevent me from achieving 10lbs total weight loss.

Well. I have blown past the 10lb total down to 181.4lbs. That's right, I have lost 11lbs total since starting on August 30th (weighing in at 192.4lbs) . That picture is of the sweetest 16 you'll ever see - because they are too big for me now.

I've done basically nothing - not really exercising, not making drastic changes in the types of food I'm eating. I'm just not drinking regular Mt. Dew (ok, that's drastic) and I'm trying to limit the amount of food I eat and the number of times a day that I eat.

For you number nuts, here is the breakdown. The largest amount of weight I lost in a weeks time was four pounds, and that was in my first week. The least amount of weight I lost was during my 2nd week, where I actually gained .4lbs. The following week I lost another 3lbs. (I was serious when I was talking about mystery pounds). The average over 8 weeks works out to be 1.475 pounds per week. When I look back at the past few weeks I usually lose about 1.2lb per week. There is insane fluctuation, though. The first time I stepped on the scale and it said 181 (after reading 182 relentlessly for at least an eon) I could have died from shock. Then, the next day, it said 184 again and I figured the 181.blah was just a fluke. So I didn't weigh myself for a few more days.

I have gotten an job (part time) that requires a lot of standing and walking, so overall I'm sure my activity has increased although I wouldn't call it aerobic or strenuous. It also limits the time I am home and able to graze, but I am however tempted by the soda machine next door (completely stocked with regular, delicious, regularly delicious soda).

I wanted to say that I have lost weight regardless of my diet or monitoring of food/point calculating, but when I look back I'm not so sure. The first week I lost 4 pounds and the third week I lost 3 pounds. These last 2 weeks my weekly weight loss averages like 1.2 pounds. However - is that a reflection of my lack of religiously recording what I ate, or is it simply the natural plateau that begins to occur throughout the course of weight loss. Regardless, my continued success despite exerting no effort is likely to undermine the necessity to record everything.

BUT. I want it. I. Want. It. I am so close to being under 180lbs since approximately December of last year. Am I going to continue my lackadaisical dieting of late? Or will I crack down and start recording my food again in an effort (nay, a scientific study) to a) lose weight and b) determine whether or not recording intake actually improves my ability to lose weight.

I want to drop out of size 14 and into a 12. And then back into a 10. A 10? Outrageous. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, here, self. I would settle for a 12. As a matter of fact I'm afraid I'll be content with a 12 and stop. I don't want to let that happen - I am still not even remotely satisfied with my reflection. But - I am excited by my success thus far and am eager to continue.

Most importantly, if I continue with this and am successful in losing weight, my husband will finally be able to get this tattoo he wants: