Hi All,
Its so nice to hear how each of you are doing and to learn from your experiences. I love that we've got such a consistent core group with new members coming in at a similar pace to others leaving when their goals are satisfied or they just need a bit of time. I'm here for the support. Tonight more so than usual. Here's a not so fun experience that I will share:
Thirty minutes ago, I stumbled. After a week of very strict adherence to the MWL guidelines I walked into my kitchen and ate a couple of plain whole wheat pitas and all of the dates in the house (thankfully there were only 3 left). What the heck happened?
Let's go through a bit of what I think led up to this today:
- I weighed myself for our weekly weigh-in and wasn't particularly thrilled with no weight loss, but at least it wasn't a gain.
- I spent a lovely day at our local Vegetarian Food Festival. I ate before I went and watched the presentations instead of wandering around the food stalls.
- I came home and got the kids ready for bed...it went as well as all bedtimes go (Moms here will know what I mean...lol)
- After spending 30 minutes writing an email, I made an error and lost everything that I had written. Aggravating, but not the end of the world.
That's when I decided to step away from the computer and go into the kitchen for some tea. I spied the pitas that have been sitting on our counter all week, walked over and just ate them. I, then, proceeded to the fridge and took out the dates and ate them too (they've been in our fridge for months and weren't even that delicious if I'm honest, but I choked them down).
This is a blow by blow account of a slip. It happens to many of us. For some of us it happens often. It's why I'm currently not losing any weight...but its also nothing to despair about.
Slight stress, opportunity, habit, and energy dense foods; all of these things came into play here tonight. No one thing was to blame and there are some pretty obvious changes that can made to ensure this kind of situation occurs less frequently.
Which changes any one of us is willing to make however, will be very individual. Below is a list of suggestions based on my above bullet points.
1) Keep your environment as clear as possible of foods that call to you.
2) Don't weigh yourself more often than is helpful.
3) Avoid social situations that can trigger cravings.
4) Find out how you respond to stress and devise strategies to cope with it constructively.
When this type of slip happens to you remember that for most of us its inevitable. What's not inevitable is a continued downward spiral into negative emotions and tubs of soy ice cream. This is when we pick up where we left off before the fall and just get right back to it. One bad choice, day or week does not have to lead to another one.
For a detailed explanation and new understanding of this type of struggle be sure to watch next week's McDougall webinar. Dr. Lisle (the staff psychologist) will discuss overeating and binging and its evolutionary basis. Here is the link to sign up for the live webinar:
The Cram Circuit, The story of binge eating and overeating through the lens of Learning TheoryIf you can't watch it live, a replay will be available within a day or two.
Well that's all I've got for the night...I'd better get back to that email.
Have a great week everyone!
Amy XO
Here are the results for the second week in September:
Next Weigh-In is on Friday, September 15th, 2017Total group loss reported in 2017: 610.56 poundsSeptember 2017 Weight Loss Group :: Monthly Weigh-In Results
Total group loss in January 2017: 137.25 pounds
Total group loss in February 2017: 102.91 pounds
Total group loss in March 2017: 111.3 pounds
Total group loss in April 2017: 56.1 pounds
Total group loss in May 2017: 41.8 pounds
Total group loss in June 2017: 44.4 pounds
Total group loss in July 2017: 34.9 pounds
Total group loss in August 2017: 59.6 pounds
Total group loss in September 2017: 22.3 poundsWeek ending 09/08/2017: 16 participants reported a total loss of 13.1 pounds
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Suey51 - 0.6
AnnaUK - 2.0
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Total gains: 2.6
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Qwerty988 - 0.8
Zsilent1 - 2.0
BeHealthy - 0.0
Sirdle - 0.2
Galooop - 3.2
Landog - 1.0
Talita8 - 2.5
Svenja - 1.0
Arewethereyet - 0.0
Lyndzie - 1.0
Yomom - 0.0
LadyM - 3.0
Sarabee - 1.0
amandamechele - 0.0
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Total losses: 15.7
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Total group loss in September 2017: 22.3 pounds
Week ending 09/08/2017: 16 participants reported a total loss of 13.1 pounds
Week ending 09/01/2017: 14 participants reported a total loss of 9.2 pounds
(Edited due to proof reading errors)