Official Weigh-In #3 (Heidi)

Sometimes the scale is so frustrating!!

OK, I shouldn't complain.  My scale read 151.0 pounds today, which is down from my last official weigh-in.  But it's a higher number than the last couple of days, so a bit of a let down.  Really, I know better.  The number is just a number, and it will fluctuate depending on my monthly cycle and other situations (like whether I get sick) no matter how perfectly  I keep to my food diary.  It's all about the general trend instead of the results of a specific day.  That's why I weigh myself daily, instead of only once a week.  So I can see that fluctuation and not get discouraged when my official number is not what I hoped.

The emotional side of weight loss is hard.  I don't mean the part where we eat for emotional reasons (like when we get stressed or sad)-- though that certainly is a major hurdle, possibly even a more difficult one.  Rather, I mean our reactions to the whole process.  When I want to throw in the towel completely because I have one bad day, when I tell myself that I'm a horrible person for giving in to my munchies, when I think that I must have no self-control at all, when the number on the scale doesn't match my expectations . . . all of these are emotional sand traps that tend to keep me from progressing.  I get down on myself and I want to quit.

There's a quote that helped me last time; I memorized it and told it to myself over and over.  I need to get back to that because it really makes a difference.

"You only fail when you give up."

As long as I keep trying, I will succeed eventually.  Even if it takes me longer than I wanted to reach my goals.  If it is going to take me a year (or longer) to reach my goal weight that time is going to pass anyway.  2015 will be here sooner than I think.  But if I don't give up and I try again, I will be in a much better position next year than I will be if I give up now because the scale doesn't drop fast enough!