Four Weeks For Health

It's no secret that I've been in a slump for a few months.  Two steps forward, one step back, two steps back, three steps forward...my progress has slowed to a crawl, & not a Coraline crawl, a lazy baby crawl. 

I think I've finally had enough.  I've been pretty nonchalant about my slowed pace, chalking it up to all manner of legitimate (& not so legitimate) reasons & really not being too upset about it.  I know a lot of people say things like "I've hit the plateau & I don't know why."  I've always thought that was a load of shenanigans.  At least for me, if I'm being honest with myself, I can tell you exactly why.  The problem isn't that I don't know why, it's my apathy.

This morning, I hit my limit.  After a lousy night (if you can call 2.5 hours a "night") of sleep, my 5:30 AM wake-up call came a bit too early.  I knew that I was going to have an up week & for the first time I turned off my alarm & rolled over with the intention of not going to my WW meeting/weigh-in.  Thankfully, even in my sleep deprived haze, I remembered I have a streak to protect.  In 16 months of WW I haven't missed a single weigh-in.  I've skipped meetings if I was short on time or had the kids with me, but I have never not weighed-in.  I have always thought that that consistency was important & today it paid off.

The morning played out like the episode of "Friends" where Chandler & Monica get married.  As Chandler is freaking out about the wedding, Ross convinces him to focus on the baby steps toward the goal: "Just take a shower, that's not scary," "All right, time to get dressed, no big deal,"  until finally the last step is "Get married," or in my case "Sit down in the meeting."  At each step toward getting to the meeting, I was 100% convinced that I wouldn't be able to go any further, I was just so filled with dread at seeing the number on the scale & sitting in that meeting feeling like a fraud.  Pragmatically, my biggest fear was seeing my pounds lost on WW drop below 100 lbs.

When I screwed up the courage to peek at my numbers while sitting in the back of the room (in what was clearly a self-imposed naughty chair), I was at 154, exactly 100 lbs gone on WW.  It was the little glimmer of hope that I needed.

Dave has a theory that part of my problem of late is that it's been a while since I've had a mini-goal that has really inspired.  I had thought that I was close enough to the end to focus on the prize, but maybe he's right.  I've gotten this far by taking "bite-sized" steps to "bite-sized" goals.  So, in the car on the way home from my meeting, I thought about what had been sapping me & what might motivate me.  Last week I was feeling pretty confident that I had strung together my first 3 week string of losses in quite a while.  When I was up 0.2 lbs it took the wind out of my sails.  I really need a string of consecutive weeks down. 

With that in mind, & knowing that I am now 4 lbs away from my healthy weight range, I am committing to a new mini-goal that has me pretty fired up.  I want to lose 1 lb per week for 4 weeks straight.  At the end of 4 weeks I'll have a nice pattern of success to keep me bolstered & I'll be "healthy!"  It's attainable, it's manageable & it's motivational: "Four Weeks For Health!"