Just Keep Swimming...

Hello again, everyone

I know I haven't posted in a while, I do apologise. I didn't realise it had been this long!

It's been a funny old month on the SW front. I've stuck to plan religiously all the way through but its only now the scales are really paying off! Let me explain.

It was the week with all our lovely snow. By the way I'm being sarcastic. I HATE it. I hate walking in it, I don't take my 3 or 1 year old out in it as my eldest stands in it and looks around and doesn't get what to do in it! Then the youngest gets ratty as he cant walk yet and then we go in, frozen. Anyway I went to group and was convinced I had gained, even though I had kept my usual food diary and couldn't see a reason why I WOULD gain. So, I get on the scales, I had gained a half. I was gutted. It HAD been star week, so I put it down to that. I started to drink more water, kept the food diary up and kept the faith.

The following week I arrived full of the joys of spring. I was in for a big old loss, after all! Imagine my shock when I get on the scales to see I had gained a pound! Believe me, I was deep in shock! I stormed out in disbelief thinking to myself that if I stay for group therapy, I'm bound to shed a few tears. I decided I would go home and take it out on hubby and shed a few tears there (sorry, Hubby) The tears were full of frustration. How could I possibly follow the plan and put on two weeks running, albeit very small gains. That wasn't the point, I wanted a reason.

I spoke to my consultant, one of the groups lifelines, some family members following SW as well as Hubby (the voice of reason!) and they all said the same thing. "Are you eating enough? Using your syns? having your healthy extras? What meals have you been having? ...Oh. I don't think you're doing anything wrong, just keep with it." When I first started hearing this, it made me angrier. I felt like complaining " I HAVE been doing all those things, I've been doing it since October and have always lost, I KNOW what I'm doing!" But the more I heard it, the more comfort I got. After all, yes, I'm doing everything right and no one, not even my consultant could pin point a problem. Whatever it was causing these little gains, certainly wasn't to do with what I was eating.

So, a few excuses. Could it of been that the first week was star week and then the second gain was down to the scales being in a different part of the room? Possibly. I WAS drinking more water and eating superfree, but was it enough? Ermmm... I thought so? Was I doing enough exercise? Well, I walk 3 times a week to preschool with the boys and the whole round trip takes about an hour. First in the morning, then in the afternoon. I also do one (measly) hour of exercise a week, be it a zumba class or a wii game at home. Could it of been because I was full of food from the night before? Who knows!

All of these things had been going through my mind all week. I decided it's time to tweak the plan a bit, to see if it makes a difference. So what did I do?

I drank the recommended 8 glasses of water a day. I do mean water too, not just in tea and coffee. I hate drinking water, but after two gains, I was desperate for a loss. I also then wanted to be able to say to people "yes I do that, yes, I do this, YES I have drunk water all week" followed by poking my tongue out. So there.

I made sure I ate alot of superfree. Thinking about it, I was probably in a bit of denial. I always thought that yes, a third of my plate was superfree, but was it? I'm the sort of cook that makes one pot meals, mainly. So, veg goes in my spag bol, but I don't then have a side salad etc. Thinking about it my plate probably was more of a quarter superfree than a third. Now, I know they now say it isn't compulsory to have superfree. But, I've been doing it since I started and it has stuck. Besides, again, I wanted a loss, dammit! So this last week, I really have been having about half a plate. I've more or less been doing "Success Express" without the name tag, really.

Syns. Now everyone says you can spend syns on whatever you like and again, since I started, I've been using my syns on chocolate every night and lost. So my little gains wouldnt be because of that. Having said that, I thought I would try using my syns on things like slices of bread and ingredients. Things that aren't so high in sugar. Things which also mean I was snacking on a bigger volume of food, not just one chocolate Lindor.]

After all this tweaking, how did you get on, I hear you all cry. Well, I lost five pounds. FIVE pounds. It also meant I got my Club 10 award, as well as my stone and a half award! Once again, I was shocked, but in a good way for a change! I actually welled up! I couldn't believe that really, just sticking to the plan and not giving up had worked. The old me has hit a bump and quit so many times before, it was so different to think yes, I'm angry, yes my motivation is at an all time low, yes I don't want to do this anymore but I have to, so what shall I do to put this right.

I cant tell you what it was that worked so well this week. It could just simply be I never gave up, not the extra water or veg. But I shall definitely try and repeat this week! I don't expect a big loss this coming weigh in. After all, I cant have a big loss after the one I just had! My body needs time to play catch up. But I know as long as I "just keep swimming" I will get there in the end.

Keep going, whatever you're going through. It's all in the mind!

The Synful Baker