Learning who are my dieting "friends"

This week I have come to learn who it is that really cares about me - who are my dieting friends. I can tell you for sure that my friends have been broccoli, lettuce, bell peppers, protein, etc. I have also come to learn who are NOT my dieting friends: tortilla chips, jellybean and emotional sabotage.

This past week I found myself cheating, once again. I know I told you in this blog I wouldn't but, to be honest...I'm weak! That's right...weak! There is good news and bad news to my weakness. The bad news: a 2 lb weight gain. The good news: another lesson learned.

Let me break it down for you...

Throughout the week I ended up having little bites of food here and there (that cheater in me!). I would see tortilla chips sitting on the counter and, knowing my husband's homemade salsa was in the fridge it was just too much of a temptation for me. His homemade salsa only comes around once in a while so when it's here I feel I need to grab it. I started out eating the salsa with chips but, over a few days, I ended up just eating it by the spoonful instead. What I found out is I didn't really need the chips. Tomatoes are on the restricted list of foods I can only eat twice a week so I was careful not to eat too much salsa, though.

Jellybeans. HA! I've not even been a fan of jellybeans most of my life (except the black ones!). I don't know what convinced me to even buy the bag (yes I do...it was on sale!). So, I bought a bag and left it in my car so when I was on the road I would reach for a handful...or two. I told my doctor I felt the jellybeans were a better option for me than chocolate. Not from a nutritional standpoint (because dark chocolate isn't as bad as you might think) but I didn't eat as many jellybeans as I would have eaten chocolate had chocolate been my craving at the time. I wouldn't have stopped at just one "handful" and might have blown my diet all together. The good news is - they were in my car...so Dr. Wichin suggested I bring them into his office and throw them away. It was the start of a new day for me and I'm ready to move again in a forward motion.


As I mentioned before, I have a tendency to sabotage myself when I get to a certain weight/size. Well, I currently weigh less than I have at those times in the past and I'm currently in a smaller size than before. But, I wonder if subconsciously I'm trying to sabotage myself again. I need to keep a focused effort on that during the next week.

My workouts have increased both in time and effort so I'm feeling more hunger than I have before. I had a pretty good run this week which is the first one in a while. I had energy during the run but I had also had a handful of jelly beans just before I stepped out the door. So, I'm interested to see how I do this week without the jellybeans. I just need to remain focused on the goal rather than the immediate pleasure.

So, what role did this play during my weigh-in this week? Well, I'm still a little unsure. Obviously, the cheating wasn't healthy for me. This journey isn't just about weight loss to me but also about being healthier. I gained two pounds this week but it's also "that" time of the month so the gain (and the cravings) might also be associated with that. The good thing is I didn't gain any body fat this week. As a matter of fact, my body fat percentage dropped by 0.7%. So, all the weight I did gain is water weight.

Here are the stats:
This week:
2 lb weight gain
0.5 inches in chest
0.5 inch in hips
0.5 inches in arm
0.70% body fat lost

Total since March 31st
17 lbs weight loss
0.5 inch from my chest
6.5 inches from my waist
4 inches from my hips
1.5 inch from my arm
1.5 inches from my thigh
2.99% of my total body fat
No significant lean body mass loss

Now a question for you: At any point during a weight loss journey (or a new workout plan) do you find yourself or others sabotaging your efforts? If so, what do you do about it to gain control again?