Wednesday Weigh-In

Well, well, well...I managed to avoid an actual post about weight at the beginning of the year, only to be dragged into it in late January by a few well-meaning friends who suggested weighing in and sharing the results every Wednesday.

I need accountability - that's just a fact. Publicly announcing how much I've lost (or gained) in any given week will certainly give me that.

However, being by far the largest of this particular group of friends, I'm just not about to throw an actual number out there for everyone to marvel out. Let's just say it's high, and possibly higher than many would guess, since I have 5'10" to help stretch it all out.

Every year, I say that this is the year I'm going to buckle down and lose the weight. Every year, I start off strong in January, then slip a little, then toss the whole thing in the trash because darnit, I just plain like food. (Seriously, who doesn't? If you tell me you don't, I'll call you a liar.) I need to maintain motivation, and maybe a weekly weigh-in will help.

We first formulated this plan on Friday, so I hopped on the scale on Saturday morning to see just what the damage was. One thing I do seem to be good at is maintaining (or maybe I've just topped out at my current weight), because it's fluctuated within the same five pounds since Milly was born.

So from Saturday morning until this morning, I have lost exactly 2 ounces. See? I'm good at maintenance. I can't even attribute the miniscule loss to anything that I did; it was very likely because I peed before I stepped on the scale.

I'd love to have an actual number to post next week...and that means making some changes. I'll go into more detail next Wednesday about the methods I will and won't be employing, but for now, here are a couple of things that I need to work on:

• Eating at night. Like most moms, I don't see any peace until my children are tucked into bed. That's when I sit down with husband, TV and computer...and usually a snack. This ties in nicely with...
• Stress eating. And I'm stressed out a lot, although most people don't know the full scope. Rather than venting, I eat. Chocolate is a wonderful stress reliever, however temporary the fix
• Drinking more water. 'Nuff said.
• Moving more. I started off this year doing quite well on the treadmill, and have slacked off already. Time to grab the Kindle and hop back on board...if only I could keep my children from throwing their stuffed animals onto the tread while I'm trying to walk. The treadmill will either make me thinner or kill me when I trip over a teddy bear and go flying off the back.

To my friends...I'll do the weekly weigh-in, and I know I need to work hard to "pull big numbers", as the Biggest Loser crowd would say. But I have so much farther to go than any of you...forgive me if it takes me a while to become truly enthusiastic. It's hard to be optimistic when standing at the base of such a huge mountain.