The slow and steady inching forward with allowances for eating out, birthdays, Friday afternoon drinks, and pizza cravings seems to be working. The only thing I'm denying myself is the denial.
In the past I have not been able to get back on the horse because I was plagued by "what's the point" dialogues with my carb-craving self. They would go something like this:
It's a fresh new week, I can be strict and adhere to the program and make up for this lapse
But didn't that (creamy, chewy, cheesy) thing taste good? And look, it hardly added anything to the scales surely if you just had one more it wouldn't hurt? And you can always start WW after the next weigh-in.
Oh God, I can't get that voice out of my head, I'll never be able to succeed because I really do want that (creamy, chewy, cheesy) thing and now all I can do is think about it, endlessly! What's the point?
So, I'm stopping at the new pizza place at least once a week and I've cut out the mayo on my lunch sandwiches which means 15 extra points a week can be put toward that chewy, cheesy, margherita pizza - mmmmmm. I'd rather have pizza than almost anything, so I'm adapting. And I'm slowly extracting the nutritional info from the pizza guys who make it right in front of me. So far I've got 9 oz. of crust (strictly weighed) made from a sourdough starter shipped all the way from Naples and which has to be fed every night, topped with a half cup of pureed tomatoes (from a can) which have nothing else in them but some salt and basil and which also apparently are Naples approved. The cheese is a bit harder to figure out because they just grab a handful of chunks of the soft Buffalo mozzarella and sprinkle them on top but if I watch then I can guestimate. Then they sprinkle basil leaves and drizzle olive oil over the top and bake. Heaven.
Week 9 (09/18): Down 0.0 (total 11.6 lbs)
Week 10 (10/09): Down 0.8 (total 12.4 lbs)
I have been neglectful of the blog (sorry Susan). The lack of weight loss is actually a cause for celebration. The 2.4 loss was my reward for getting back on to the Flex plan after my long week of birthday celebrations and hotel eating (pats herself on the back). The zero weight loss of the following week was me saying to myself "go ahead, you're going to gain weight while you are away anyway..." as I prepared for a rather impromptu vacation of a cruise followed by two days in Vegas. The 0.8 loss of week 10 is the result of the food on the cruise and in Vegas (Bouchon is to die for) followed by about 10 days of moderation interspersed with yummy things like Pizza from PrimaStrada because, after all, I was going to show a big gain on the scale wasn't I?
So, the lesson learned is that I should eat the low-point meals when it is just 'fuel' I need, rather than eat fattening stuff at every meal, and this will help me from gaining when I go off-plan. Also, I realised on the cruise that I wanted the big chunks of fruit at breakfast even when hashbrowns were available. And book vacations where you walk alot - that helps too.
See you next week (I promise)
