Weigh to Go

Clearly, this is not me, as I wouldn't be caught dead with a pink rug in my house.

I weigh myself on a daily basis.  I don’t obsess about it, but I can gain weight pretty quickly and I like to stay on top of things.  According to one study, I’m doing the right thing.  The study led by Rena Wing, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Medical School and director of the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital, found that, “Stepping on the scale every day, then cutting calories and boosting exercise if the numbers run too high, can significantly help dieters maintain weight loss.”  Recently, due to first going on vacation (mmmm, In-N-Out Burger) and then having to deal with a stressful school situation, I stepped away from my regular diet, was eating out more, and gained a couple of pounds.  Nothing major, but the scale was definitely not going in a positive direction.  Hence, the decision to start my blog.  My point is that I was still weighing myself daily and, while I didn’t freak out when I saw the numbers start to creep up, I did hit a number where I decided it was time to get serious about weight loss again and not kid myself about how I was eating.  So, yeah, daily weigh-ins seem to work well for me.

Speaking of weighing in, I mentioned last week that I weighed 154.0 lbs (and still can’t believe I posted that online where everyone can read it!) and my goal was to reach 149 lbs by August 25th.  Well, just one week later I find myself at 150.0 lbs!  I don’t think I’ve ever lost 4 lbs in one week.  EVER.  Not that losing 4 lbs every week is really something that’s desirable or realistic, but it sure is motivating to see my hard work this week pay off so quickly.  Of course, the fact that I worked out Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday also helps.

Motivation is a tricky, fickle thing, so when I’m feeling really motivated – like right now, after posting a 4 lb weight loss in one week – I like to use that as much as possible to keep going.  In this case, that means that I’ll probably find it fairly easy to stick to my meal plan for a few days, so I’m only planning in one treat again this week.  I’ll post when I’ve put together the week’s plan.

Now, off to enjoy the beautiful summer weather!