Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Slinking Back to Weight Watchers

I just realized that "slinking" can have the connotation of a sexy walk as well as the connotation of a dog with its tail between its legs. Let's use the second sense of the word, shall we?

I rejoined Weight Watchers yesterday, with a bit of bitterness. I'm annoyed with myself for not keeping it together and JUST EATING BETTER, and instead I have to join a group of chubby cheerleaders at weekly weigh-ins and meetings. I'll admit I am enjoying the structure of the program as well as its freedoms. According to the program, I am permitted to eat from the Core Foods List until I am satisfied. I don't even have to count points except for the extras (dessert, full-fat dairy, sugar, etc.). It is quite satisfying and certainly reasonable enough to continue indefinitely. It was counting the points that used to grate on me, and now that I have the Core option, it's a better fit. Let's hope my pants see it that way.

I am supplementing my new eating habits with some intense gym workouts. Ouch--my muscles are worked from doing the weight circuit both today and yesterday! I'm waiting for the part where working out gives me more energy instead of less.

I have created some incentives for myself for every five pounds lost. Some incentives involve personal care (massage, pedicure), while some involve fashion (new shoes, a dress). Not even one incentive involves food. Well duh!

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Tone

I'm still early enough in the blogging process that I have not set an irrevocable tone for my posts. I was tempted this morning to post another rant about something that irked me, but then I realized I didn't want to be crabby and sarcastic. I also don't want to be trite and silly (i.e., I will try to minimize my mentions of skirts). So, today my post is all about resolve.

I re-learned something about myself this week: I love lists. I don't just love them; I need them. If I don't make a list, I DON'T DO THINGS. Today my list is about 20 items long. It holds every task from "make the bed" to "read two chapters of John" to "cut out Jennifer's outfits." There's also the occasional odd thing like "water water water water water water" which is my reminder to drink six glasses of water today. I don't have high hopes for enjoying the task, but instead I get a thrill from crossing off six waters. It's alarmingly motivating, crossing stuff off. I wonder what my loved ones (and strangers?) could get me to do by putting it on a list.

A benefit of listmaking is that, assuming you have actually stuck to your list, at the end of the day, you can look back on all you accomplished, and this is especially useful for things that are invisible: making a phone call doesn't make the house look any different (unlike making the bed), but it can be gratifying nonetheless. And without a list to look back on, where's that warm fuzzy feeling of accomplishment?