Making Choices

I was really impressed with a recent magazine article about a research study focusing on maintaining  weight loss. People who had lost weight in a medically supervised program were divided into three groups and monitored to see if they regained the weight they had lost. Two groups regained the weight; one didn't. The difference? The successful group had been taken to a grocery store and shown how to make choices that prevent weight gain.

I have been thinking about that article and those people a lot. This week I have been grappling with two problems. On Tuesday I went to lunch with friends AND went for my weekly pizza outing with Charlie.

My original plan was to eat half my sandwich with my friends. I had to abandon that idea when I bit into the sandwich - it was just too good. The solution was to skip the pasta salad that came with it and the hot garlic bread (sob) that the server brought to our table.

The other problem this week has been fatigue and hunger - along with, perhaps, a silver lining: I've been swimming, walking, and dancing, so maybe there's a reason I've been tired.

Bottom line: I made some choices. I even skipped PB&J a couple of times in favor of a slice of cheese on a whole-wheat roll.

Progress!

A Good Day

Yesterday morning a 90-minute dance lesson had me covered with sweat, and last night I had an hourlong ballet class that was fun to do and very active.
Negatives (sort of): Charlie and I didn't get to do our daily walk yesterday. (The dancing more than made up for it). We went to the Olive Garden, which turned out to be not-so-bad: I skipped the wine, had a small portion of ziti (the Olive Garden is having a Pronto Lunch promotion with downsized servings), and brought half of it home to eat later.
One-and-a-half cookies yesterday. I wrote "alas" and then deleted it. Cookies are one of the joys of my life.
Last week I read Helen Gurley Brown's book Wild Again (a book reflecting on her life and an assortment of topics). We are sisters in our attitudes towards candy (not at all important) and cookies (central to our happiness and well-being).
I think I can eat a cookie or two every day and do fine as long as I'm vigilant in other ways.

Starting Up Again

I've taken seven trips already this year - four for pleasure, and three for a consulting job - and my weight has crept up again.
The good news is that I weighed myself at the gym this morning, and I'm down a pound-and-a-half from last Sunday.
Today I walked with Charlie, swam most of my laps (thunder got me out of the pool early), went to the gym, and did my workout at home.
I'm looking forward to progress - and a pound less next Sunday.