Weekly Update - Jen H.

Week 2 Points: 66 (+1 wk 1 posting + 1 wk 1 weight loss + 5 for $$) = 73 wk 2 (running total 66 wk1 + 73 wk2 = 139)

This week was a good week. I made it to the pool 4 times--the two cross-training water aerobics classes were fairly intense, but now I'm noticing my lap sessions aren't pushing me as hard as they used to, so I need to up my pace and duration a bit I think. I also need to fill in the other days with my Bellydance & Bollywood dance tapes, but I just haven't been in the mood. I've decided to try and only weigh myself on Mondays as frequent weigh-ins just cause me stress and affect the way I eat and exercise. I resisted until the weekend and weighed in and found I'd only lost a half pound and started ranting and raving about how my husband can decide to exercise twice in a week, continue eating candy and cookies all evening every evening and lose 10 pounds in two weeks, while I work my butt off, eat no treats, eat nothing after 8pm and I eek out a mere half a pound! This morning I weighed in 2 pounds down, so I shouldn't complain too much I suppose. I'M BELOW 280!!!! At 279.5, I'm having myself a mini-celebration. It's been a few months I've been in the 80s and not very happy about it. That's progress!

Okay, so on the food front. We've gone back to the dining hall and I've done pretty good. I still take and eat too much, but I'm getting better at not taking seconds. I need to make smaller salads and avoid even firsts of some of the things they offer. I'm notorious for overeating good foods. Like I said, I don't eat a lot of junk, I just eat a lot. In that awesome book I recommended (Intuitive Eating--let me know if you're interested and I'll post a link or the author, you can get it on Amazon pretty cheap), in order to help you get back in touch with your bodies signals, they recommend having you rate your hunger on a scale of one to ten (zero being passed out from hunger, 10 being so full you're vomitting and 5 being just right). So when I was working with a dietician, in my food journal, for each meal or snack, I would write in a number to rate my hunger before and after a meal. I just note something like 3 - 6 next to each entry. You want to keep your hunger levels in the mid-range so you don't get so ravenous you end up binging and you don't eat so much you're sick and can't recognize any other signals. You want to eat when you're at a 3 or 4 and stop when you're at a 5 or 6. I've just started rating my food log again so that I can start to better respond to my body's cues (and quit overeating for Pete's sake!)

I'm thinking of tailoring my points to better challenge me and work on my particular weaknesses. So, since I just don't drink soda pop, I'm thinking that, for me, I'll add a requirement to that point. If I want that point, I need to not only not drink soda pop during the day, but I need to not make myself over-full. I think I'll start by saying if I ever rate my satiety level above a 7, I lose that point for the day (or if I happen to drink pop). I know, too much information, just do it already Jen. But I've been thinking about doing this myself, but if I try and do it and don't post it here, then I can cop out and no one will know. This way, I'm committed.

That's all from me.