Thursday Night Weigh-In (11/12): Honesty Is the Bear's Policy

Hello, gentle readers (all five of you, I think). Sorry the blog entries are coming a bit late these days, but everything seems to be slowing down in Nature and nurture. After last Saturday's weigh-in, I gave it the ol' college try (which is appropriate since I'm working for one right now as a "casual employee" - that's TEMP to you non-PC folks out there) in getting back into my exercise routine. Saturday was the first of six days straight of going to the gym for alternating upper body/leg and stomach circuits and doing a full (3.5 mile) walk each day (except the night of the weigh-in; it was COLD out there!).

I stepped on the scale that blustery Thursday night and two more pounds were waiting for me for a not-so-grand total of 335. That's 11 pounds up from my lowest weigh-in to date of 324 pounds on October 15, and as that is a pound more than the ten-pound range I wanted to stay in after I got to maintenance at 300 pounds, which I'm moving farther away from by the week, it's time to reevaluate.

Yes, I was going through a difficult time of transition leaving a job and assimilating a new one, but it's been a month and the wheels have fallen off that excuse. Yes, the fall is upon us and it's colder and darker earlier outside now which makes it harder to get out of a warm bed to go for a walk in the morning or find the energy (much less the side of the track!) at night to go walking or work out at the gym afterwards, but look where the alternative is getting me?

There's a big difference between consciously putting your brain in a jar in order not to overwhelm yourself and to take one step at a time to reach your goals and unconsciously leaving your brain in that jar until Spring. Although I'm a Bear, I've already stated in "A Time for Balance" here that I don't have the luxury of hibernation this time of year and even though I may feel SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) because of it, that doesn't mean I can't walk twice a day, work out at night and put the ice cream away once I've eaten my designated half-carton rather than putting it ALL away in my stomach (which I've done a few times as of late, and before you jump all over me for eating THAT MUCH ICE CREAM before going to bed, it's sugar free, low-calorie, and I was still losing weight eating it when I was doing right by myself before and I will again).

I was going to skip blogging about this weigh-in since I'd already 'fessed up about Saturday's weight gain and hoped that walking, working out and watching what I was eating this week would make a difference and put me at a plateau when I weigh in tomorrow. But that would be more "cheating," and if I can't be honest with myself, I shouldn't even be writing this blog because sharing my struggles and successes with like-minded people for mutual support and enjoyment was the impetus for blogging in the first place, and although I like to joke about hibernation, I've kept myself asleep in the dark long enough.

So, time (if not light) permitting, I'm back to walking five miles a day (a half-walk's all my sleep and work schedule allow me in the morning), going to the gym six times a week (Fridays off for good behavior), and if I fall asleep before my evening snack like I did last night, all the better for tomorrow's weigh-in. Now, where are those resolutions I wrote a couple months ago for surviving the darker, colder months? There they are...