What Doesn't Work

I've been reading the maintenance threads over at 3FatChicks.com, trying to get my mojo back. My weight is up, and I just can't bring myself to care for more than 5 minutes. I've realized that it isn't working right now, this isn't maintenance. Here's my list of what doesn't work for me:

1. Eating in restaurants
2. Skipping workouts
3. Sugary cereals
4. Dried fruits
5. Nuts
6. Spandex
7. Denial

None of these are bad in small quantities, but for me they tend to snowball. Restaurants? Well, I like burgers. Burgers come with fries. Half pound burger plus fries and a Coke = blowing past my maintenance calories for the day. Sugary cereals and dried fruits? The concentrated sugar makes me crave more sweets throughout the day, again blowing the calorie budget when I don't need to. Here's how to counteract the deadly 7 above.

1. Plan dinner every night. Having food planned (And prepped, and in the fridge) means we're less likely to say "I don't want to cook, lets go out!" Alternatively, if we're planning to go out I can budget for those fries, or build up an iron will to order the vegetable of the day instead of fries. Half pound burger + grilled asparagus + water = not nearly as much damage.

2. Bring yoga clothes to work, buy a second mat to leave in the car, and stash an extra $10 with the mat for class fees. Walk with co-workers on lunch when feasible. Sign up for another dance class with the boyfriend. Set the alarm clock on Saturday morning, when I'm most motivated to do yoga on my own.

3. Bran Flakes, oatmeal, scrambled eggs.

4. Frozen fruit, veggies, 100 cal snack packs

5. Buy a 1/8c measure, because it's the 1/4c of nuts that is just a wee bit too much for a snack. Also, buy 100 cal snack packs for snacks instead of nuts every day.

6. Buy more pants without spandex. Hard to find these days, which is why most of what I own is 3% spandex and allows me to say "Oh, this still fits, of course!" which leads to

7. Be accountable to the scale, and those fresh-from-the-dryer, non-spandex jeans. Also, weigh in a Weight Watchers regularly. Waiting until the last possible day of the month and then praying is NOT a good sign.

Hard to stay motivated

I've gotten into a cycle of trying to lose weight for about 2 weeks (reasonable exercise, 1500 cal/day, yadda) and then slowly backsliding over the course of the next month. Repeat. I think it's the slow, slow backsliding that's killing me. Lose a pound in 2 weeks, gain it back over the next 4 to 6. And at this point, I can't tell if it's slight over-eating on my part, or if I'm not putting things in fitday, or if I've lost enough muscle tissue that I'm actually burning that many fewer calories.

I'm not really sure what I need to do to kickstart things. Or rather, I've got the kickstart thing down. Now I need something to keep me going, keep the veggies at my desk, keep the fires burning for a solid 2 months to ease me into bikini season. A pound every other week, that's all I want to lose, from now until the end of June.

Over exercising?

My right knee is achy. I'm not sure if it's from last night's yoga (a lot of hamstring stretching, where I stretched so hard that my toes were tingly), or the culmination of a week and a half of walking, biking, dancing, yardwork, and a workout video thrown in for good measure.

I've been active, and that's good. Also I've kept my calories down, so the weight battle is going well. I just have to baby that knee for a while and take some Tylenol.

So I did a 5 minute walk on lunch today, and plan 10 min of dance practice tonight. I'm keeping moving, but not enough to aggravate anything.