Angel Food (lowfat)

Well, my foray back into the land of the 150s was a short trip! I weighed in yesterday at 163.4. So… I gained how much in a week? Nearly 4 lbs? Eek!

After momentarily feeling like I wanted to crack the little scale display, I decided that I cannot stress about this weight gain. Truthfully, I wasn’t expecting a major loss since it was such a big family weekend with no points-counting involved. I wasn’t expecting such a big gain, either, but what can I do about it? I can’t change what I did (biscuits and gravy, cake, calzone, brisket, cookies…) or didn’t do (exercise, count points)last week. All I can do is work toward the future. So, I’m back to counting points, and I’ve been to the gym 3 days in a row.

Perhaps the best news of this past week is that I resolved to be confident at my brother’s wedding. I was going to wear a purple and brown, long-sleeved, autumnal dress. It would have been pretty, but I would have shrunk into the background. Instead, I took a risk and wore my favorite bubble-skirt blue tank dress with a gorgeous jewel-toned turquoise jacket. Recently,  since I’ve gained weight, I’ve let myself fade into the background. I don’t want people to look at me and think, “too bad, she’s not as skinny as she once was.” But, honestly, I can’t control what others say and think. What I can control is how I feel about myself.

Last weekend, I decided to feel beautiful. And, you know what? I not only felt beautiful; I also felt totally invigorated. Just the experience of feeling beautiful has given me the motivation I need to move on from my weight gain and to not lose faith as I try to lose weight. I’m actually looking forward to keep “working the plan” (as my friend in AA says), and I anticipate great results.

Last weekend was my brother’s wedding. With all the excitement of this blessed event, I forgot to post my weigh in results. My last Thursday weigh-in was a gem - 159.8. It’s been a couple months since I’ve dipped below 160, so I was thrilled to be back in the land of the 150s!

One’s brother only gets married once (one hopes!), so I didn’t worry about dieting over the weekend. I weighed myself Monday (why do I still torture myself like this?). The results weren’t good - too much wedding cake, I suppose. I avoided the buttercream, but the raspberry mousse filling was absolutely dreamy! On the plus side, I worked out last night for the first time in weeks, doing a new weight routine for arms and revisiting an old ab workout. I feel good and strong today and plan on doing some cardio this evening. Since I’m back into my healthy routine, I’ll cut myself some slack tomorrow if my weigh-in isn’t ideal. But, I’ll be sure to weigh-in to keep myself focused and on track.

At the urging of a friend of mine, I’m changing my weigh in day from Mondays to Thursdays. Thursday was my original WW weigh in day, and I usually was quite happy to step on the scale then. Thursday seemed to be the perfect amount of time to allow me to get back on track and readjust after any weekend excesses. Thursday is also close enough to the weekend to help me remember my weight loss progress and inspire me to eat a little more virtuously come Saturday. In a perfect world, there would be no weekend excesses. But, who am I kidding? I’m just not perfect. So, in an effort to revisit the strategies that made me successful in weight loss to start with - there is no weigh in result today. Oh darn.

Bonus: If you’re looking for a killer lower calorie chicken parm recipe. Check out this Light Chicken Parmesan from Everyday Food. I substitued Panko (I have a monster sized bag of it) for the whole wheat bread crumbs. The dish is simple but terrific for dinner and makes great leftovers for lunch. Your coworkers will be jealous!