3 Pounds?!

How is it that someone can gain 3 pounds in one week? Is that even possible if you are instead trying to loose weight?! HOW CAN THAT BE?!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I'm really not that upset. It was over Thanksgiving, where I ate pumpkin pie and cheesecake....and then had the leftovers of pumpkin pie and cheesecake. And was too tired to cook on Black Friday so we picked up Pizza Hut pizza. And the other day we were running late after Jacob's speech therapy and shopping so I just stopped at the convenience store and picked up a thin crust pizza there and my kids picked up donuts, which I had to try, of course! So a weight gain was to be expected, though I didn't quite expect those 3 whole pounds!

I am at a healthy weight right now. I have nothing to be upset about except for not eating healthy foods this past week. Even when one is at a healthy weight it is not a reason for eating unhealthy foods all week. I am not obsessed with weight loss and eat a balanced diet, no extremes of cutting out all fat or eating just lettuce everyday or forgoing dessert or a treat. It all equals out to balance. But my trouble sometimes comes from wanting that second brownie, or wanting that second or third helping of pasta and that is where for the last year I have been doing really well. I eat what I need to nourish myself and typically stop at the point of overindulging. But this past week it has shown me what overindulging can do...which is add three pounds of fat in one week! :) So I need to get back on track.

I only want to loose about five pounds and keep it off, but for the past several months I have been gaining and loosing the same four pounds. As I mentioned before, I am already at a healthy weight. I do not consider myself fat or overweight but just have that goal of about five pounds lighter. I already met my goal at TOPS, but still want that five pounds to come off! I was always a very thin person, without even having to try. At age 18, when I got married, I was only 115 pounds - and I am 5'7" so that wasn't exactly a healthy weight but that was just the way I was. I never dieted or restricted any type of food. I never tried to be skinny, I just was. But of course, pregnancy and growing out of adolescence tends to sometimes change one's metabolism, or gaining 30-40 pounds with a pregnancy does the same thing! So after three pregnancies in four short years I just wanted to get back to a weight that I felt comfortable with. What I like about the TOPS group (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) is that when you set your goal weight you need to get a health professionals approval on that goal weight. TOPS does not let you set an unrealistic goal or an unhealthy one, they want you to set a goal that is healthy for your height and bone structure. It is a sensible group with a sensible way to loose weight. Not dieting, but rather focusing on life changes.

I will never be 115 pounds again and I don't want to be...that is not a realistic weight for someone who is 5'7"! And I do not let the scale rule how I feel in any given day. But gaining 3 pounds in one week has shown me that overindulging is not a good thing either, and it is helping me get back to a healthy eating pattern. I just hope that I remember that for the rest of the holiday season!