Rookie Mistake

Hello all!

After having four weeks of success, I gained a couple pounds at my last weigh-in.  F.

TOPS has the weekly weigh-in, and little prizes for the biggest loser of the week, or special contests.  Each chapter is different, and at mine, whatever change you want to put in the "kitty" gets collected, and the total, plus one dollar, goes to the biggest loser of the week.  On February 5, I won the kitty!  My little rolled-up dollar and about $2.50 in change was awesome.  I lost 2.2 pounds that week, which is the most I want to lose weekly.  The following week (last week) I gained 1.8 of that back.  UGH.  It was really discouraging.  I exercised the same amount as I usually do (about 150 mins total) and stayed at my calorie goal each day.  I did everything I was supposed to do- but gained because I forgot to factor in something that should have been obvious.  We didn't work.

I am from Ohio.  We get snow.  Lots of it.  So when we got snow here in Portland that week, I didn't expect anything major to happen.  We only got four inches.  I've been mandated into work as a waitress in Level 3 snow emergencies back home (where only emergency personnel are allowed on the road, tickets and fines to those driving who aren't).  So four inches shouldn't do anything, right?  I was so very, very wrong.  It shut down the whole city!

We had to walk to the grocery store, where we saw people skiing to New Seasons.  We also saw lots of snow-shoes, umbrellas, hiking backpacks, tire chains, and ski goggles.  It was crazy.  

We were used to it.  Hats and scarves were enough. 

Our restaurant, where Tim and I both work, closed down Thursday night through Sunday.  We got called off Tuesday and Wednesday, so we only worked one day that week.  One day of lifting trays, running my butt off for customers is not enough activity for the week.  Even staying at 1,500 calories, exercising normally, I forgot to factor in the lack of work- I burn a lot of calories as a waitress.  If I work a double shift, I don't exercise that day, because I burn so much just doing my job.  I didn't factor that in when we were snowed in for the "blizzard" of 2014.  Rookie move.

Lesson learned: when one is not working at an active job, one must exercise more, or eat less.

I'm glad that I didn't gain back everything that I lost.  And, even more glad that I am at a supportive group that simply says "We're glad you're here" when you admit you gained that week.  You'll be happy to know (as I am) that weighing myself at home shows that I have gotten rid of those couple pounds this week, and will hopefully be down at weigh-in.  My analog scale is horribly inaccurate, so it's impossible to know for sure.

Dinners for this week have included steak, orzo-stuffed peppers with feta, and a hot fudge-brownie sundae that we made for Valentine's day.  We also got some Chinese take-out, and made lots of roasted veggies.  I've learned that watching calories doesn't have to mean eating blah-food everyday.  If I go over a few calories, that's ok.  I'm sure I'll regret lots of things.  Eating a brownie will never be one of them.