Back in the Saddle Again

Friday, I had an epiphany. On impulse, I jumped on the scale at the gym and was shocked to discover that I had regained a bunch of pounds since the last time I weighed and actually hit what I refer to as my "cap weight". I call it that because in the many years I have been fighting with my weight, I have never been higher than that point. I felt terrible. Here I am working out three days a week and in many ways, in much better shape than I have ever been, and heavy as ever. It is just sad.
So, rather than sitting back and doing nothing, I took the weekend to eat myself into a food coma, indulging in all those things I feel deprived of most of the time. On Monday, I began eating right and did a couple of days of a cleanse. I also did something incredibly drastic. I told my trainer that I would weigh in every time I come to the gym and tell him what I ACTUALLY weigh. I think the accountability to another person really helps me and he is really enthusiastic and supportive. We agreed I would weigh in beginning Wednesday. Much to my delight, I had already lost four pounds since Friday! Today, I discovered I have lost another 3.4 lbs! I am nearly 8 lbs lighter than last week! Not a bad start.
My trainer wants to watch my calories, and to keep it simple, told me just to text him pics of whatever I eat. I was slightly intimidated and a little cheeped out by idea, so I started looking at food diary apps for my ever-present smart phone. I found a freebie, Myfitnesspal. It is soooooo cool and easy to use and EVERYONE who has tried it loves it. It is very simple to use and the function that just thrills me is that it can scan the bar codes on food products and come up with all the nutritional info. You enter the portion amount and voila'! Everything from the calories to the amount of calcium, vitamins, fiber, etc, you consume is logged. It makes nifty graphs, and all kinds of stuff. You can enter exercise, how much water you drank, and it has blogging and networking features. (Also available via computer.) I love it! I am so impressed that I put their little weight loss thingy on my blog. That's a first.
Anyway, nothing has fundamentally changed with my life, kids, stresses and such, but for some reason, I am in a really good place now, and I feel like I really have got all of the pieces in place this time. I think it will really make a difference having my trainer backing me up. I am excited. For the first time in about four years,I think I can really do this.