McFatty Monday

So, I've made a few internet "friends" which I know we were all warned about when the internet was new and full of crazies, but I get bored with just the tangible crazies in my life and like to add a few virtual ones to the mix. Anyway, I have this "friend" who has the most amazing blog. She writes like I someday hope to and has a following that is unbelievable, she is blog goddess Blair. Well, Blair and several of her fellow bloggers have this tradition they call McFatty Monday...now, I'm not sure who started it and would love to give creative credit to the originator but I simply don't know for sure...go ask Blair! Anyway, I digress. As I was reading through several of the McFatty Monday posts I thought perhaps maybe I should partake of this tomfoolery.

I gotta say, I'm a little on the fence about the name though, sure it's clever and everyone loves a good alliteration but I like to try and keep my weight loss and body image stuff optimistic and I think "McFatty" might be anything but optimistic...OR maybe I'll just pull the stick out of my butt and roll with it. So, McFatty it is :)

Now, it is with slight apprehension that I write this post, you see, I'm coming off of a VERY good weekend, and I try not to be the type to lure you to my blog only to brag about how awesome I am, (though I'm pretty sure if you're reading my blog you realize that I am awesome without me telling you so). My hope is that by telling you about my successes and failures that I can help you realize that if you're on your own weight loss/fitness/ health journey that fluctuations are natural and the biggest key is to just pull up your boot straps (although none of my boots have straps) and keep going. Maybe I'll inspire you, that's my hope.

Well, here goes. A couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to finally buckle down, get serious and lose these last 25-30 lbs that are hanging around like a stray cat. Since my very ambitious commitment and obsessive determination I have lost 11 lbs! But the last 5 have been like a tease here today, gone tomorrow, back again the next day, but I finally feel like I've gotten rid of them once and for all and am on a good trajectory again. Last week was a challenge. I'm not gonna lie! Following the weekend of candyfest, better known as Halloween and all of the Trick-or-trunk-or-fill-my-kids-up-with-ungodly-amounts-of-sugar-Treating, my house was FULL of the stuff that I usually don't allow past the stoop. I was like a drug addict dropped in the middle of a crack house and I couldn't resist the fix, so much so that I wound up giving myself a tooth ache over obscene chocolate, nugaty, carmelly, calorie consumption, but come Monday it was no holds barred, I knew I'd screwed up, I knew it was time to get it together and that's what I did. Everyday, despite fatigue, or excuses, I did my workout, I counted my calories and I stuck to it. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that I didn't eat any more candy after the Sunday sabotage, as a matter of fact, I actually ate candy nearly every day, that was before I stashed it on top of the refrigerator where it wasn't staring me in the face every time I walked into the kitchen.

. As the week wore on though, the weekend was looming like the monster beneath the bed. I couldn’t back track again. I wouldn’t back track again.

Well, Friday was Alex and my night to run the “Friday Night Hang Out” at our church, which means that I’m up later than normal, meaning I wind up needing another something to eat after my dinner which is usually my final meal of the day, but not going to bed until midnight and having had my last meal at 6 when I typically eat every 2-3 hours simply is not an option. There is this dynamic that functions like a demon forcing your body to crave every unhealthy thing in the evening time and he was active in full force Friday night. Thankfully I’ve become attuned to my body’s natural responses. I actually know when I’m hungry and when I’m not. I stop eating before I’m full, not shoveling it in until I’m passed the point of being stuffed, and I made it through!! I had an added pressure on Saturday. I was meeting with a former business associate who was starting her own weight loss journey for the umpteenth time. She was so exhausted over the process and so fed up with starting up and giving up that she asked me to meet with her and give her the extra push. How could I tell someone how to start their fitness journey if I was eating the junk I was telling her to avoid, and not working out like I told her she should be doing!?! And so, despite having a busy day, not fully planning my snacks and eating long after the point of being VERY hungry I for what feels like the very first time in my life didn’t sabotage myself!! Sunday morning saw weight loss! Sunday is ALWAYS a hard day for me. My workout schedule is such that Sunday is supposed to be my rest day, meaning no workout! No workout means that I have plenty of time to wander into the kitchen to find something terribly unhealthy to eat, and I usually do. I firmly believe that this stems from Alex spending most of the afternoon sitting on the couch watching shows that I am less than interested in, and so in my boredom I wander to my demise. Since Alex is now back on full duty at work and trying to make up for lost wages while on light duty , he self-sacrificially gave up his Sunday afternoon to do a BIG corporate job. So, Alex was gone, the girls were napping and my afternoon had disaster written all over it, if I let it, but I didn’t!

I made myself busy. I cleaned the house, I did laundry—LOTS of laundry, but you know what I didn’t do… EAT! I stuck to my calories, I stuck to my meal schedule and this morning I was another pound closer to my goal!!! So, it’s a little thinner McFatty Monday and here is my commitment that next McFatty will be even better!

How was your weekend? Were you triumphant or was it back on the wagon again this morning? What can I do to help you stay on track, to help you reach your goals?