those old habits come back in force...

[stego]

stego here...joined ww in march 2004. It's been 3 years; lost the weight in 15 months; became a lifetime member in July 2005. How much weight total loss? Give or take 96 lbs. Finished my wish journey after that year and rode off into the sunset literally. Came back now and then to share about life after weight loss; mostly about being on the bike and my endeavors in mountain bike racing. Thought I had a fix on this thing; you know the rest...I've been attending ww meeting very sporadically. I was going for my monthly weigh-in and that was it. For most of 2006 I stayed under or at my goal and I was happy. Then november rolled around after the fall racing season and the old ideas came back...with a vengence! A little nibble here, a lot of nibble there...being lax on counting on my points. My activity didn't taper off that much; but the intensity did somewhat. For some reason my running stayed on target and I actually got faster. But my monthly weigh-in for January rolled around and on the scale I got...it was downright ugly...I gained 14 lbs. in one month! Oh my god! Yes, I was in street clothes, it was late in the evening...but there is only so much I can excuse. My pants were getting really tight and the spring season start was just right around the corner. Then I got sick. Lost my appetite; stayed home and cleaned the pantry out. Started tracking everything; and I mean everything. I've been writing it all down; no snacking at all. What worked was my 2 point at tv time in the evening; popcorn and fudge bar. Yeah, it gets old, but I love the way I feel now. For my training I have to watch very carefully what I eat because it is fuel; there is very little room for empty calories. So I got on the scale for my February weigh-in and it said I lost 12.6! For some reason I was .6 above my 2 lb. cushion but they gave it to me for free. How many ww lifetime members lose that much in a month? This sunday is my first spring race and I haven't prepared as well as I think I should have. But fortunately, it plays into my strengths: hills. I've been going every two weeks now to the ww meeting and doing better. I have had difficulty in going to the meetings (mostly because of my ego and being cocky) but a little of something that hasn't been discussed and maybe you guys will put in your 2 cents. I wasn't getting a lot out of it because here I was with all these folks trying to lose weight; I thought the whole idea was to lose weight, get to goal/lifetime and get on with my life; and share about life after weight loss. So I looked around and there are no lifetimers...everyone is losing weight. I don't want to share about my lack of speed in the flats because everyone and I mean everyone is sharing about their struggles in the office and the candy jar. I got to goal; I should be able to share about life after that; and the struggles/gains I have. Each week isn't about that lb loss or gain it's about living life to the fullest. Maybe getting sick was God's way of "nudging" me back onto the right track...I'm grateful that I can come here and share in humility about my mistakes, my lessons and my hope. By the by, March 19 I will celebrate 15 years being friends with Bill W. , one day at a time. I'm not there yet; that's how it works. It's all about the journey and then some. Last year I shared about getting another mountain bike; and as like anything I've had too much time on my hands and been learning about race specifici bikes...lo and behold came home one friday from my bike commute and there was a new epic in the living room; another bike; sold the other and have been riding the new black beauty. Now there are no excuses...and of course looking at another wheelset already! LOL stego out