Ugh!

Well, in the last two days, my weight has jumped up four pounds. Three the first day and another one today. Made me do a double take. Jumps are rare for me, and a second day of a trend is not a good sign.

Now, this could be menstrual cycle related. It could be due to lack of bowel regularity. It could be water retention. But honestly I'll admit, the last three days have been a bit sloppy as far as eating goes. I've started eating too late, like not until 11 a.m., and then haven't stuck to trying to get my food in at the meal instead of all through the afternoon. I find that I'm still eating way later than is reasonable, right up till I go to bed. And my biggest problem--cookies!

We had some friends coming by to stay the night on Saturday. They're a big group, 8 of them, so I figured it would be nice to have some homemade cookies for them. I seldom bake goodies anymore, so whenever there's a chance for me to do so, share them, and only have a little bit left over, it's a good chance to do it.

I did okay on the first day, but we had them around for three days. The group wasn't Harrisons (in our younger years) or Elliotts (with all the boys), so there were cookies left over. ;)

It's not that cookies are inherently evil. If I'm eating well and want to enjoy a cookie or two after eating a good meal, that's not a problem for me. Somehow, having already eaten more cookies than I should have, put me in a lazy frame of mind and the rest of the day was sloppy eating as well. So now the cookies are gone and I'm starting over fresh this morning with logging my food intake and making smart choices. I haven't been logging my food intake at all since getting back from vacation. I use thedailyplate.com. It helps me be accountable for what is going in my mouth. If I know I'm going to log it, I'm less likely to make a bad choice.

I try to stick to these eating guidelines: Less than 100 g carbs, less than 20 g fat, though I'm happy with under 30 honestly, and 60-80 g of protein. This all totals around 1200 calories. I don't know how I'm doing on the guidelines if I'm not logging. Today is going really well.

So what have I learned from these last couple of days? I need to eat early in the day, not just let breakfast go until lunchtime. I need to get my water intake. Part of sloppy eating is also not getting enough water in.

Also, I need to better regulate my environment. I should have sent all the cookies with our friends, save 1 or 2 for each of us. I tried putting them in the freezer, but it was futile, because on a hot day, do you know how good a frozen chocolate chip cookie tastes? Yummy.

My surgeon recommends that we weigh ourselves every day for the rest of our lives. Because a course correction is much easier if you've only gained 5 pounds, verses 30 or 40, or even 100. I agree totally with this as of today. I know that some people, my mother included, have (or had) a hard time with the psychological game of weighing every day and it's hard for them to handle. If I ever get to the point that it's ruling my thoughts, or controlling what kind of day I'm having, I may consider backing off and weighing less often, like once a week. But for now, it's good.

Lots to ponder and learn from.