Diet Update: Week Seventeen

Week seventeen has arrived, and with it came that dreaded day. The day I had to admit to you all publicly that I didn’t lose any weight this week. Not only that, I gained weight. Let’s get that out in the open right away. I clocked in at 190.4 this morning. That means I’m up 0.8 pounds for the week.

Some of this is due to the fact that I cheated on my diet hardcore this week. We’re talking exotic cheeseburgers, bratwursts, bags of M&Ms, multiple slices of chocolate cake, soda, different varieties of potato salad, ice cream bars . . .

Yeah. All of that and more.

Why in the world did I fall off the wagon to that great an extent? One reason is that there were a couple of parties I went to this past week. A wedding and a (very tame) bachelor party. I didn’t want to be That Guy at the party who just nibbled at his food. So I ate along with the best of them. And paid the price. And then there was the wedding, and I just didn’t have it in me to diet for that, too.

I’m getting tired of this, people. That’s what it all boils down to. I’m now officially a “normal” weight, and being on a diet is just plain no fun. I want to be able to live it up a bit now and then. The writing was on the wall last week, when I started talking about just stopping the diet at 185.

It also didn’t help that I was still recovering from being sick, and I haven’t felt up to exercising.

The good news is that even with all of that cheating and no exercise, I still only gained 0.8 pounds for the week. Honestly, I’m happy with how much I weigh at the moment. 190 is a fine weight. My only concern is that it’s quite close to hitting 195, which would put be back in the “overweight” category. But if I could settle in here and not move any, I’d be content. Cheating as much as I did this week, and only gaining a little? I’m actually okay with that, more or less.

The question then becomes, where do I go from here? I mentioned last week that I want to have a successful transition phase, where I get used to eating a good amount of food–not too little, not too much. I want to stick with that. This weekly blog series has helped me a lot so far, and I’m not ready to give it up just yet, so I think that for the time being, I’ll continue the series with the disclaimer that I’m now shooting to stay between 185 and 190. I’d like to lose a bit more weight, and then just maintain.

I plan on doing that by continuing the diet, but giving myself some cheats now and then. I anticipate losing weight, but not as quickly or as much. Hopefully next week I’m below 190 again–back in my “target zone.” And we’ll see how I do with all of that. I’m also committed to continuing to exercise each day. That’s been a very good change for me, and I’d like to keep at it.

So it’s all about building good habits for the next month or two. We’ll see how it goes.

Thanks to everyone for your help and support through this thing. I’ve really appreciated it!