I went away for the weekend and did a lot of activity – 2 days of running, one day on the hotel elliptical. I was feeling quite virtuous! But I was not quite as careful/aware as usual of my food intake. Today when I was back on my home scale I discovered I had gained a few pounds. But I had done such a good job of my exercise!
My food, not so much. I decided to go to the Weight Watchers Online site and track my points from yesterday, retrospectively. HOLY TOLEDO. I was… er….. about 24 points OVER my daily limit! AEEEEEEEEEYAHHHHH!! And I was thinking I had not done “all that bad.” WRONG.
This is one of the helpful things about points. It’s a reality check. If I had been aware of how many points I was eating, I would not have made those choices. I assumed that they were much lower than they really were. YIKES. I mean YIKES.
I’m lucky the damage was only “a few” pounds.
I’ve been reading that weight loss is a LOT more linked to food than activity level, and that sure was true for me. So even if you run miles and miles, if you’re not conscious of your food intake, you can still do a lot of damage, weight wise.
(Sigh) Tomorrow is my WW leader interview. I’m not feeling very stellar or confident right now, but I guess I will demonstrate how one can get back on a horse after falling off.
And tonight was supposed to be my IOU Mother’s Day dinner (also for my mother) since we were traveling all weekend. I wish I could avoid going to a nice restaurant, but it is her favorite choice. I’m just going to have to make some good choices even though we are at a good place.
WOW. I’m still shaking my head in disbelief over the # of points I ate this weekend. Kind of amazing.
foodfoodbodybody 
May 11, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Great post and very timely for me, too! I exercised 6 days last week and was super hungry all week. This led to my lack of control in the food department and a gain of 3 lbs. I hate that I get so hungry when I exercise. Going to just take little walks this week and see where I am next Monday. Good luck with your interview, I’m certain you’ll ace it!
May 11, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Yah, it stinks how much diet really matters, waaah. But on the bright side, wow, you’ve already lost quite a bit of weight and so you know what to do to continue that.
And you *did* exercise and that does count for something.
Good luck with your interview!
May 11, 2009 at 4:29 pm
A timely post for me, too, I’m afraid. What did you eat that you thought wasn’t so bad that turned out to be not so good?
May 11, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I think your self-discipline is completely inspiring, lady!
xoxox
May 11, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Err.. my biggest downfall was BBQ beef brisket from one of the outdoor stands. I was feeling good about getting the “plate” instead of the “sandwich.” I did not realize that the points count was 9, per 3 oz serving. I know I ate a lot more than 3 ounces. It was soooo good.
Then on the way home we stopped at a diner-ish place. I was hungry. I was exhausted. I ordered a tuna melt sandwich – again, fooling myself into thinking it was “not that bad” because what- I got it on whole wheat bread and I didn’t eat the potato chips on the side? Of course a tuna melt is nothing more than a grilled cheese sandwich PLUS tuna salad. Ugh. 18 points? ie almost my entire daily limit?
Bleah. I *should* have known, and I *could* have found out, but I didn’t.
May 11, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Yowza – I hate it when you think you’ve done a decent job with calories/points, only to have it bite you in the ass. You’ll get back on track now that you are home – no worries!
May 11, 2009 at 11:44 pm
You should feel stellar AND confident because you are freakin awesome! Go in there and kill the interview! You will be a great WW leader!
May 11, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Good luck on the interview tomorrow! You’ll do great!!! 🙂
May 12, 2009 at 12:37 am
Oh I totalllyyyy know what you mean. I’ve had days where I’ve sat down and literally eaten TWICE the amount of points that I’m allotted in a day, and I can’t even tell. It’s not like I’m rolling around in pain because I’m so full, which is how I’s expect to feel after eating that much! Nope, I feel just like I had if I’d eaten 25 points instead of 50.
Just remember – tomorrow is a new day.
May 12, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Reality bites! 😛 I hear all the time people who say they exercise “so they can eat whatever they want” but in my experience, like yours, that is SO not true.
May 13, 2009 at 3:34 pm
I hope all went well well with you WW interview. Make sure you let us all know how it went. Isn’t is amazing when you have those WOW moments, whether good or bad. It does bring us back to reality. That’s what got me back on track. I stepped on the scales one day and said WOW and more WOW.. So here I am now back on track and doing pretty good. Hope you had a nice dinner and you are right going to a nice restaurant doesn’t have to be a downfall. It’s all about making good choices. I am sure you did great.