An indefinite scale hiatus

Remember how I said I'd start back up with the weigh-ins the Wednesday after the long weekend? Well, the more astute of you would have noticed that the Wednesday after the long weekend came and went with nary a weigh-in blog post.

Now, I did get on the scale. Turns out I weigh more than I did before I started Weight Watchers.

But here's the other thing: I've had people tell me recently (like on Thursday) that I look slimmer and I have been asked if I've lost weight.

Which means there have definitely been changes happening to my body, which is good, but they aren't changes that are necessarily identified by the number on the scale. Some of my clothes are tighter on me now but other pieces fit me the same as when I was a lower weight.

So when you combine this with my deeply entrenched angst towards other numbers (like clothing sizes) I think it might be good for me to not weigh in. I know that is a big part of the Weight Watchers program but I just don't want to take part in that weekly weigh-in anymore. I'm still going to remain part of Weight Watchers because there are a lot of benefits to it and I did successfully lose almost 20 lb before.

And I am still going to blog, to talk about the wedding and the house and my life and, yes, my efforts to get in better shape and to be healthier. It's just I can't do the scale right now. Maybe one day I will go back to it and I will find my motivation in that number but right now it's stresses me out more than it helps and if I want to get in better shape - physically, mentally and emotionally - I need to stick to the things that help, not hinder.

So now begins the indefinite scale hiatus.

The dumps

I've been in the dumps lately, for reasons known and unknown, and decided it would be a good idea to hop on the scale. You know, just to see how things were going.

Bad idea.

I'm supposed to be back into my weekly weigh-ins next Wednesday and I'm slowly coming to two realizations:

1 - My current weight may be as good as it gets for me.
2 - This completely depresses me.

Yeah.

A chewy conundrum

I've always been a snacker. Unless it's a big family dinner, I'm mostly content to just graze all day and eat a variety of things at a variety of times.

(While some weight loss plans/experts suggest this is a good thing, it requires a person to be very aware of what is being grazed upon and the bad food count can add up FAST. But this post isn't about that, so I'll leave it alone for now.)

As I've been working on improving my eating habits I've been discovering I actually like various healthy foods, like apples and oranges and smoothies. (I'm a little obsesses with smoothies right now, but ones I make at home, not the sugar bombs you can buy in the food court.) The one thing I've been discovering with healthy snacks, though, is that many of them are hard and crunchy, especially when eaten as-is. (Like aforementioned apples and nuts and baby carrots.) Sure, oranges, cucumbers, yogurt, among others, don't crunch, but they're also generally cold and juicy. Of course, they should be, so that's not the problem.

The problem is that I often get a craving for something chewy and I've yet to find the perfect healthy snack to satisfy this craving.

And when I say chewy, I mean something like bologna and cheese on Wonder Bread. Pizza with melty cheese. Pasta with meat sauce. Mushroom risotto. Food that doesn't make a sound when you eat it, except the slurping sound you make as you shovel it in. Nom.

Perhaps it's not so much my love of chewy food, but what kind of chewy food I reach for that's my problem. You'll notice the examples I listed are deliciously carby and awesome calorie bombs. And any decent eating plan will include chewy foods, carby and otherwise. I'm just still looking for the "otherwise" kind of chew that will both quash my cravings but not my weight loss goals.

Wouldn't a meatball sub be awesome right now?