Scale Sunday: Renewed Weight Loss Challenge

I let a month of Saturdays pass without posting a thing recently. I occasionally spent a bit of time in the mornings writing, but mostly Saturdays have become such marathon days of unfinished projects, making food, refilling the cupboards, and cleaning that I usually don't realize it's Saturday until I stop to take a breather.

We now have one week of school under our belt. The cooler months are creeping around the corner, heralded by the honking geese flocking over our roof in the early mornings and the prematurely golden willow leaves floating to the ground. The boys are eating us out of house and home--why does brain work make us so hungry?--and much of my free time is spent meal planning (in my small way) and making food (in a big way).

Food. Cold months. Sedentary activities (an oxymoron?) A dangerous combination. If I hadn't been so busy this summer I probably would have gained more than seven pounds back. That's the number: seven. I've been mulling over my lazy diet recently--more like being slapped in the face with it when I try on clothes--and trying to muster the energy to do something about it. I could not bring myself to write one more stale Scale Saturday post.

I've been sick a lot this last month, which is a huge reason why I want to get back to healthy eating. I've had a record number of migraines and gastrointestinal issues lately. My few feeble attempts to climb "back on the wagon" have resulted in exaggerated symptoms: nausea, light-headedness, severe mood swings. I have no doubt it's partly due to my confused and offended blood sugar and imbalances in nutrition. Also lurking in the back of my mind is the thought that perhaps the food choices I make during my "diets" have wreaked havoc on my system. During my last major weight-loss three years ago I developed an intolerance to avocados. And I love avocados! But no taste is worth that pain. Maybe I've developed other sensitivities this time around. In the past I was advised to try the GAPS diet to heal a leaky gut. I don't know, but I think it's worth looking into. Let this be a warning against yo-yo dieting! I will always struggle with moderation, but hope I can eventually get on a more even keel with less dramatic highs and lows.

For this third leg of my journey I decided to give Scale Saturday a makeover. Scale Saturday will be rechristened Scale Sunday, because the finality of weighing in Saturday mornings ultimately morphs into two splurge days, engulfing my entire weekend. And nobody needs that. I also have no desire for this part of my life to monopolize my blog, so I'll reserve Saturday mornings for non-weight related posts. My health-themed posts also take much less time to write, which fits perfectly into my Sunday morning routine (before I begin preparation for Mass, which is on Sunday afternoons).

It's so easy to be hard on ourselves, and I want you all to know that right now I'm not angry with myself, not frustrated, and especially not beating myself up over my mediocre summer. My husband put things in perspective for me recently (and frankly, unexpectedly) when he said, "You're only 22 pounds heavier than when we got married. And you've had five kids. 22 pounds is all!" 22 pounds seems like quite a manageable number to lose. So I'll push myself  just a bit farther.

My goal this time is to lose 27 pounds...by Thanksgiving. I've had a long enough break that it should be manageable in three months time. Here we go.