I woke up this morning, used the bathroom, hopped on the scale and looked down.  What the *^$@#$% was my out loud comment.  The scale was up half a pound from yesterday.  I started to get into that nasty head space, asking myself why I bother to journal my food, work my butt off (literally) at the gym, drink all my water, etc, etc, etc.  Why am I bothering to be a good weight loss surgery patient when the scale doesn’t seem to want to cooperate with me.

Then I had a cup of tea, calmed down and started thinking rationally.  OK, let’s look at the last couple of weeks.  I got back from vacation and set a goal of shedding 15 pounds by my birthday in September.  That is a SMART goal, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound.  Next, how was I going to do it?  My plan was, and still is, to consume less than 1000 calories a day, more than 70 grams of protein and drink at least 64 ounces of water.  It’s tried and true behavior that always works when the choices are protein first and veggies to follow.  So now I looked at my journal.  THAT is EXACTLY what I have been doing for the last couple of weeks.  I dropped 8 pounds in a flash and now I am teetering up and down one pound.  What a royal pain in the you know where, right?

Next I had my coffee, checked my email and Facebook and then took off for the gym.  I had a bit of a sinus headache and told myself 30 minutes of swimming laps would do for today.  I got into the water and began swimming, and swimming, and swimming, and before I knew it I had been swimming for 45 minutes.  It went quickly, it was smooth, my stamina didn’t fall off and I came out of the pool feeling relaxed, refreshed, and renewed.

Next was my shower and getting dressed.  I put on my undies and bra and noticed that nothing was tight, everything was fitting better, and then I looked in the mirror and noticed my profile had taken back on the flat stomach look and my pants weren’t tight and my shirt wasn't rolling up at the bottom because my hips were spread too far.

As I drove home I thought about this:

• I’m eating fewer calories and all the food is healthy, protein first and fresh veggies
• I’m hitting my calorie/protein/water goals daily
• My fitness is in place
• My energy level and stamina have increased

So what the heck was I bitching about?  I wanted to see that number drop each and every day until I hit my goal.  What I failed to remember was even as I shed 250 pounds at the beginning of my journey I had days and weeks where I had no change in the number on the scale, but lots of changes in the rest of me.  Lesson remembered and re-learned.

Be patient with yourself Sandi, you are a work in progress and the scale will always catch up with your choices.  You are making good choices and those negative thoughts don’t serve your journey.

ONWARD!