Quick Post.

I’m in the middle of writing a final paper for my college class. It’s extremely slow going because I really am not into I/O Psych. I need the class to graduate. Luckily I get to write about what I want. I’m writing about motivation and incentives. So I decided to give myself an incentive for reading all of that research… by writing a blog post! (I actually have a few in the queue to post, but I haven’t had the time to go over them.)

This morning I woke up and looked in the mirror like I do every morning. I have noticed my stomach looks smaller, but I thought maybe it was my imagination. This can be possible because my brain plays tricks on me. Sometimes I think I look smaller when I’m regaining 5 lbs. Then sometimes I feel fat, only to find out I’m 5 lbs lighter than normal. Long ago I decided that my day or my self-confidence for the day would not be dictated by my weight or dress size. That was an extremely hard place to get to as a woman. (I don’t know if this is difficult for men; I’m not one.)

Here’s a small hint to success, no matter what your goal is:

It’s always the tiny choices that build up to something big.

I’ve had a choice at every meal and snack; low carb or not? As my weight loss suggests most of my choices have been low-carb. There have been slips, but overall I’m doing well.

Since my hands keep breaking out (and there’s a post about this coming) from eating gluten, most of my choices since 2 weeks before the end of December have been no gluten. Again, I’m not perfect – but my hands wish I were because every breakout is painful. I think I’ve only slipped 5 times.

Gluten free has allowed me drop 10 lbs and finally overcome the plateau that I’d been rocking for a while. I keep a post-it of my recent measurements. Looking back I did these in the first 2 weeks of January. This morning I only measured my natural waist and my lower abs. I was in a bit of a hurry because I wanted to work out (kettlebell swings 30 sec work 30 sec rest – 10 minutes with planks – front and sides for about 1 minute each) before we got breakfast… We were going to a hockey game for my B-Day.

So uh yeah. My imagination wasn’t playing tricks:

-3”  lower stomach

-2” on my waist

This proves several things for me. 1 - Plateaus in weight loss are stupid to get upset over. (Not that I was. Frustrated was more the word.) 2 - Always find 2 things to measure. I’ve been using inches and lbs. You could use lbs and pictures, or inches and body fat measurements… whatever you choose. 

Also I'm awesome. And finally, the gluten-free thing is good because it's reduced inflammation in my body and allowed me to lose weight again. Also awesome.

I celebrated my inch loss by eating some LC dessert. I rarely ever eat dessert. It’s not my bag, baby… Just like I/O Psychology… which I now have to get back to.