Modern Gal v. the weight, official score:
-minus 1.8 pounds since the start of Weight Watchers
-minus about 5.5 pounds since I started keeping track
(no pictures this week, perhaps next)

This week hasn’t been nearly as hard as I thought it would be adhering to a strict Weight Watchers calorie/fat/dietary fiber count, but it still hasn’t been easy.

I was surprised at how easily I was able to say no to all the extra servings of baked beans and cobbler on the Fourth of July. As it turns out, I really have been eating way more food than I ever needed without even realizing it. We all know that our portion sizes are out of control, but I think anyone who actually makes a conscious effort to stick to eating real portions will be shocked at just how small they are.

I was able to stay within my point limit last week, but only with the help of nearly all my bonus points. The two days I tried to simply stick to my daily allotment without using any bonus points … well … let’s just say it took every ounce of brain power to keep myself from walking to the snack machine at work. They say this gets easier after a couple of weeks.

Probably the hardest point I reached this week was when my Mexican aunt spent all Saturday teaching me how to make her to-die-for tamales, and I had to quickly backaway from the fruits of our labor because each tamale is worth something like 4.5 points. I could eat 10 of them (which would be more than twice my daily allotment).

But 1.8 pounds in one week is enough to make me want to keep going. If I were able to keep that pace up, I’d reach my goal in 10 weeks. Only 10 weeks. Two and a half months. I know that won’t be the case. “You’ll reach a plateau,” my mom says, “and that’s when it really gets hard.” This isn’t hard enough? I plan on printing out photos of myself to help get past that point when I get there. One copy of the photo which inspired this whole renewed dedication and another of me at my goal weight some six years ago.

In the mean time I’m going to keep thinking about every calorie, every fat gram and every unit of dietary fiber going into my diet and hoping that the feeling that I’m obsessing over food will go away.