Weekly weight-loss: week 17

Plugging along over here in weight-loss land, staying on track and trying to figure out the exact place to stop and begin the transition to maintenance. I was originally thinking I would stop dieting 5 pounds ago, but now I am here and am wondering about just continuing until I lose another 4.4 pounds (which will take me to a nice even number, a thin, but still healthy, BMI of 19.7), and weight equal to what I weighed in high school.

My goal all along has been to pick a stopping point where I have a "buffer" zone of 3-5 pounds, a range of weight I commit to remain within. So right now I'm thinking that where I'm at now can be the "upperish" limit and a few pounds below this the "lowerish" limit. But we'll see. It's all gravy at this point, so if I start to feel overly restricted or hungry, I can always opt to decide that where I'm at currently will be the stopping point.

Now that I'm so close to my goal (or have I arrived?) I'm starting to cook more, re-making dishes that Will and I love and haven't had since I started the Jenny Craig plan, but this time measuring everything out so I can figure out portions and calories. Once I've done that a few times I'll know and can stop the measuring of every ingredient - which is good, because it's tedious. So this weekend I made two of our favorite dishes and learned that I can eat as much of a gluten-free goat cheese, asparagus pizza (with fresh basil!) as I always have. I also learned, sadly, that a penne pasta, lean turkey sausage, peppers, arugula, and parmesan cheese dish I love will now include significantly less penne pasta than it used to (sigh). Honestly, although the portion looks small to me, it tasted delicious and was plenty filling. It was more of a visual shock to see the smaller amount than anything else.

Numbers-wise on the scale, things are continuing to trend slowly downward. Which fits well with the plan to just go slow and be consistent, and just see what my body does. This week, my body lost 0.4 pounds. Fine by me.

Next on my goal list is to try to start adding in some exercise consistently and to read up on the research on maintenance and implement what has been shown to help people keep the weight off. God knows I want to learn to make this a permanent change in my life, not the beginning of a yo-yo situation.

So here's the summary of the weight results to date:

Weekly Weight Loss

Starting BMI just after Thanksgiving = 25.2 (officially overweight)
Week 1:     - 4.4 pounds (back into normal BMI territory, less than 25!)
Week 2:     - 0.8 pounds
Week 3:     - 3.6 pounds

Week 4:     out of town so no Jenny food and no weigh-in (Christmas travel madness!)

Week 5:     - 4.4 pounds since last weigh-in

Week 6:     - 2 pounds

Week 7:     - 1.6 pounds

Week 8:     - 1.4 pounds

Week 9:     + 0.4  pounds
Week 10:    - 4.2 pounds  

Week 11:    - 0.2 pounds  

Week 12:    - 3.0 pounds 
Week 13:    + 1.2 pounds
Week 14:     away in the Middle East
Week 15:     away in the Middle East
Week 16:    - 4.8 pounds

Week 17:    - 0.4 pounds

Grand Total: 29.2 pounds lost (BMI = 20.4)

Feeling good! Feeling on track! Feeling open to seeing what seems like the right next step.

Mo

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