Weekly Weigh In #2: Hallelujah

This week, I weighed in for the second time.  I lost 4 lbs.  Woo hoo!


But that's the short version.  Here's what really happened.


I knew I was going to weigh in on Monday this week, one whole day earlier than usual.  I knew it and I was worried that the one, single day would make a difference in my numbers.  As if somehow, all my weight loss happened in that last 24 hours, and I was somehow messing it up by going too early.  I thought about this the whole way to work, and actually considered going the next day, just in case, instead.  But I didn't.  I went to work, and then around 11:15am, left to go weigh in.  

I purposefully didn't drink much water, afraid it would make me bloat.  (Am I really this neurotic?)  I arrived, heart racing, and signed in.  I filled out my form, and waited to be called in.  I removed my watch, my scarf, my earrings.  Heck, I would have gotten completely naked if I thought they'd let me - and if I thought I'd have a better chance at weight loss.  (Yeah, neurotic seems right.)


When my name was called, I went in, and stepped on the scale.  And then, the numbers came up:  255.  I thought I had lost 3 lbs, until I was corrected by the sweet, smiling nurse:  "you've lost 4 lbs!  Great job!"  She was so happy, and so was I!  We then went into the exam room, and she took my blood pressure, and informed me it was a little high.  I told her that I was just a little excited about my weight loss, and she smiled.  I listened to her, we talked about exercise and water, and then I got my product and left.  I was smiling ear to ear as I walked down to the classroom for this week's class, where I waited for 10 minutes.


In that 10 minutes, I sat still, thinking about the craziness of the morning.  At least, it was crazy in my head.  But as I sat still with my thoughts, I realized why I had been so crazy.  I have been on dozens of diets that worked great in the first week, and then failed to persist.  I worked equally as hard the first week as I had the subsequent weeks, but it made no difference... the diets eventually failed me, sometimes as soon as the second week in.  And that residual heartbreak was circling around my thoughts all morning, undetected, like vultures up above the tree line.  I was afraid, for no reason I can articulate, all the sacrifice and shakes would not yielded any results.  I was so worried about it, that even my blood pressure was a complete wreck.  The more I identified my crazy, the less crazy I felt.


As class started, I began to get answers to the question of why.  Why had this worked, where other things had failed?  Why had these shakes worked?  Why was I successful?  And even more still, why was I so neurotic about this?


Here's why.


The shakes are mostly protein, and barely any carbs.  The body burns two fuel sources:  fat (called triglycerides) and sugar (called glucose).  Where does sugar come from?  Carbohydrates.  So, if you don't give your body any new glucose to burn, it has to burn the fat you've already got.  And that's what I was doing.  Burning fat.  Not muscle, but fat.


Sweet lord, I was burning fat.  Hallelujah.


I also learned at class that my crazy idea of not drinking water too much before weighing in was not neurotic - 2 cups of water weighs one pound!  Who knew?!  Guess who will always be visiting the ladies' room before each weigh-in?  Me!


Everything that was happening to me was scientifically designed to happen.  It wasn't a gamble - it was planned.  That's why it's working.


So, I continue to drink gallon after gallon of water, and drink my three shakes a day.  I will keep going, even when I'm stressed (and want an Almond Joy so bad, I could collapse) or emotional (and want a burger so much, I'd give up government secrets just for the bun).  It's still hard.  But it's also still worth it.  And, it's still working.