Monday 4 August 2008

Let them Eat Cake!

Week 30

Weight: 18st 0.5lb
Loss this week: 3.5lb
Total lost: 67lb

Yay I lost all my gains! That's a good result, I'm happy as I can be with that. Now to get the SW scales to say 17 something. My own scales, that have pretty much consistently weighed me 2lb lighter than SW for the last 30 weeks or so have had me at 17 something for about 3 weeks now! According to them I was 17st 9lb 30 mins before official weigh in. Why have they forsaken me! I guess this means I can't trust them anymore. Maybe my secret scale hopping days are due to end. I'll stop soon. Maybe when the difference becomes really bad..... ;)

At SW tonight I heard a lot of negative language around food and eating..."I was bad" "I've only myself to blame" "It's all my fault" and similar. I hate that food, which is both essential for life, and an absolute pleasure, becomes a sin, a guilty secret, a stick with which to beat ourselves. If there is a problem inherent with slimming clubs I would say it is that it does seem to make people beat themselves up in this way. I don't know about other classes, but this certainly doesn't stem from our consultant. I've never heard Heather berate anyone for their choices. And it is a choice. Stay on plan, Food Optimise 100% and lose weight most weeks, or cut loose, eat and drink what you fancy, and deal with a gain.

My advice (for what that's worth!)is this. If you choose to cut loose and take the gain, enjoy it, don't feel guilty. Just get back on track as soon as possible. Get that line drawn and move on! Life is way way to short to waste it feeling guilty about eating a cake.

Just make sure the cake is a really really good one.

12 comments:

Sara Seahorse said...

woohhooooo

go girl

Loth said...

Hear hear. And congratulations on that loss. The way we are going, I'm going to pass you on the way up as I increase and you decrease!

LowRob said...

Congrats on you weight loss!
I agree that it's not 'healthy'to consider that I've been 'bad' if I haven't stuck to plan - but it's such a difficult habit to get out of isn't it?
I'm hoping for a good loss this week too, fingers crossed!

Christine said...

Congrats on nearly being in the 17s :)

I think that slimming clubs should have leaders that steer conversations away from such destructive thoughts - that's not the way to succeed. Perhaps you could mention it to your leader that the discussions have not been particularly healthy lately.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on being so close to breaking the 18 stone barrier + for having got rid of your gains.

I don't think SW particularly helps by choosing to use the word "syns" as part of its own plan.

Wendy said...

I agree about the word syns - it's a disastrous choice of word!

My consultant reads this blog so she will know my thoughts ;) As I say though, it doesn't come from Heather, she is very positive and upbeat and admits to enjoying her food quite happily. It just seems to be the way dieters think about food. I've been there myself but I've really had an attitude adjustment this time round and I don't have that guilt issue that makes one bad day lead to another, thank goodness!

Perhaps it stems from the part of class that involves revealing a loss or a gain, making people feel they need to be penitant about a gain. Maybe they don't even really feel that way but say it because they think they should? I don't know, and I don't know what the answer is.

Sara Seahorse said...

I tried to think of alternatives to the word syn

not so healthy extras
treats
additions no nutritional value
pay-as-you -go's LOL
spends from your 15 a day budget
extras

syns sounds catchy


we coudl get into a discussion about free food and syn-free food too ;)

Anonymous said...

Having been a member of a SW Group, I have to say are we being serious? The only way to be successful is to be honest with ourselves and taking responsibility for our own actions. Not mentioning our gains makes them appear unacceptable? Is this what we really want? Lets be real, be honest with ourselves, and if we really want to lose weight lets stop blaming everything else! If we want to acheive our targets then blaming words such as syns in not the answer. If have been very successful with SW due to the care, support and advice of my consultant. But I took responsibility for my weight lose myself.

Anonymous said...

Feel really sad. Spent years feeling a weight gain was something to be ashamed of. When I joined SW I was so liberated from those years of shame, calorie counting and guilt over my eating habits.
I was helped to feel 'normal'. That gains could be discussed. A gain was not taboo, nor did I feel penitant.
Planning my own solution to my gains empowered me. After all , that's life, the rough and the smooth. We are all individuals with thoughts, opinions and emotions driving us on. I took responsibilty for my actions. I laughed, cried and fought my way to target along with my group.
So sad to hear all the negativity of the bloggers.

Anonymous said...

anonymous
you are entitled to your opinion but I think you may have missed the point here

we are talking about attitude towards food and the thoughts about mindset of good vs bad

all of this discussion and thoughts are useful

well done you for being so successful and not being negative and taking responsibility

Wendy said...

Anonymous, the entire point of my post was to say that guilt and negativity has no place in our relationship with food! We are on the same page totally there. And gains are certainly not taboo in my book, I've had 3 of them myself, at least 1 of them totally planned!

Well done on your success. I'm sorry you have misunderstood my intentions with this post.

Susan said...

Well said Wendy. It's unrealistic to maintain a "perfect" diet, and attempting to do so is what sets people up for failure (and binges).

The difference in results between a 100% perfect diet and a 90% perfect diet is negligible. Allowing yourself that (small) slice of cake every now and then is perfectly fine, if you're eating clean 90% of the time.

Susan
www.catapultfitnessblog.com