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I've been trying to get back to this ever since I got back from my trip on 20 September. I'd been feeling so good for the 2 weeks prior to 15 September when I had to leave for the trip, had the whole this-is-for-the-long-haul feel about it.. but I knew I had this week-long trip coming up where it'd be impossible to stay on plan (it really was)..so I did give in a bit and ate a couple of things off-plan on the 13th and 14th. Also, I experienced, for the first time, the effects of TOM on the scale. My weight just didn't MOVE from the 7th onwards and sure enough I started on the 11th. I'm guessing that's what it was because I was pretty strictly on plan. Also, when I returned on 20 September, my weight had actually gone down to 71 kg, despite having eaten off-plan for the week. So I'm guessing I'd actually dropped to about 70 (which would be in keeping with my rate of loss before the apparent stall) but it wasn't reflecting in the scales. I now know that TOM really does affect the scale in a big way - something I really hadn't considered seriously before.
I actually kind of surprised myself with how I managed to ignore the scale that week prior to leaving and kept my head down and just continued on plan. I wasn't particularly inspired and it was rather depressing but I even stopped obsessing about weighing and entering food, etc. While not the most positive, that's a new reaction for me when I don't see results. To be fair, I did give in near the end of that week but I'm going to attribute that to my entire I'm-gonna-be-giving-up-on-this-in-a-couple-of-days-anyway mindset than because of the stubborn scale alone. It was rather discouraging though, one hardly expects something like this in the 2nd week of Induction. In fact, now I'm getting scared about my body reacting to the 'yo-yo dieting', because I have unceremoniously fallen off and clambered on to the wagon a few times this year. I DO NOT WANT TO DO THAT TO MY BODY. I'm the first person to tell the naysayers that Atkins is only terrible for you when you do it wrong. I need to just see this through all the phases.
The good news now is that I don't have any foreseeable plans that would make it necessary for me to eat off-plan until December. I really really need to give myself this clear stretch of time to do this right. Also, there are motivating reasons to set December as a sort of short-term finish line (don't worry, I know this is a way of life, I just need to set some semblance of a deadline to keep myself going). It's my first cousin's (I have just 2) wedding in December and I'm quite excited about the entire extended family (we're not very large) being together again, we rarely get to meet and I hardly know my other cousins but everyone's flying in from different parts of the world for this. It would just be nice to have a slightly better-looking version of myself in those pictures. Also, December means that all my friends will be back from college abroad for the holidays, so I really want to stay on plan because I haven't seen them since August and they would best be able to see the results. This also means a lot of parties and I'm really looking forward to actually being able to shop for dresses and such without hating the process.
Most importantly, I just NEED to give myself a real shot at this. For the first time, I've actually set mini goals and even make a rough list of incentives for each. I'm quite excited about reaching the first soon.
Anyway, so the main reason I wanted to record this journal entry was because I actually ate off-plan (a packet of Bourbon biscuits) before sleeping on the night of the 18th but it was about 12:30 AM so it was technically the 19th, which I'm counting as Day 1. I usually keep putting off starting because I want midnight to be my clear marker (I need something common because my sleep schedule is so erratic) but this time I don't care, half an hour should not cause me to waste a day. So this is the end of Day 1. (Morning of Day 2, technically.)
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