How I've Lost Weight (Recently)

A few people have commented on my recent weight loss and wondered what I was doing differently to lose weight. To answer that question, I think that it's difficult to maintain a steady motivation when you're losing weight for a long time. It's only natural that you go through more motivated times when weight loss is a priority and other times when weight loss is more on the back-burner.

This recent burst of motivation all started at the beginning of May. As you might recall, in March and April I was flirting with OA and torn between following Momentum/ Points Plus. I was struggling with binging--succumbing to binges on a weekly basis--which was keeping me from losing weight. In the beginning of May, I talked to a friend and we decided that we were going to LOSE this last 20-25 pounds. We developed a weight loss spreadsheet and decided on a Weigh-In Day. In addition, I went out and bought an electronic scale so I could stop fretting about the inaccuracy of my weigh-ins. (I checked that electronic scale with my regular WW scale and they are very close).

At that point, I made a quick decision. I opted to go back to Momentum. The logic behind my decision: 1.) I know Momentum very well; 2.) I already have all the Momentum tools and it would be cheaper to follow Momentum by myself, rather than pay to use Points Plus; 3.) I don't trust Points Plus (disclaimer--I'm not saying this is a rational distrust; I just intuitively don't trust the new plan) which means it's more difficult for me to follow.

So, once I had decided to go back to Momentum, I adjusted back to the old plan. At first, I was terrified at the lack of points and the sudden cost of fruit. In fact, I almost quit the first week, because I thought I was starving. But instead, I adjusted back to Momentum. I re-learned how to stretch points and found an amazing (and HUGE) chicken-stir fry that only cost 4 points. I settled back into the Momentum groove and started losing weight immediately.

In addition, I upped my workouts. No, scratch that, I started working out more consistently. I started walking 1.5 miles during my lunch break, five days a week, and I started doing a 20 minute strength training exercise DVD every day, as well.

So, basically the answer to my weight loss is fairly simple: I've eaten less and moved more. A few specific things I'd like to mention about how I'm following Momentum:

• I hardly use any weekly points.
• I mostly reserve them for alcohol, and I've cut down on the alcohol quite a bit lately.
• I've increased the size of my breakfasts and reduced the size of my dinners.
• And occasionally (if I feel satisfied) I don't eat all my DPs (by a point or 2).
• I never even think about AP points, since I'm not exercising that intensely.

That's about it. I hope this helps! Do you find that you hit motivation peaks and valleys throughout your weight loss journey?