The Yo-Yo of Week Maintenance

I might have shared before about my theory of "week maintenance". But just to catch you up...basically I look at maintaining my weight in week increments. Each Saturday my week starts over again at the beginning of my Weight Watchers meeting, of course (7:30am!!!). My points all go back to zero and I start out the week with a fresh weekly tracker (in my three-month journal) and a fresh 35 floater points to use for the coming week. I weigh in every week too even though as a lifetime member I only have to weigh in once a month. As long as you are within 2 pounds of your goal weight when you weigh in monthly you can attend for free. However, if you go above that you have to pay the meeting fee until you get back down. It is a good motivator, I suppose.

Thankfully, I have managed to not pay since I reached lifetime again in November. But I knew that in order to do this I would not be able to just do the "once a month weigh-in" that is required. This is what I did the other two times in my life after I reached lifetime (see my opening blurb on my blog!). I stopped going to meetings, stopped weighing in, ceased my activity, and went back to my old habits. SO, my plan for this time (the last time!) is to practice week maintenance. Now this should not be confused with weak maintenance - that is something all together different and reminiscent of my previous experiences on weight watchers. No, I'm talking about managing my weight on a week to week basis for the rest of my life. I weigh in every week (same scale - yes it is in my head, but I'm okay with that). I actually do not own a scale at home. Sometimes I'm up a pound or two and sometimes I'm down a pound or two. Depending on where that number falls on that week, I adjust my strategies for that coming week - more activity, tracking more, different choices. At first I was frustrated at the yo-yo-ness of it all. But I've been thinking more about it and I think it is natural for our bodies to go up and down. We have cycles in our lives - more active times, more things going on during particular weeks. As women, we have actual cycles that can influence us too. But this makes week management all the more important. For if we had an "up" week and did not keep that in check the next week, that is when weight can come back on and people find themselves in a bad or unhealthy situation again (hello, Kirstie Alley!). So, I'm okay with the occasional yo-yo as long as there are equal upswings and downswings involved. Wish me luck - Saturday starts a new month!!