Good Enough?

So is WW working?

I have stabilized my weight back where I was before vacation, and the weekly averages are trending every so slowly down.  But I'm right at this same plateau I was on since February.  Clearly my body likes being this weight. That probably worked to my advantage during vacation, and just as homeostasis keeps me from losing weight, it worked to keep me from gaining much.

Is this weight "good enough"? I've written about how its less than I weighed for sixteen of the years since I turned 35.  But I really don't think it's "good enough". And let's not be too righteous about my goals:  this is now much more about how I look than about being healthy and strong. I am healthy and strong now, though I was not when I started this a year and a half ago.

So if I actually want to lose weight, I can't settle in to a comfortable, treat-allowing, long-term way of eating. I've got to do something radical to de-stabilize the homeostasis that has kept me hear since February. I'll up the activity, clearly. But I've got to dramatically restrict my eating. I think I have two choices:  Atkins, or cabbage and fruit.  Either will work. Either will be "real weight loss". Both are hard to stick to for any length of time. But I've got the next two weeks to focus, with a limited social life, lots of work to do at work, and plenty of chores at night.  After a two-week blitz, I'll revert to more normal weight watchers.

Given the time of year, I pick cabbage and fruit. On this way of eating, no breads or grains, but the emphasis is on vegetables and fruit, low fat, not much lean meat, any fresh fruit I want (except bananas which I don't really like anyway). If I were doing Atkins, the emphasis would be on meat with few vegetables and no fruit. I actually made cole slaw last week from a cabbage I got that day at farmer's market, and it astounded me how good it was - that fresh cabbage was better than long-distance stored cabbage. I had not really thought about the freshness of cabbage making a difference, not like tomatoes, for example.

So I'll be off to farmer's market after the gym in a few minutes, and I intend to stock way up. And then cook. Cole slaws with vinaigrettes, cabbage soup, fruits and fresh tomatoes, a zucchini or cucumber for variety, and we'll see where we go from there.

Let's see how my resolve works in the face of ice cream and beer season. But I'm off to the beach after my two week blitz, so I'm going to try to hold out till then.