That Dreaded Time of the Month and Weekly WI

You do everything right; you plan, you track, you exercise and you drink your water. Yet when you step on

that scale at your WI your worst fear comes true; you are up. There is no explanation for it. Or its there? Is the dreaded time of the month (TOTM) the cause? Most people will put their gain down to that reason. However scientific research has found that the opposite should in fact happen; you should lose weight. I know you are probably cussing at the screen right now, not believing a word I am saying. I would have been one of the first to blame it on the bloating and the water retention until I read this article.
http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=42321&sc=801

Now it should be noted that I have looked into this further and there appears to be conflicting evidence regarding this. It may or may not be true. However this article gave me some hope that I may just get a loss last week. The main causes of weight gain during TOTM are water retention and increased appetite which can both lead to bloating. There are ways to possibly overcome these causes. To prevent water retention; you should limit your sodium intake and increase your water intake. This also applies to processed foods which are high in salt. Avoiding heavy carbs may also help prevent bloating and high fibre foods will help with bowel movements.

That sounds easy enough right? Well this is the hard part; say NO to your cravings. Stick to your plan, do not allow yourself to succumb to temptation. If you are feeling hungry, then snack on fruit or drink some tea, particularly green tea. Do some exercise. Exercise will not only help you ignore the cravings but will also aid in preventing a weight gain. If you were to look back over your tracker from a TOTM week you will most likely find you had gone over your points; and that does not include the items you did not track!

It is important to keep track of your weight loss pattern during your TOTM weeks. You should always highlight or mark the weeks you have your TOTM on you weight loss tracker. I always highlight the date so that I know that particular week I had my TOTM. Before I did it to prevent me from being disheartened over gains. Now I am doing it so I can monitor my eating patterns during those weeks. Some people may think this is excessive obsessing with WW. If you are like me and would like to see a consistent loss every week, then it is important to keep track and to make necessary changes. I have looked back over my old weight trackers from the last time I did WW. I was kind of surprised at some of the results and it does show you can lose during your TOTM. The weeks I gained I have no doubt that other factors i.e. eating crap, played a role in that gain.

Week 1 - +0.5lb
Week 2 - STS
Week 3 - -5lbs (not sure what happened that week!)
Week 4 - +0.5lb
Week 5 - STS
Week 6 - +1.5lbs (more due to lack of following the plan)
Week 7 - -1.5lbs
Week 8 - +1.5lbs (was the beginning of my plateau and yo-yoing)
Week 9 - -1lb
Week 10 - -0.5lb
Week 11 - -1lb
Week 12 - STS
Week 13 - +0.5lb

So why am I stressing out over TOTM? Last night I had my WI but I did not reach my weekly target of 2.5lbs. I only lost 0.5lb. I really do not want to see a gain next week as it would set me back as I am only down 3lbs. 3lbs in two weeks is good but not so good if I see a gain next week. So I really want to see a loss. Although, if I am being honest with myself, the reason for such a small loss this week was that I was only about 60% good; so to get any kind of loss was a good result. I also found myself writing off my weeklies, more than once. This is a bad habit to get into and it is what happened to me the first time around on ProPoints. The weeklies are the reason I am not the biggest fan of ProPoints. It does not help that I caved to the cravings this evening.

So I am setting myself a challenge this week to try and get a loss on the scales at my next WI, on Wednesday.  I am going to lower my sodium intake, make sure I am drinking 3 litres of water a day and I am going to make sure I reach my exercise target over the weekend. I am also going to make a big effort to stick to my daily points and to only use a few of my weeklies for a girls night on Saturday. I am going to make sure I am getting enough sleep and avoiding all fizzy drinks. These are two goals I set myself a few weeks ago. As I have said before weight loss is not just about the results on the scales but also about the other changes you make in your life. Here is to a good week and hopefully a good result on the scale.