A Pound of Cure: Check your gauges

This week was scattered. Obviously not a good week for the blog...I did finally make it to weight loss church on Wednesday morning. I am resigned to going to Weight Watchers whenever~as long as I don't miss a week and going to Family Fitness whenever~as long as I don't miss more than 1 day. Good rules and I have been consistently sticking with them so hooray for me. Before I get into the crux of the meeting, I want to share something from a conversation I had with my gal pal, Becki. Beck has been a lifetime member since last summer when she lost 40 or 50 pounds(not exactly sure but she is an absolute knock-out and just tiny!). Anyway, I was talking to her about my plateau/set point issue and she shared with me that during her weight loss phase (not to be confused with maintenance!) she had 8 weeks where she would gain a pound, then lose a pound, go up two, then down two, on and on...until finally she started dropping again. Same scenario: sticking to the plan and exercising like a fiend! WOW! I'm so glad I talked to her about this because this week-week 12 for me-I lost the 1.6 pounds I had gained last week. So, the total for my first three months is 17.2 pounds lost. I was grousing about it to Beck but now I've decided to celebrate because she renewed my hopes! She went through this too and it didn't stop her from hitting her goal and making lifetime. She assures me that I will also make it! It sure pays to have friends like Becki!!!! Ok, now down to business. We discussed keeping an eye on our  "gauges" so we don't run out of gas on our weight loss trip. That means practicing "flexible restraint". Plan ahead, eat more filling foods, work foods that you love into the program as often as possible, exercise more to earn more food points when you need them and don't be afraid to use the 35 extra weekly bonus points. Yay! Next week I will pick up a new 3-month journal for tracking and continue the process...I am also going to try out the online e-tools I hear so many members brag about. We'll see if that is helpful for me. Meanwhile, this is me, sticking to my guns!