Home IN the range

Last night I went to my Weight Watchers meeting...and this was after me knowing that I had gained a few pounds.

In the past, I really would've beaten myself up about gaining weight. I wanted to be at 75 pounds down by New Years. Now I'll settle for just reaching 60 pounds gone.

I COULD beat myself up about gaining weight. In fact, I started to write all the things that I could beat myself up about...but I found myself not even wanting to finish the sentence. I don't want to write down all the hateful things I could say to myself.

The truth is, no one should ever strive to weigh the exact same number each day. No matter what, people should not live and die by that number.

Weight Watchers asks you to pick a goal weight. And then stay plus or minus 2 pounds from that number. And if you think about it, that should be pretty doable. You've got a 4 pound swing there - and you really have quite a bit of flexibility in that swing. I mean, I ate a bunch of extra food this past week and I only gained 2.4 pounds. Staying within a 4 pound range should be doable.

This point was really driven home for me last week on "The Biggest Loser: Where are they now?" special from last week. I do have some things that I COMPLETELY do not agree to or with about that special, but there were two things that really stood out (in a positive way) for me. One I'll write about later. The other one is my point for today.

Each contestant was apparently supposed to say what their starting weight was at the beginning of the show and what they weigh now. Then they were to talk about their life now.

Several of the contestants said "I weigh XXX."

But there were a few that I said something along the lines of "I fluctuate between XXX and XXX."

And that's when it hit me, it's okay to live and be at home IN the range. In fact, it's healthy to be that way.

People should be able to feel that they can eat more during special occasions...and if they don't kick up their activity, they will gain weight. It's not emotional, it's just math. The difference is that when you've got a healthy mindset, you don't let yourself stay at the higher weight. You do what it takes to get the weight back down to whatever you've deemed your healthy weight is.

The difference is love versus hate. It's knowing yourself and your body and having an upper weight that you triggers you to realize that something is going on with your body. The upper weight limit, whatever it may be, tells you "Hey you! I love you! When you're at this number it means something else is going on. Are you stressed? Are you okay? Are you putting others before yourself? What can I do to take care of you?"

Hitting that upper limit shouldn't be an opportunity to berate yourself. Instead, it should be a way to show yourself love.

I can't wait until I'm at home in my range....