Fitness Quest is a weekly column in which the journey of losing 90 pounds is chronicled online in hopes of helping other people as well as providing a catalyst for motivation.
I have a dog named Sheldon. He is a pit mix and the most adorable dog you can imagine. Of course, he is a protective dog that has our backs but he’d prefer to be cuddled up in bed spooning you than barking at the mysterious figure behind the front door.
Like all other housebroken dogs, Sheldon lets his head and shoulders slump whenever he does something he know is wrong. His eyes get big and doughy and he slouches down toward the ground.
This is exactly what I did the morning after I morning after I wrote my introductory piece.
The morning before it was set to publish, I was packing my usual food for the workday (two pieces of fruit, a Nature Valley bar, and a Clif bar) when I noticed there where no more Clif bars. Instead, I took an extra apple.
What seemed like a logical and healthy choice at the time turned out to be a bad idea. I did not provide enough food to sustain me throughout the day. By the time I arrived home, I was starving and ready to devour just about anything.
“We’re running low on groceries,” my wife said before she walked out the door for work.
I opened the fridge and confirmed her assessment. It is not that our fridge was empty. The problem was that there was nothing of enough substance to get me through the night. If my mind was not being controlled by the hunger pangs bellowing from my stomach, I could have made a smart decision like eating cereal for dinner or possibly making soup and a half sandwich on wheat.
Should’ve. Could’ve. Would’ve. Right?
As soon as I saw the lack of protein in the fridge, my stomach took full control. I picked up the phone and resorted to a bad habit.
Two slices of pizza and a buffalo chicken tender later, I was thinking, “What have I done?” I publicly announced to anyone who was paying attention that I was obese and on the road to lose 90 pounds and that very night I resorted to this? For shame, Marcello. For. Shame.
That is how I felt the next morning when I walked into the bathroom and looked at the scale. Like Sheldon, my shoulders slumped and I remorsefully but dutifully walked over to the scale. I knew it was going to tell me I gained weight. It was inevitable.
The numbers did not lie. I put .3 pounds back back on. That may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things but, when your goal is to lose 90 pounds, every ounce counts.
This was an unfortunate and poorly timed setback. It was not the first I had and it will not be the last. The challenge is to pick yourself back up and get back on track. As long as you can do that, everything will be alright.
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Starting weight: 278
Current weight 257.4
untiedmagazine.wordpress.com 
Man I feel your pain. With so many things going on right now I have been adding far too much wait and kneeling before the Zod of easy takeout just because of time constraints. I feel like crap because of it too, mentally and physically.
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Casey, I hear you. I’ve found that making sure I constantly have food and water on me has made a huge difference. If you need help getting back on track, I’m here to help!
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I agree, the biggest thing is to get right back on track. That is what matters most. Is it good to weigh in daily? I would imagine there is a little fluctuation from day to day, but I am not an expert. I just have to limit myself to weighing in once a week so I don’t become obsessive (my mom has an eating disorder). I think you are doing great! Losing 20+ lbs isn’t easy so I think that is fantastic.
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When I tried Weight Watchers, I weighed myself once a week and found it too easy to fall off the wagon. If my weight went up from that previous week, I would sometimes ignore it or tell myself I would wait until my weight went down before logging it. I have the Fitbit Aria scale. So, I can’t escape the numbers. It gets uploaded right to their site. Since this is very data oriented, knowing the info on a daily basis helps me a lot. You need to be careful with eating disorders for sure, though.
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I am glad it works for you and helps keep you on the right track. Fitbit sounds really interesting. I wish I could give it a try, but I have to be careful. : I already have a distorted image about my weight so I could easily go into the eating disorder direction. I am glad I have managed to lose weight without going in that direction. Anyway I enjoy reading your journey because it is nice to see what works for others and I am always happy to see people succeed.
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Nina, from what I can tell, you are in pretty good shape. If, at one point, you needed to lose weight, the daily walks you have been doing certainly have had a positive impact!
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I won’t post the study, but this article does a nice job of summarizing part of the reason this happened: http://mentalfloss.com/article/23403/shh-talking-about-your-goals-makes-them-less-likely-happen
However, I’m not saying publicly announcing your intentions was wrong, just that there is some psychology to be aware of in your quest. You also learned a valuable lesson the very first day! Planning meals and stocking pantries is going to keep you on track. It works for me as well (though I still struggle with motivation to cook and grocery shop).
As far as weighing yourself everyday, it can be a useful motivating tool as it is a daily reminder of what your quest is. But never take so much stock in the day-to-day numbers as they are completely arbitrary. Weight always fluctuates 1-2 lbs each day so it’s more the weekly/monthly numbers you want to concern yourself with.
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I need to take some time to formulate a proper response to this because, no matter what I type, it is not coming out right.
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Words like that typically mean I’ve offended someone. I hope you know that was not my intention. I was trying to explain, as I am on my own personal health journey, that sometimes understanding some of the psychological basis of our actions can help gear us to fight it should we encounter the same situation.
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Oh, you didn’t offend me at all. Trust me, I’m a difficult person to offend. My brain is just fried.
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