When Do You Draw The Line After Getting Weighed?

​As you may know, this summer we moved across country from Berkshire to South Wales. The town we used to live in was near the queen in Windsor, although she never did pop in for a cuppa! This move necessitated us changing many things, doctors, dentists, church and of course our Slimming World group. Who knew how hard this was going to be? Well we did one hundred percent if truth be known.

We had loved and fellowshipped with the Bluebrook Park Slimming World group for eighteen months and made friends for life there. We still love visiting our old group when we go back to Bracknell. Naomi had achieved her target there and I had lost over five stones in my time there. The people of Bluebrook Park will always hold a special place in our hearts.

But we set out to find our new group. After a dreadful and rather desperate false start, we found our current lovely group in Killay. They received us with open arms and we have become completely involved with this new Slimming World group. It occurs to me that there must be hundreds, if not thousands of supportive and friendly Slimming World groups all over the country. We have been truly privileged to be part of two of these groups.

And So To The Point Of This Blog Post…

In our old group we got weighed at 7.30 in the morning on a Saturday. Our consultant, Mandy Lace, would tell us how sensible we should be and not go off the rails after group. Well some of us tried, we really did, but weekends are complicated and difficult.

This early Saturday morning weigh time is crucial to understanding what I am saying here. Everyone who has ever been on a diet in the whole of history of the world knows that your ‘diet starts on a Monday’.

By getting weighed on a Saturday you only have two days to get totally wasted before you focus and get back on the plan properly. You know the sort of thing… wine, beer, chocolate, fish and chips, nuts, burgers, pork sausages, pâté, Turkish delight. Experienced dieters like me will know what I mean.

The Saturday morning weigh time meant that you could, if you were so disposed, cheat for two whole days before concentrating and getting back on your plan to lose weight before your next group meeting. There was even the possibility of securing a small loss on the scales.

Now I do not want to appear to be disparaging about the Bluebrook Park members. Far from it! I’m sure that most of them never contemplated such a cheat or a tweak over the weekends. But they are so much better than me. I admit to the occasional weekend binge before realising the folly of my ways and returning to my Slimming World diet on Monday morning.

I am a reformed character now as I don’t weigh on a Saturday anymore. But…

The Extra Problem With Weighing On A Thursday

What I have discovered is that getting weighed on a Thursday carries with it an extra problem. It is nearly the weekend! Theoretically you could get weighed on a Thursday, and have a bad day on Friday, before losing it over the weekend and acknowledging your folly on a Monday morning. This is purely hypothetical, naturally…

I would never involve myself in this type of stupid behaviour. But the possibility remains that you could lose three and a half days before you come to your senses and restart your diet. Then you have an uphill struggle to even get back to where you started the previous week.

Oh dearie me! What to do? Where lies the answer to this conundrum?

Where Do You Draw The Line After Getting Weighed?

Or indeed WHEN do you draw the line? You could of course plan for this eventuality and try to avoid this potential catastrophe before it occurs. Would that be so difficult? Well it seems to be so. One of our members who I’ll call ‘Leaves’ (She’s got a thing for spinach) asked members to share what day they find the most difficult to stay on plan. The answers were varied but demonstrated that we all have times when it is hard not to cheat. Very hard. So how do you overcome this problem?

I’m thinking that a good starting point is Friday morning. You could enjoy the remains of Thursday and be a complete ‘wombat’ for the evening before resuming your diet on Friday morning. This gives you six whole days to pull everything back in and actually make an impact on the scales the following week.

Once you remain ‘off plan’ up to Friday night I’m guessing that you will have lost the plot and are doomed to a bad weekend and destined for a ‘maintain’ next week if you are lucky and a ‘gain’ in all probability.

But here’s a fresh idea. What about planning your Thursday so that you don’t cheat in anyway at all. Say to yourself that you are not going off plan on Thursday this coming week. This is a bit radical I know, but why not try it? Tell your friends and family that you are not going to binge out on a Thursday this week because you are desperate for a loss. This is what you want above all else. It really doesn’t matter what other people want.

By the way… your friends and family are watching you closely and in most cases, want you to succeed with your weight loss. Your ‘going off plan’ confuses them.

You Draw The Line

You must draw your own line. Don’t let it draw itself. Don’t let anyone else tell you where your line is. Don’t aimlessly fall into a line that has been placed there against your will.

Control, containment and resolution are the keys to determining where the line exists. Draw your own line and strategise how you are going to leave it way behind as you move forward.

Note: I wrote this on a Thursday evening when I was full of good intentions. Still on plan by Tuesday morning so that’s good.