Lesson: Learned

The "fun," if you will, of being on Medifast is that you know if you stick to the program you are going to lose weight, and you're going to lose weight quickly. Especially in the beginning.

For now, I'm weighing myself every day because I want to monitor how this program works compared to all the self-created, self-guided, not-so-specific programs I've put myself on.

I weighed myself last Monday. I started Medifast on Tuesday. By Friday, I was 6.5 lbs down.

Yeah, I know. Then on Saturday, I had gained a pound of that back.

(Let me reiterate: I know perfectly well that water alone can count for as much as five pounds of fluctuation day-to-day, and so once-weekly weigh-ins are the only ones you should count.)

* * * * * * *

Saturday night we went out with friends. It was the first time we had a babysitter stay with Eve while Mom and Dad did grown-up things, and that was cause for celebration in and of itself.

We met for drinks before dinner, and I decided to have a cocktail. By the end of the cocktail, I felt good but not even a little tipsy, and decided to have a second cocktail. (Which, right there, is the reason the first cocktail is a bad idea.)

By the time we got to dinner, I was super hungry. I had been hungry all day anyway, and the gin wasn't helping matters at all.

As for dinner: I didn't come close to staying on plan. BUT I did eat far, far better than I would have under any of my old, own "plans." I basically tasted Ish's soup, tasted the bread, had 1/4 of the grilled lamb I ordered, approximately two small red roasted potatoes, and a few bites of a shared ice cream dessert.

Plus wine. Not a lot. But not a sip, either.

All in all, for my first outing, I think I did okay. But that wasn't the hard part AT ALL.

Sunday morning I woke up and weighed myself and was relieved to discover I weighed EXACTLY the same as I did Saturday morning.

But then.

Two cocktails and some wine on hardly any calories? That does NOT FEEL GOOD the next day. Not at all. And I woke up ravenously hungry.

And that was the real test. Being hungover is unfortunate under any circumstances. But having to stay on-plan while hungover is sheer torture. I felt gross and hungry and, whether effective or not, practically everyone on the planet solves hangovers by eating a ton of crap.

So I was looking at a full day of hunger, hangover, PLUS we needed to go shopping for the week, PLUS the Oscars, which is basically my Superbowl. I always drink champagne during the Oscars.

But I didn't.

I didn't go off plan even a little. I refused to make one night of questionable decisions become one night and then a full day off-plan. Oh, I thought about it as we drove past Wendy's on our way home from the grocery store (talk about torture!), as I clung to my bottle of sparkling water for dear life.

I chose to look at it as my punishment. Or penance. Or whatever. I made some bad choices, and I voluntarily paid for them. And I'm not planning to make those mistakes again.

This morning I weighed myself, and while I've only been on Medifast for six days, I have held steady for the last three days at being 5.5 lbs down.

I'll take it.