Just Keep Swimming...

 This week I posted about feeling fatter. And I really did. I just had this week where I just felt fat. Probably because I wasn't able to choose healthy foods a whole lot for one reason or another. I mean, I was 100% faithful to point counting and I mean it. I was so careful. But I still felt fat. So, imagine my surprise when I went to WW last night. But first, let me back up a bit.

 If you recall, when one loses 5 pounds (not just the first, but subsequent 5 pounds too) he or she gets the honor of ringing "the bell". It's a bell you might find at a hotel on the check-in counter for you to ring if no one is there. So this is a loud bell. A bell you slam your fist down on and they hear it in Australia. It's like giving the bell a five when you ring it. It's sort of magical. Probably because it matters so much. When meetings first start the first thing the leader looks for is "who rang the bell?". Last week was my first week on the WW program for the new year. I lost 4 pounds last week, quite a triumph I must say. So all I needed was one stinking pound in order to ring that bell.

 Only problem- remember how I was feeling fat? I reported to you faithful readers (might just be reader- singular and that one reader might be me, but oh well) that I cheated and weighed myself Monday. Well, I cheated again Tuesday and even yesterday, Weighs-Day. I weighed each morning and each morning my weight was exactly the same. So, I was very discouraged each morning that I wasn't going to lose. Maybe even have a gain. All I needed was 1 pound.

 The first twinge of self-doubt crept in over the weekend. I felt like I was eating bad. Now, again, I counted the points. I did. I have to. The second I gorge on the points and then just say "oh, I'll just say I used all my flex points" and I don't actually count them and write them down, for some reason this is like detonating a bomb on my diet. So, through the discouragment I was feeling I started telling myself this- "Just keep swimmming...just keep swimming". You know, from Finding Nemo? Dori sings that and it's such a fun movie and she is such a fun character. I heard her voice ringing through my head in those moments of doubt. Just keep swimming. So, I did.

 I swam all the way to the WW scale and said to the weigh-in lady, "I just need one pound to ring the bell and I really hope I get to." She looks at her screen (it's all computerized and high-tech, fancy-schmancy and you can't see the weight for yourself). She says to me, "well, you lost 4.8 pounds". I didn't cheer. I slunked. I felt my whole body just crumble in defeat. I was only .2 pounds away from that glorious bell ringing. The weigh-in lady said, "honey, you didn't lose .8 pounds. You lost 4.8. You lost 8.8 total!" After I finished picking my jaw up off the floor I clapped my hands like a little school girl and said, "reeeeelly???" in this high-pitched, squeaky, I'm-about-to-scream-in-joy voice and she said, "honey, ring that bell! Ring it twice!!" You can bet your bottom dollar that I rang it twice. Two fives for the bell!

 I was so excited I could barely contain myself. I'd never had two big losses in back to back weeks like this. I texted my hubby. I texted my mom. I texted my brother. I texted my Bestie. Then I posted it on Facebook. All within about a minute of sitting down for the meeting. When the leader asked for bell-ringers I thrust my arm in the air with pride, told of my victory and basked in the applause and praise. Ahhhhh. Victory. Sweet victory.

 This is an important victory though, not just because of the huge, massive loss (hehe) but because I kept swimming. Whenever I start to get discouraged I'm going to remember this week. The week where I felt fatter. Felt discouraged. Even had moments of feeling like I'll never get to my goal. But I kept swimming and lost more than I would ever have put money on. This Diet Diva is gonna keep on swimming!

 Happy Thursday-it's-almost-Friday! Happy Eating! Happy Swimming!