Weigh-in Week 27 - There goes another gain

The Numbers

Starting Weight: 216.8
Weight Last Week: 204.0
Weight This Week: 206.0
Loss This Week: -2.0
Total Weight Loss: 10.8
Pounds Still to Go: 21.0
Trendline Estimate: 203.7

Ok, so the 206.0 is just an estimate.  I woke at 5am on Monday to finish up and print a paper and forgot to actually weigh myself.  However, I did weigh myself on Friday (206.6) and weighed myself today (205.8), and making a guess that I weighed around 206.0 on Monday.

With that said... it's a gain.  I've only gone four weeks in a row once before showing a gain, and most the time it's been three week.  This week's gain showed followed that exact pattern.  And the reason?  I still don't know.  I was working a night shift last week on Tuesday, for the Census, and I brought a lot of snacks, and some energy drinks to keep myself awake.  I ate more than I should on a couple other days as well when I was finishing up the research for my genetics paper.  Is it just coincidence that these kinds of things come up when I feel like I should be taking in more calories?  Or am I looking for excuses to take in more calories than I know I should be doing?  

I don't think it was overconfidence this week... I had a feeling I'd be gaining weight which is why I weighed myself on Friday.  But is my body resisting that three pound drop I made a couple weeks back?  I don't know.

What I do know, and what I've said before, the excel sheet and tracking my progress every week is the greatest change I made in this go around for losing weight.  The absolute hardest thing about losing weight is to maintain motivation.  It often times takes a support system, and encouragement, or a gym partner, or a personal trainer.  My support system in this process is very minimal.  It's pretty much myself, believing I have the ability and understanding my goal is attainable.  Motivating yourself is a hard, hard thing, and that's where the excel sheet is coming in.

It's been over six months!!!  Half a year.  Progress is slow.  It's going up and down, and especially because I was able to lose 30 pounds in three months before, it makes it seem all the more slower.  But being able to remind myself of my actual progress.  Of being able to see those patterns in my results.  And being able to see when I need to give myself a good kick.  Those are incredibly beneficial things I'm gaining from simply plotting my progress.  

The downward trend is an unspoken pep talk, the jumps in weight are those occasional scoldings I need, and the impartial nature of it allows me to believe what its saying, rather than resisting encouragement because it isn't capable of softening its response cause it doesn't want to hurt my feelings.  It tells me how it is, and not what it thinks I should hear or what it thinks I want to hear.