Battle of the Bulge!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...we've all been there. We wake up in the morning, strip down to our birthday suits in preparation to get in the shower, but before we get in, what do we do? We step on the scale. And why do we do it then? Let's be honest, we do it then because #1. It's morning, and you haven't eaten anything yet, so you don't have any food still waiting to be digested. Everyone knows you weigh the least in the morning. and #2. You're naked...no need to be adding unnecessary weight with clothes! Every ounce counts, right? Right! So we hop on...hoping, with everything inside of us, that we'll see that magic number...and let's face it...any number less than the one we saw last time is pretty magical.

On the RARE occasion that I actually DO see one of those magical little numbers...my heart leaps for joy and I become all sorts of giddy. I look up at the ceiling, a huge smiling breaking out on my face and I think "YES! Yes! Look at me go! I'm on my way! If I keep at it I'll be strutting my stuff in a bikini in NO time! Yes! Yes! YES!!!" ::insert air fist pump here:: You do a little dance, sing in the shower, grab a banana on your way out the door, and promise that bikini hiding in the far recces of your top drawer that you will be seeing it later!

2 weeks go by...you see the progression. You are now down 3 lbs from where you started. The victory dance is becoming perfected by now. You and that bikini are becoming fast friends and you couldn't be more thrilled!

Week 3...you get on the scale...and you see that first magic little number you saw three weeks ago. "WHAT the #*$& is that number doing back on my scale?!?!?!?!" The once magical number, who treated you SO well, not so long ago...is now the BANE of your existence! How you HATE that 3 digit number!!! How DARE it show it's ugly face again!!!! And the Bikini?!?! Are ya kiddin' me?!?! There it sits TAUNTING you from the next room over! "You'll never get to wear me. You'll never get to wear me." OOoooooo CURSE THAT STUPID BIKINI!!!! Your previous fist pump is now pumping to a different tune.

The funny thing is...that 3 digit number...the one that had the power to make your day that first week...has the power to send you into one of the deepest emotional funks one could imagine. Even when there is a logical explanation to the gain, i.e. Aunt Flow is visiting and she doesn't know the meaning of the word mercy. She does not carry any sympathy for you and your emotional state. And she DEFINITELY does not support you in your weight loss efforts. ...the mean old bag! Even with that unavoidable, biological barrier that happens to everyone as the reasoning behind it...the funk still comes. Because now you are back to where you started. No progress...no headway has been made. ...The battle of the bulge is winning! When/How will the vicious cycle ever end?!?!