Woo hoo, baby! It’s been a steller week. Not only did I lose 5 pounds this week and not only am I two pounds away from leaving the dreaded 300’s forever, but I am now officially 1/3 of the way done with my weight loss! Let’s celebrate with some no-sugar added fudgesicles, shall we?

I’ve lost 71 pounds since January. Seventy-one pounds. Wow. I’m not sure I could even lift 71 pounds. That would be like picking up a big TV set or 3 buckets of kitty litter. Yet all that weight was just hanging off of me. Nothing feels better than results, especially after so much work. I’m off to walk now. Next Friday I want the first digit on the scale to be a 2.

Sometimes I forget to eat on the weekend.

It’s not uncommon for me to go until 3 or 4 in the afternoon on a Saturday before realizing I haven’t had a bite to eat. And only then because my stomach starts cramping up or I start to feel like I’m going to puke on my shoes. Then I immediately search for something to quench the pain and berate myself for letting this happen. I don’t know how anorexics can do it. Not eating is far too painful.

I think I forget to eat because I don’t have a routine on the weekends. During the week I bring breakfast and lunch to work, snack on cheese and pistachios during the day, and have dinner when I come home. Weekends have no order to them at all, so I don’t always remember to sit down for lunch. I try not to eat if I’m not hungry, and for some reason I don’t always get a ‘hungry’ feeling before my stomach starts wrapping around itself.

This is something I should really get a handle on. I need to start making myself eat when I wake up and at a certain time on the weekends or I’m going to make myself sick.

Stepping on the scale yesterday morning, I was surprised that I’d actually lost weight. Between my Ben & Jerry’s canoodling and the 3 days straight I skipped walking I figured I’d actually gain a pound or two this week. As I’ve said before, I don’t understand my body at all. But I’ll take what I can get, so yay for another pound down.

I cheated on Dr. Arthur Agatston with Ben & Jerry. Dr. A, will you ever forgive me? It was a long day. Work was killing my mind. I had a headache. I knew I had to go to the grocery to get sodas and yogurt and Lean Cusines so I could stay on your diet. But I just didn’t want to go. I wanted to collapse on the coach. The only thing that could get me off my ass was the thought of consuming a pint of mint-chocolate ice-cream. Yum. It was delicious. Of course, it was also about 1040 calories. Ouch!

This is the first time I’ve eaten ice cream since I read The South Beach Diet, so it’s the first time I’ve realized just exactly how bad it was for me. But it was good and I don’t regret it. I’ve been pretty damn good about sticking to the diet. What’s important is that I continue to stick to it despite this digression. Also, I can’t make such digressions a habit if I want to hit my goal weight anytime soon.

I know I shouldn’t be disappointed about losing 2 pounds this week and 2 pounds the week prior, but I am. Those weeks when I’d lose 7 or 10 pounds were bitchin’. But now it seems I’ve settled into a slower, healthier, yet more frustrating loss rate.

Part of me is saying this is better because it means I’ll be less likely to have loose skin at the end. It’s also a more natural and healthier rate of weight loss. But another part of me is screaming like Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, “I want it now!” I want my brand new skinny bod now, not a year and a half from now, which is how long it will take at this rate.

Pile on top of that the fact that it will only get harder to lose weight as I approach my goal weight. My brother has been fluctuating within 20 pounds of his goal weight for months now, though perhaps his systematic cheating contributes to that.

I think part of the problem is that I’ve been eating some things I thought were on the diet, but aren’t. I had a couple Quiznos salads that I thought were okay, but after consulting with my brother I realize they might have been worse for me than I thought. So, I’m laying of the Honey Mustard dressing (oh God that was good stuff) and making sure they don’t put bacon on it anymore.

I’m also going to start a weight-lifting program, which I’ve been meaning to do for months. More muscle mass means more calories burned. I also wouldn’t mind being able to open the pickle jar without assitance. Now, I just have to go find information on weight-lifting. Leg work is so much fun, not.