I worked out with my trainer Brian this morning at Sport & Health and I had a great workout but an unfortunate 5 lb gain at the scale this week. It would be so easy to just say I ate like a pig yesterday and leave it at that but that would not be completely true and it’s so much more complicated than that.
I’ve been doing a lot of things right but I’ve obviously been doing some things wrong here lately. I’ve been embracing what I will call (stinkin thinking) over the past 1 ½ weeks. As you know I have added two Kashi snacks to my regular diet-to-go meals daily.
This past week I’ve also purchased several bottles of carrot juice thinking it would help my stomach pain which could be coming from my gallbladder acting up? At first I didn’t care for the carrot juice but after the first bottle it started tasting thick and creamy like a carrot milk shake, as sick as that might sound, I really liked it. Also on several occasions I’ve run out of Kashi bars and thought eating multi grain pretzels could be used as substitute snacks.
Yesterday on Thanksgiving I ate my normal DTG breakfast and decided I would enjoy dinner with my family and take a moderate break from my DTG meals of lunch and dinner. My meal consisted of about a large table spoon of the following, but since I didn’t measure let’s call it ½ cup of each of the following; stuffing - ½ cup, macaroni and cheese -1/2 cup, cabbage that goes in stuffed ham – ½ cup, ½ cup limo beans, ¼” slice of ham about 6” x 4”, romaine lettuce salad with crotons and cheese. After I finished my first plate I went back for a second salad with a deviled egg and for desert I had pineapple and grapes.
Now let’s talk about what I didn’t eat that made me think I was saintly or should have gotten a good behavior award. Turkey and turkey skin, mashed potatoes, rolls, lots of ham, cookies, pretzels covered in chocolate topped with a pecan, cakes, pumpkin pie, whipped cream, cheese cake, chocolate pie, apple pie, beer, diet sodas, specialty candies and a whole lot of other goodies I didn’t bother looking at.
The funny thing is I’m not angry or mad, maybe a little disappointed, but not broken or ready to give up because, I get it! I started to make up my own rules with foods higher on the glycemic-index that turned to sugar and as far as yesterday’s meal most of what I ate was starch and loaded with salt. My trainer shared with me that he ate sensible and had only a small desert and gained 3 pounds.
I’m going to share with you a comment that was left on my blog back on
July 20th by Kevin after I returned from vacation. Kevin thanks for the great wisdom that I believe applies equally as well today – Thanks, I get it!
Back On Track
Have A Great Friday Everyone
Kevin said...
Don't stress too much about the extra pounds. I really doubt that they are fat pounds. More likely, they are all water weight brought on from the change in diet. When you are on DietToGo, you are eating less calories than your body burns so the body doesn't have the ability to build up a big store of carbohydrates (for an energy store). As soon as you start eating normally (the average person needs between 2000 and 2500 calories a day to maintain their weight), the body quickly replenishes its carbohydrate store.
In order to store carbohydrates (not a fat, which is a long term energy storage mechanism), the body requires a lot of water. The water is used to store the carbohydrates in.
When you first restricted your calories when starting DietToGo, the first week you probably lost a bunch of weight. This weight was mostly water as your body burned down it's store of carbohydrates before burning fat for energy.
So, when you went on your vacation and started eating more calories a day (especially carbohydrates), you simply put back on the water weight you lost when you first restricted calories.
The good news is the water weight should come off rather quickly as you return to your diet. I bet that on vacation you probably ate more carbohydrates than you were eating (mostly from bread, I bet).
Anyway, don't sweat it. It is good to give your body a vacation every once in a while from the stress of under eating and losing weight. For us obese people, our quest has to be viewed as a marathon and not as a sprint. Eating normally for a week or two every once in a while is a good thing and not a bad thing.