TODAY'S WEIGHT: 133.0
TARGET: 128
Three weeks past New Year, and I still haven't shaken the five pounds I gained over the holiday. The lowest mark I've hit this month is 131.
I'm beginning to feel discouraged.
Of course, I have no one to blame but myself. I know what I NEED to do:
- Reduce calories every day until I hit my goal
- And getting some exercise wouldn't hurt
But I don't do it.
I'm dealing with a lot of the same issues that caused me to put on all that excess weight in the first place. Exercise is hard when your time is limited; and I haven't used what little time I have as efficiently as I should. I need to accept the fact that I'm NEVER going to feel like I have enough time and I should just make exercise a priority.
This is easier said than done, but recognizing the need is the first step.
And then there's the diet. When my weight is up I'm pretty good at sticking to clinic food during the day, when I'm pretty much by myself. Dinner is another matter. That's the communal, family meal. I have not figured out how to cook a nice dinner and then LET THE REST OF THE FAMILY EAT IT.
During my seven-month weight loss phase, my husband got used to a lot of take-out. But now that I'm not obviously overweight any longer, my husband - like just about everyone else I know - seems to think we're done with that. It's hard to tell him three or four nights in a row (which is what I need to do) that I'm eating clinic food and he's on his own.
And it's hard for me, too. I'm kind of sick of being on a diet all the time. It sucks. So I tell myself that eating clinic food all day and a nice meal for dinner is good enough. But it's not -- or I would have lost those five extra pounds by now.
(And the Inaugural cheesecake I enjoyed on Tuesday didn't help either! But that's another story.)
So there you have it. I'm tired of being on a diet and my family is tired of living with someone on a diet. But frankly, that's been the case for over a year now. Why am I having so much trouble NOW?
A piece that appeared on NPR last week may have the answer: "The problem, some doctors and researchers say, is that overeating causes biological changes in the body that can lead to more food cravings and cause your stomach to send mixed signals about when it's actually full. As the years go by, those holiday pounds add up."
Hmmm. That actually makes sense.
The story goes on to cite a study of mice fed a high-fat diet. The extra fat in their diet appeared to mess with their body clocks, awakening them in the middle of the night to feed. (Anyone suffer from night cravings?? I know I do!)
There's more:
"Excess food can trigger an unfortunate cycle: The pancreas produces extra insulin to process the sugar load and remove it from the bloodstream. It doesn't stop producing insulin until the brain senses that blood sugar levels are safe. But by the time the brain stops insulin production, often too much sugar is removed. Low blood sugar can make you feel tired, dizzy, nauseous, even depressed — a condition often remedied by eating more sugar and more carbohydrates.
This feeling of low blood sugar sends many people after more carbohydrates, says Stiles, and they go for high-sugar foods to bring their blood sugar back up to normal and make them feel better."
Can you see the little light bulb going on over my head? This is EXACTLY what I've been feeling since we got back from our holiday up north.
So what do I do now?
Unfortunately, the NPR story doesn't go into the answer to THAT question.
All I can do is try to get back into my routine... one day at a time... and eat that clinic food until I feel in control again.
