You may have noticed my absence from the blog world and even twitter this week. Well, not only did I fall off the edge of the virtual world, I more or less fell off of the “watching what I eat, exercising regularly” wagon as well.
I can’t really pinpoint what did me in. A change in the weather (which I had hoped to conquer per my last post)? Stress? Hormones? I’ve been married for 25 years and I deserved a reward? An unrelenting urge for brownies? Whatever the cause, it derailed me big-time. From Tuesday through Friday, there was no exercise. And while I would start the days off eating healthfully, by lunchtime, I was throwing my food out of whack too. The result? I gained 5 pounds in a week.
I got back on the exercise train on Saturday with a really strong 3-mile run. The clouds broke for a little while on Saturday so I took advantage and got outside. The one thing I’ve found about taking some time off from running is that when I run again, I do better. Maybe it’s just because I missed it. I had a good strong 3/4-mile swim on Sunday too.
But that didn’t stop the foodie stuff like it usually does. I got back to exercising but ramped up the food intake with a vengeance. And when I ramp up, it’s not with carrots. Saturday, there was marshmallow Fluff in the house. My husband likes this on his ice cream. For me, Fluff is a gateway drug. I can’t resist it. Pure sugar marshmallowy goodness and spoon. That’s all it takes. My husband has good taste cause it’s even better on ice cream…. Turkey Hill Apple Dumpling ice cream to be exact. C’mon, it’s limited edition. I had to at least give it a try, didn’t I?
I probably shouldn’t have given it a try. It was amazingly good, when I had a bowl at 3:00 after food shopping. The second bowl was even better after my giant burger and fries from the new deli that just opened up by our house. I only did devour half the burger because it was the biggest burger I’ve ever seen, but I ate the fries, and left room for more ice cream.Too bad eating an apple at 9:00 at night doesn’t just erase the bad food from earlier in the day.
Sunday? Was a disaster. I decided in the morning that the reason I had been eating so much all week was because I wanted brownies with chocolate icing. My mother used to make these when we were little. Comfort food. Did I mention I was stressing all week? I went back to what I was doing to see if the craving would go away. It didn’t. Fortunately, I didn’t have the makings in the house so I couldn’t have brownies. Unfortunately, I had to go to Walmart for printer cartridges (in the electronics department) and directly across from the electronics register (I kid you not) was an aisle of cake mixes, brownie mix and you guessed it chocolate icing. Seriously. Karma?
I bought the stuff. I made the brownies. I iced them and ate them. And I ate more than my fair share of them too. They were my main food group for the rest of Sunday. Thank goodness for my 21-year-old son, who is a bottomless pit. He graciously polished the rest of them off before Monday morning. Phew.
Yesterday, I got my mojo back. I had a shake day to “shake” off the food cravings. I like Atkins chocolate shakes even though I’m not on a low-carb diet. High protein, high fiber, some fat, no sugar. I really needed the no sugar thing yesterday. Plus, they don’t bother my stomach the way other shakes can. I had shakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In between, I stuck to apples, babybel cheese and a banana. And that was fine. I wasn’t hungry and I was in control. That felt good. As good as the food tasted over the weekend, I didn’t relish the feeling of being out of control. I haven’t experienced that in a long time.
Last night, I went for my “round” workout with my friend and personal trainer, Jen Ross at Activ Personal Training. I dubbed it the round workout last night because all of the exercises involve round things: medicine balls, yoga balls, a half-ball balancy thing. Torture by play. The workouts are tough but they are also lots of fun. And eventually I hope to not look like such a spaz on the balancy things. 
At any rate, I’m back. I got back to moving and have control over my eating again. And today, I was down 3 pounds from the 5 I gained over the weekend. I knew the weight was temporary but it was enough to shock me back to reality.
If I want to keep and improve the body I’ve worked so hard to get over the past year, I’m going to have to continue to work at it every day. It’s ok to fall off once in a while, but not for extended periods of time. It’s too easy to fall back into old habits. In case you were wondering, I consider a week an extended period of time.
Healthier eating and exercise is my lifestyle now. Heck, it’s my life.
Oh and happy 25th anniversary to my hubby today. Seriously, he was not the reason for my food binge, although he does bring the evil Fluff into the house. I don’t know who else would have supported and put up with me for so long.
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Congrats on your 25th anniversary, my 15th is coming up next week
It’s okay to fall off once in a while as long as you climb back on and you did. Next time: try to keep blogging it might help.
But you’re back on track, strong as ever. I really love the line about healthier eating and exercise, it’s my lifestyle now too. Although that doesn’t mean it’s easy all the time.
We all fall off on occasion…and it gets hard to get back on. But the important thing is you knew you fell off, knew you had to get back on and WANTED to get back on! Congrats!
It’s okay to “fall off”, or make a mistake every once in a while. You soon wake up and realize what happened, and you make it right again. It gets you down in the dumps, but with a little exercise, it will all be better again