The Vicious Circle

I understand now how so many of us end up gaining our weight back no matter how hard we try to keep it off. It’s the vicious circle.

This circle starts out sweet. We start eating right and getting some exercise… our bodies respond by losing weight and toning up. And we feel great! And we keep going until we’ve lost as much weight as our bodies allow before hitting a plateau. Then the frustration sets in. Maybe we let more food creep back in than we should. Maybe we let our guards down just a little. We get a little lazy and stop tracking, just for a couple of days.

But then it’s tough to get back to tracking all the time, so we try a new approach. For me, it was more nutritious eating, but somewhere along the line, I’m eating too much of something I shouldn’t be. And, having enjoyed some of the foods we avoided like the plague or some of the new foods that we are now eating too much of, we have a hard time giving them up again. So now the scale goes up just a little. So we get back on track for real for a day or two, and the scale goes down a little. And then, oops, without any discernible reason, the scale goes back up again.

During all this food experimentation, which isn’t going so well, it’s winter and work is crazy and getting in the exercise becomes less intense and more sporadic as life gets in the way. And when there’s finally time to get back to an exercise focus? Wham, injury. Probably from trying to do too much too fast, since we’re not one to admit we can’t just go straight back to where we were.

The results? The scale goes up just a little bit. We get back on track for a bit, it goes down for a little, and then up again.

The worst thing about the scale stalling and/or inching up is that it is incredibly discouraging. And each time another pound appears, especially after a day where the exercise got done or the food was done right, it’s defeating and makes us wonder why we’re working so hard, when either way, we’re not getting the results we want. So what do we do? We eat pizza. Too much of it. And other foods that don’t produce the right results. And those foods spark cravings for even worse foods. And guess what happens? The scale goes up. At least now we know why.

And then we tell ourselves, we’ll get back on track on Monday, after the vacation, after the work trip, after the miserable week where we just put in 10-12 hours a day. We will, we will, we will. But we don’t. And each week, there’s another pound or two. And the clothes get tighter. And we get more discouraged. And we do more of the things that got us here in the first place. It’s the vicious circle.

The post above is obviously about me, but I know that I’m not the only one who goes through this, makes these deals with myself and feels this way, so I’m sharing.

I have a business trip through Monday where I’ll be walking a lot (can’t run right now anyway), but from a food perspective, will be tricky. I did it last year though, when I was married to my food plan and I came home no worse for the wear. So instead of saying I’ll get back on track after this trip, I’m going to do everything in my power to be on track during it. I’ve already seen the scale slide 8 pounds above my lowest weight, and I’m determined not to let that get any higher. A month ago, I was determined to not go any higher than the 5 pounds I gained during the holidays. We see how well that worked out.

I know what I need to do to be back on track. And I have no excuses for not doing it. So it’s my pledge to myself today. This weight creep will stop. I will stop letting the scale discourage me. I will be patient with my body as it does what it needs to do but I will stick to healthy eating and exercise so I stay fit and continue to feel good about how far I’ve come.

Tags: diet frustration, fat girl to fit girl, food tracking, weight creep, weight gain