Not sure if anyone will remember but I posted on this sub on Friday asking for tips on how to continue my recently started weight loss journey while on vacation with a family that probably wouldn’t be eating super healthy. The trip ended up going pretty well and I learned some things about resilience and patience while losing weight that might be good to share.
The first two and a half days were going well. I was indulging in some “vacation food” while still fitting it into my calorie goals- like eating 3 pieces of the local pizza without the crust instead of 5 pieces plus sides, having a delicious salad at a restaurant instead of their amazing (and giant) chicken sandwich, and realizing I did have the calories left to have one drumstick ice cream, I just shouldn’t have more than that. I was also going on some walks in the woods with my family and trying to have some light activity.
Then came Sunday night- we went to my cousin’s for dinner. This cousin is a great cook and baker and I knew all of the food would be cooked with lots of unhealthy additions. When I first sat down I tried to mentally calculate calories but realized this would be impossible with a lot of the items he made. Then I just decided- as long as you eat less than you normally would, it’s okay. Which I did, while enjoying some ribs, cornbread, lemon cake, etc. but also filling up my plate with salad. Then, I ended up having 3 glasses of wine and 2 mixed drinks while playing board games after. So I knew that I definitely ate and drank over my limit but I tried to focus on having fun and enjoying the moment.
Normally, I would consider this indulgent meal a “failure”, end up feeling really down, and eventually binging all day the next day, having a giant breakfast, stopping at more than one fast food place on the drive home, etc. Instead, I woke up, got a reasonably sized and nourishing breakfast at a hippie/wellness restaurant with my family, went for a walk, and got a Panera salad as my “fast food dinner” on the drive home. I figured I would probably still gain a bit from my family dinner but was proud of myself for doing much better the following day.
This morning I couldn’t resist and ended up weighing myself- I lost 1.2 lbs over the weekend! I couldn’t believe it. Instead of giving up and calling the weekend a failure like I normally would, picking up and continuing the next day helped make losing possible. I also realized- the one meal probably wasn’t THAT BAD over the scale of all the calories I burned and consumed all weekend, but blowing it up in your mind and giving up makes it that bad! Overall, I don’t know if this novel I wrote will be helpful to anyone else, but I think the realization that it is much more productive to let go of “diet failures”, be kind to ourselves, and move on with our journey, rather than to dwell in the bad feelings of a meal that doesn’t fit our goals is a really important realization. I think I’ve learned that your overall mental attitude about the health journey is way more important than any single meal or exercise will be, and having the resilience and patience to see the big picture instead of feeling destroyed after a meal that took maybe 1.5 hrs is so so important.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/35fQBO1
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