Picking Up Where You Left Off a.k.a. Damage Control

I've failed. As much as I preach about keeping the weight off and staying healthy, I regained. I'm human and we all have certain periods in our life where we cannot focus completely on our well-being. I've had a stressful period with plenty of distractions, which caused me to feel like it was ok to slip back into old habits. As I was stressed and not feeling good mentally, I decided to make it visible physically.

The biggest problem is that the decisions you make do not quite go like that. If only this was our thought process then we at least made a conscious choice. A conscious choice can be changed if you are convinced of the reasons for change. However, much of this is very unconscious. I don't want to play the woman card here, but hormones play a role too and make it more difficult to suppress those cravings. Somehow we never crave celery during that time of the month...

I was feeling stressed and felt the need to comfort myself with food as I was no longer able to do it any other way. It doesn't help that I got a cold, which meant I wasn't able to go to the gym (still struggling with that by the way). The gym has become a good replacement to me for that rush you feel after finishing a tub of ice cream. In addition, I usually have more energy after a nice workout than after eating a tub of ice cream. However, I was prevented from my workouts due to my physical condition, making me reach for the ice cream again (my favorite is Caramel/Vanilla with caramel bits in it...yum!). Of course approximately two weeks of this will leave its traces.

I've gained back 2 kilo. After all my hard work and effort, being so happy in my "new skin", I gained 2 kilo back...for what? For a bit of stress? That doesn't seem worth it??

And it's not, yet we always succumb.

You could say that 2 kilo is not much and I'll admit it won't make a huge difference, but once you start paying attention to your health and weight you'll notice even small changes. It was in combination with having to stop going to the gym, which of course also changes your appearance.

This means I'll be having another go at a small diet for this week. The problem is that I have organized dinners with work, so it is more difficult to control what I eat. I have my birthday on the 21st so I will clearly not be dieting that day. Say what you want about a healthier lifestyle, but everyone deserves a slice of cake on their birthday.