Lessons learned

jrmartinezb

I started on MFP on August. I started eating healthy, eating less and exercising. I’ve been losing about a pound a week since. I was/am very pleased with myself, perhaps I even got a little too pleased. I let two things happen that I know I shouldn’t have.

I had been exercising 5 times a week, light cardio and light weights; nothing too intense but I had been very constant. Last Wednesday I felt sleepy in the morning, I thought “I deserve a break, just for today”, so I slept. That “just for today” ended up lasting until today. I’ve missed 5 days of exercise.

This last weekend we went visiting some relatives. I find keeping track of what I eat and eating healthy to be harder when I am out of your environment, however I did manage to stay within my calorie range… until we went out for dinner (celebrating sis-in-law’s graduation). Long story short, I ended up 1900 cals above my goal. Lots of fatty stuff and too much booze.
I’m not going to make excuses, I know all these was my decision and my responsibility.

So, Monday morning comes and with it my weekly weight in. I step on the scale and it shows… a gain of more than 2 pounds. I didn’t expect that. Anyway, I figured a lot of it should be water ( I did have a lot of high sodium foods over the weekend), so yesterday I doubled my water intake. Today, the scale shows I’m again two pounds down.

This experience has been ugly and stressful, but hopefully I’ve learned a couple of things from it. These are things I knew before, but only since I felt them firsthand do I feel I truly learned them:

-Obsessing about the number on the scale is not healthy. The scale can - and will - lie.

-I will not be happy until I learn to enjoy food without overdoing it.

-I don’t “deserve a break” I deserve a healthy lifestyle.

-Big gains followed by big loses is stressful and … It just doesn’t feel right (I’m sure it’s not the best for my body either). A slow but steady pace is way much better, and the only thing sustainable in the long run.

-There will always be things like parties or a stressful week that will make it harder to stay on track, I don’t have control over those things, but I am responsible of how I deal with them.

Dhemeyer

Great post... and congrats on these lessons learned. This knowledge isn't easy to come by.
Thanks for sharing

kristilynne84

Thanks for sharing....you helped me, as I had a 2 lb gain this morning and am feeling discouraged. I look at this kind of like a boxing match--some rounds I win, some rounds the weight wins, but I have to keep getting up and trying again, never stopping fighting for it. And, by God's grace, I hope we all can beat this!

athenasurrenders

-I don’t “deserve a break” I deserve a healthy lifestyle.

This is great! I'm going to write that down and stick it to the fridge.

Trophyyf

It's funny because I'm going through the same thing right now. I also made the mistake of missing a day but that day caused me to miss months of eating right and exercise and I gained 14 pounds!!! and this was after I joined MFP and thought I had found my "fix". I woke up one day after not getting on the scale for a while because I really knew what I had done and I jumped on it. I almost died. I actually said to myself it was wrong. Well I then signed up with a personal trainer a couple days later because I was scared that it might be right. Well he weighed me and I actually gained 16 pounds since July 2012!!! I wanted to cry. Although I knew it had to be bad because I didn't fit into my clothes anymore.

I had been doing so well. I was exercising all the time I was eating right and just because I made that decision ONE day. I set myself back months. I also just recently celebrated a birthday (my sons). I went to dinner and I ate had beer and when I weighed in I had only lost 1 pound. Weekends are really hard for me because we do so much running around. I know I need to plan and back healthy choices but sometimes its hard, but really what is harder is disappointing myself and spending money on a trainer only to drink a beer and stay where I'am!!!

It's been a long process and I'm still working on "getting it" meaning getting how to eat and exercise and change my mind about food. I need to realize that food yes is good but really its meant to nourish my body not as a reward or a crutch.

Good luck to you MFP! Friend me if you would like. We can do this together!!

TR0berts

This is awesome. Are there moderators to the message boards? If so, I nominate the OP to get stickied to the top, so everyone reads it.

deeva2266

Really needed to read this tonight. Thanks for posting. I too gave myself a few days then bam 5 lbs back on. I am upset but know it is my own doing.