Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Experiment


So to recap from Friday - I got home from work feeling frustrated that I was about to embark on the first long weekend of the summer and I was going to be stuck following my weight loss program, measuring, weighing, exercising and counting calories.

I should have known better immediately when I found my mind taking the the position that I was going to be depriving myself of something. As soon as that became my mind set I knew that I had lost before even putting up a fight.

So I gave in and decided that I was not going to restrict myself and I was going to "enjoy" the weekend. That was the experiment.

The good thing about experiments is that we learn. My hypothesis (and you thought I wouldn't retain anything from Science Class) was that by allowing myself to eat anything I want I would be happier and have a better weekend.

By Sunday I was feeling tired, lazy and completely unmotivated. By Monday all I wanted to do was eat and read a book sitting on the couch. I believe that the increase in sugar and simple carbs that I was eating along with a ton of diet pop was having a significant impact on my body and I was noticing the impact really quickly.

Even though I started to notice this Sunday and Monday I was not able to pull myself back on track, despite knowing that if I ate better and moved I would feel better, I just couldn't motivate myself and so the cycle continued.

Fast forward to Tuesday morning. Prepared by breakfast and packed my lunch for work, every calorie accounted for.

I feel 100% better already and now I know that by following my healthy diet I may not eat junk, but I actually prevent depriving my body of energy and motivation for activity which really should be the focus of the long weekend, not food.

3 comments:

  1. You are awesome! Good for you for taking part in the experiment and learning the right lesson from it. I fell on and off of this program 3 times and each time was when I "felt deprived".

    You now know that your body is happier when it gets good food. That's not to say tha you can't have junk on occasion but, then you need to do something about that. I ate a Regular NY Fries Poutine after a REALLY bad day at work. Felt like crap and went for a walk. Felt better.

    20 lbs down is a huge milestone! July first...you'll make different choices. You can still enjoy just with some limits.

    You've got this!!

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  2. I'm glad it was something you learned from. That is what learning to eat right is all about. It's something that we have to do our whole life and we need to slowly learn the tricks :)

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  3. I always feel better when I'm tracking, working out, and doing what I know I should. It's always so tempting to give yourself some time off, but then you just end up paying for it in the end. Good for you for getting back on track starting fresh!

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