My dad was a yo-yo champ in his prime. These are some of the yo-yos he has collected over the years. In talking about fluctuating weight, my mind always goes to "yo-yo dieting" and is why I snapped this picture today.
Just when I reached my goal of losing 3 pounds early, "cheat day" rolled along. Sigh. On Saturday, I made sure to work out in the morning. Then, I spent a most enjoyable Frankie Day* of Bojangles biscuits, coffee from a local cafe, Wal-Mart shopping, perusing a local, groovy bookstore, purchasing poetry by local authors, spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, a Milky Way midnight bar, a few M & Ms. It was an inspirational and blissful day of not having a set plan and removing the perimeters from my diet. All the while, though, Autumn Calabrese was a small voice my head (that I chose to ignore) whispering, "Don't undo all your hard work in the kitchen" (or in this case, out and about). Even though I licked the icing and cinnamon remnants from a napkin just to be sure I devoured every last bit of my half of the Bojangle's cinnamon biscuit, the math still doesn't add up to a 3 pound gain Sunday (and one more today). I felt a bit nervous. Oh no, what have I done? sort of thinking while I plugged in the calories (making sure to count everything and overestimate the calorie count). It still barely came out at around one pound's worth of calories (3,436 to 3,752 calories per pound---or the outdated calculation of 3,500 calories per pound). There is NO WAY I ate 10,308 to 11,256 calories --- just on Saturday (PLUS and 3,436-3752 calories Sunday). NOPE! Then it hit me. Natural weight fluctuations. Saying yes to a hedonistic food day is not without consequences. I've gleaned that what I am experiencing is simply water weight from sugar, carbs and sodium increase on my guilt-free day of indulging. Just to be sure, I checked online (because we all know that if you read it on the internet-- better yet on a FORUM on the internet---it's gots ta be true!). I found a hodgepodge of reputable body building sources and most agree that a cheat day (or meal) is generally a good idea. I do like the idea of calling it a "treat day" instead of "cheat day" (got that from here---that also has pros and cons of a treat day and Dr. Axe's tips of how to do this with success). As we are all different, some people may have not had success with this while others may find it works. Some use a treat day some use a treat meal. The trick is to pay attention and learn what works for each of us individually. I respect my friends who try different things, and for most diet trends, programs and fitness services in which my friends are involved, I allow them to do what works for them (because it is none of my business). Just because juicing and fasting are not for me, doesn't mean that they are beneficial and life changing for someone else. I'm not talking about life threatening eating disorders, just diet fads and trends. We have to trust that our friends are adults, smart and have kept themselves alive for however long they have been on their own. Anything that falls outside of that and causes us grave worry, I would default to a professional for assistance. For my own cheat day, I gave myself permission to enjoy food, but still paid attention to hunger cues. If I was full, I didn't eat. It really was that simple. I also had no trouble getting back on program the next day. I still think I will do my next treat day a little differently this Saturday, but I'm not going to really worry with it until then. I figure that all of us who struggle with weight have those "4 pound WTF weight gain" moments that grab our attention. Will we panic and make excuses or will we lean in and take a closer look and see what needs to be tweaked. It's life school. Some of us just have different ways of learning our lessons and some of us need to repeat them a few times before we figure it out. No self-loathing. No guilt. No shame. Not anymore. Compassion and forgiveness. Each and every time.
Stay hydrated in the heat walking in that beauty and peace, my most excellent peeps.
\m/\m/
* "Frankie Day" is the name my brother and I have given to "say yes to everything" day. Our take on it is actually "say y-e-s to f-u-n". This is a nice marriage of Frankie (Lily Tomlin) the free-spirit, artist character from the show Grace & Frankie and Mr. Larrabee (Austin Pendleton) from the movie What's Up Doc (when he says Judy Maxwell (Barbara Streisand) is "f-u-n"). Yes, we are weird and nerdy.
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