Photo by Kiss My Buttercream.
After about a two months hiatus, I stepped on the scale today. Yikes! I've gained five pounds since Labor Day.Now, this may not sound like a lot of weight, but I am less than five feet tall (about 141 cm).
Also, the timing is a bit shocking. I'm going into the holiday season with a little Santa's bowl full of jelly.
I am too cheap to buy new clothes, so I need to trim down, or I won't fit into my clothes by the end of the winter.
I should probably start with a food journal so that I can be more honest about what I'm really eating.
Also, I'm hypoglycemic, and I am supposed to curb refined carbohydrates.
I'm going to do my best to stay away from cookies, cake, pie, candy, and other sweets. I also have to minimize the amount of potatoes, corn, bread, crackers and pasta I consume. I also have to watch how much fruit I eat, especially juice and dried fruits, which are more concentrated in sugars.
I also need to resume my regular trips to the gym for a combination of cardio, strength training and yoga. At the very least, time at the gym keeps me from having easy access to snack food. I teach online, read a lot, watch films about aging and maintain this blog. That's a lot of sitting. I do better physically, emotionally and mentally if I exercise for at least 45 minutes a day.
But the first order of business is for me to decide how often to weigh myself. Some people habitually weigh themselves daily, which helps bring gradual weight gain into focus quickly. Others weigh in once a week, which prevents being discouraged by normal fluctuations of a pound or two.
There's also the "throw away the scale" school of thought.
I do concede that I have often gone MONTHS without weighing myself and still "kept my figure." If I am keeping a food-and-exercise journal and monitoring how my clothes fit, then I really don't need the scale.
Ultimately, I believe that it's more important to focus primarily on my behaviors rather than focusing too much on the results. I can control what I eat and drink and how much I exercise. If I'm doing my best to make healthy lifestyle choices, I need to let go of the number on the scale.
But I have to admit in the last two months I've been making horrible choices and deluding myself about it. Today's trip to the scale is an invitation to be more responsible. Honestly, I've really been doing everything in my power to gain weight, and now it shows.
Related:
Outrunning Father Time and the Grim Reaper
