Falling Off the 'Healthy' Wagon…

Well, as any fellow maintainer can attest to, I fell off the ‘healthy’ wagon this past weekend. I found myself doing really well during the day light hours and then gorging myself at night (and let me tell you, the leftover Valentine’s Days Reese’s and pretzels were to die for)! I tried to justify that it’s OK to have a bit of a treat because of the 80/20 theory to maintaining weight; however lying in bed stuffing pretzels and Reese’s into my mouth while watching the movie ‘Signs’ probably doesn't exactly fit the theory per se (maybe I can use the excuse of emotional eating because I was watching a scary movie?!? …scary movie+nervous emotions=eating more?!? If excuses could burn calories, I sometimes think I would be fit enough to be in the Olympics!)

For those of you who don't know, the theory of '80/20' is that 80% of the time you are good-meaning you eat healthy, and 20% of the time you are allowed to have a bit of a splurge-nothing TOO crazy though! I try to really stick to this concept in general because I have found that depriving yourself of those few treats can actually make you gorge on those treats at another point (insert the massacre of Reese’s with their fallen solider Reese wrappers all over the bedroom). In a previous blog, I mentioned that splurging can be a slippery slope because having one chip can lead to suddenly being at the bottom of the bag and not remembering how you got there! Adversely however, if you deprive-deprive-deprive yourself and then suddenly allow yourself one bite-you may not be able to STOP! I usually allow myself to have small bites of the foods I really want, and those small bites here and there tend to keep the pounds and ‘gorging demons’ at bay! This works because the small bites here and there keep me from feeling entirely deprived of those foods. This is MY version of the 80/20; everyone must find a system that works for them!

However, this weekend was probably more like 60/40 for me, and though I was disappointed in myself I have to remember to climb back on that god damn healthy wagon; and yes, sometimes the ladder to climb back on seems longer and more painful than it does at other times! Don’t let the fact that your health food wagon lost one of its wheels and axles (right after going through the drive through of McDonald’s) stop you from fixing it and moving onward and upward.

After eating poorly, people who are trying desperately to maintain have the tendency to feel as though “S#!+, that’s it, I’m going to be large and in charge again!” But that ISN’T the case (I constantly have to remind myself of this)! After eating poorly this weekend I was lying in bed half asleep and I remember rolling over and having my arm brush against my stomach. I actually thought to myself, ‘wow, it’s not already fat again!’

One or two slip ups aren’t going to pack the pounds back on as long as you get back to being ‘good.’ When I was going to weight watchers meetings I heard a lifetime member who had been maintaining for years say, “If you gain 5 pounds get back on track, if you gain 10 go back to a meeting.” I wholeheartedly believe that only you are responsible for your own health, and if you live by this rule, you CAN and WILL succeed in maintaining!

Trying to maintain weight loss isn’t about being perfect 100% of the time. Instead, it’s about finding a healthy balance in eating; which is why 80/20 tends to work beautifully for some former ‘fluffy’ people, like myself, that are trying to keep the bulge at bay (however, the creamy salad dressing, tons of honey glazed bread, and huge bowl of pasta I had on Friday night probably isn't the best way to exemplify this theory...or to start off my weekend)…. 

Until next time, back on the healthy wagon and continuing to try to keep the bulge at bay...