Gaining Weight
What I'm about to tell you is something that I hope will encourage you more than hinder your journey towards success in this health and fitness thing. Since I finished the fitness challenge at the end of October I have been successful at keeping my weight the same give or take a one or two pounds. About two weeks ago I stepped on the scale and to my amazement I had gained four pounds in one week. Now, I know what you may be thinking and that's partly because Ive thought this myself, Bert, that's nothing to be afraid of nor is it something to stress about. Nevertheless I was worried and I did stress about it.You see those four pounds for me was the highest weight Ive been at since the end of October. Panicked thoughts started to fill my mind; thoughts such as this is the beginning and it only goes up from here and Ill be right back where I was when I started. From there my anxiousness turned into plotting and planning what I would have to do to lose the weight next time if I gained it all back. I wouldn't have the same opportunity that I did before and I had struggled with my weight for years before being selected as a semi-finalist. Aside from gaining an obscene amount of weight, auditioning for and being accepted on NBC's The Biggest Loser my only option was to not go down that same road again.
What did I do? Here's what Ive done to get my head back in the game:


Get rid of those food vices! Maybe you have superhuman self-control; I certainly don't. If there's food around my house that I like I will binge on it and I will do it especially when I'm stressed, sad, angry, or bored. If no one other than me eats the food that happens to be your vice then there really isn't a point in keeping it around. No one really eats peanut butter in my house, my son has sensitivity to it and because of that my daughter hasn't had any. I don't need it and until my life calms down a bit I cant have it in my house. Emotional eating? Yes.

Figure out why you're eating. I'm in the middle of a move and its the wintertime in Minnesota so I cant get outside as often as I could during the spring or summertime. My husband is an accountant so hes working long hours. This time of year is extremely stressful for me. I often feel alone and run down because my partner, the hubby, cant be around as much. Add on to that the stress of purchasing a home, packing everything up and you've got yourself a situation that's just ready for emotional binge eating. I had to realize after I had gained weight that the late night cereal bowls, the two quarter cup of peanut butter at 10pm had nothing to do with being hungry and everything to do with being stressed because of my currently situation.
Get back to the basics I have a handy tool in my back pocket. What is it? Its my trainer from the challenge, Emilie. We've become friends, well, as much as you can call any trainer a friend. Its an interesting dynamic. She knows the ins and outs of me and how to push me harder than anyone else can. She can also get away with saying things to me about my weight and food choice that no one else can get away with. I called her as soon as I stepped off of the scale, left her a panicked babbling voice mail and waited for her to call me back. She in turn asked me set my MyFitnessPal diary settings to public and then went through everything had I been writing down (which really wasn't everything I was eating). Then she told me we were back to the basics again, staying away from those foods that make me binge eat (like peanut butter) and that late night snacking had to end because I probably wasn't hungry at 10pm.
If you've found yourself in this place get back to the basics and look at whats going on right now that's caused a change in eating habits, working out or stress.
So have you found yourself in the same spot I have? What did you do to get yourself out?
