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:
Told a friend You need to have someone who knows and understands your history with food and weight; someone who has been in the same spot and can listen to you but will also hold you accountable. For me, that person is Mary, a woman I met during the challenge. Mary and I were competing against each other but it wasn't like that at all. Mary actually won the whole thing and I was so thrilled for her. When I messaged Mary about my weight gain she gave me this pep talk, You have to remember that it's not about the weight it's about being healthy and fit. Get your workout on -- drink lots of water --- throw out the peanut butter. It sucks gaining weight but it will come off I promise. I'm sure some of it is water. See that? She knew my biggest vice when it comes to food, peanut butter! Without even telling her that I had gone through almost an entire jar of peanut butter in one week by myself she knew I probably had some around and was binge-ing on it. Speaking of vices, that leads me to my next point
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?
Bio: Bert is a stay at home mom of two, wife to college sweetheart, and what she calls a "semi-crunchy" mama. After four years of being overweight related to pregnancies, Bert submitted a video entry into a local Biggest Loser type of fitness challenge; she was chosen and lost 25% of her body weight in 90 days. She blogs at FirstTimeMom about everything from cloth diapers, parenting, life and her recent passion with health and fitness.
