One bad day
in Blogs
Yesterday I spent the afternoon grazing in the kitchen. I had the hungries something fierce, and nothing I shoved into my pie hole could satisfy, so I just kept eating. Granola bars, dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, cheese and crackers… That evening the hubby and I went out on a rare date night without the kids and feeling like I’d already screwed up my diet beyond repair, I let myself get totally out of control. We had sushi (tuna, eel and California rolls), soup, salad and fried rice with chicken and salmon all washed down with some warm sake.
I awoke from my binge coma this morning and looked at the scale. I knew I was going to weigh in today, but either the euphoria of being out sans children, or the sake, caused me to forget I was on a diet at all. But there it was, sitting on the bathroom floor, mocking me. I took a deep breath and got on the scale:
Weight:230 pounds
Body Fat: 45%
Surprise! I’ve lost three pounds since last week. Having tackled the scale and triumphed, I braved the tape measure:
Bust (in inches): 45.5
Waist (in inches): 47
Hips (in inches): 51.5
Upper arm (in inches):14
Thigh (in inches): 26.5
When you compare my previous measurements, you’ll see that in the last 10 days I’ve lost a full inch off my bust and my waist, and a half inch off my hips and upper arm. Huh, that’s not half bad! In fact, I am very happy with these results. I’m also glad I decided to measure, because as traumatizing as it was to see those numbers, for some reason seeing that I lost an inch off my waist is much more gratifying to me than the three pounds lost.
Apparently, one bad day does not a diet ruin. That is, of course, as long as it’s only ONE bad day. I’ve always had a bad habit of falling off the diet wagon with a single cookie and ending up turning it into a week-long junk food binge. I mean, if I eat a cookie, it’s all over right? Might as well fall off spectacularly.
This time, one day of kitchen grazing and a really great dinner, more calories consumed that I’d care to admit, will not derail me from my mission. This time, it really is just one bad day.
I spent the last week tackling bad habits. I’ve quit snacking at night all together. I have dinner and sometimes a little treat (usually a low calorie ice cream bar), but I don’t eat ANYTHING past 8:00. Not counting last night’s Japanese food free for all, I only ate out twice (normally, we go out to eat about 4-5 times a week, usually fast food), and I made decent choices both times. I’ve made time to get more exercise. In addition to my daily half hour walk with the dog, I went to 2 group cycling classes, and twice went to the gym and did 45 minutes on the elliptical.
This week I plan to tackle my daytime snacking impulses and add even more exercise in the form of classes at the gym and bumping up the resistance on the elliptical. And I won’t let a cookie, or a yummy dinner, or one bad day cause me to quit trying.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:29 am
Yay for you! One bad day does not have to turn into a bad week, month, etc., although it’s SO much easier to give up than getup and try again tomorrow.
Falling off is easy; getting back up is hard.
Good for you for finally being strong enough to get back up!
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Good job…I had a similar weekend and refuse to let it derail my goal. Sometimes the fall is so sweet, but it’s hard work to get back up and back on track.
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
When I have that one bad day, the next day I feel so overstuffed that it’s pretty easy to jump back on with the salads. I also feel a little guilty about the bad day, therefore I embrace the salads, the beans, the whole fruits. But definitely, the trick is to make it only ONE day!
When you go for weeks eating the good healthy stuff, doesn’t the “bad day” food taste so much better? Another reason not to do it every day and have it be routine… save up for one bad day a month and it will really be a reward and a treat.