Starting Over...

Well, I had to take an out-of-town trip... and as my wife pointed out to me, I ate too much chocolate, chicken and dumplings, biscuits, etc. on the trip and at my mother-in-law's house. I had not been there in a year and a half, so no one down there had seen "the new me". Took a few copies of CSRA Active to show the family, and also took my Biggest Loser scrapbook. It was fun re-living the experience of a whole bunch of people who had not seen me, but I knew that even as I was talking about losing weight, I was putting the pounds back on. I did make some attempts to eat right at meals, but I ate a LOT of chocolate trying to stay awake and alert. We stopped at Cracker Barrel, and while everyone was eating pancakes, I had a yogurt, and only a few bites of the HUGE muffin that accompanied it. We hit Steak and Shake about 7 PM Sunday night, and I had a decision to make. And of course, I made the wrong one. I ate what I wanted to, telling myself that I had not eaten at a Steak and Shake in over a year and a half, and I "deserved" it.

 

Got home late Sunday evening and crawled into bed; this morning, I decided to come face to face with the number on the scale... I was hoping against hope that it was not as bad as I thought. It wasn't... it was WORSE. Much worse. Could not wrap my brain around the number being so HIGH!! But I made a conscious decision to not beat myself up... and that I was not going to do the 4-day cleanse that frequently marks our attempts to get back on track. I just decided I was going to do it - get some serious exercise, get the food plan into gear, and do all I knew to do.

 

Fortunately, a big chunk of that number was water retention, which can happen not only with poor eating, but with the sedentary nature of traveling. My horrible number didn't last very long, as I dropped over eight pounds of water weight today; really, just in a matter of a few hours. I got myself back to the gym this morning, and did some serious treadmill sprints, step mill, and other cardio work. I ate absolutely perfectly today - zero cheats, more protein than anything else, and all of my carbs from vegetables and a protein bar. The only thing I missed today was the pedometer, but I will start tomorrow.

 

I know what to do; it's just a matter of doing it. And because it won't "get done" before Thursday, I will have some explaining to do when I show up at PHC Thursday for my weigh-in. And I will "deserve" that, as well!