After yesterday’s insane “cheat day,” it’s time to face the music
Yesterday, I decided to get serious about losing weight. That’s because yesterday was also an insane “cheat day:” I ate whatever the hell I wanted.
Let’s see:
- pasta
- eggs
- cheese
- cake
- coffee
- cream
- muffins
- part of a donut
- nuts
- whatever.
In other words, the classic “see-food” diet. If I see it, I eat it.
I didn’t track how much I ate, I didn’t worry about it. In fact, to be completely honest, by the end of the day I was like, “at this point, nothing matters. I’ll have as much pasta as I can handle.”
A cheat day, if you will.
Why the occasional cheat day is OK with me
I think an occasional cheat day is OK. Yesterday, I ate a lot of the foods I usually don’t eat, so I don’t feel deprived any more. This indulgence reminded me that I don’t actually enjoy these foods as much as I think I do. That jelly donut was kind of dry and not nearly as delicious as it looked.
Plus, I contain all the damage to one day. How bad was the damage? Pretty bad. I suffered from some nasty acid reflux last night, something that hasn’t been a problem for me in years. It’s all those carbs — another reminder of how unpleasant too many carbs makes me feel.
And then there’s the “grain brain.” All day, I felt foggy-headed, almost hung over, even though I didn’t have any alcohol. Drunk on sugar. It’s so dramatic, I can’t ignore it. I got plenty of sleep last night, so it’s not sleep deprivation. Too many carbs makes me feel mushy, and mushy-headed.
Plus, the monstrous weight gain — let’s step on the scale and find out exactly how bad it is.
Six pounds in one insane cheat day
Today’s tally: 306.9. I’ll call it what it is: 307 lb. Basically, I put on 6 lb in a day of unrestrained eating. That’s why my insane cheat day was truly insane.
Also, that’s the most I’ve weighed since 2018. So I more than regained all the weight I lost in 2019. My peak weight last year was 302.1 lb, on March 18. I beat last year’s record by 4.8 lb. Ouch.
I realize now that if I skipped my cheat day, I wouldn’t have exceeded last year’s peak weight. But I also wouldn’t have felt so miserable, which is what motivated me to start losing weight in the first place.
So, we’ll see whether that cheat day was powerful motivator, or just another step up the ladder to morbid obesity.
Eating like a stupid caveman
I’ve learned over the last few years that my weight gain is very seasonal. For example, the year before that, 2018, I peaked at April 13, at 319.4.
I often hit my annual peak weight in the late winter to early spring, lose weight during the spring and summer, and start putting it back on in the fall, like some stupid caveman who doesn’t realize that I can get food delivered to my door 24/7/365 without having to get up from the couch.
It’s not like I have to survive the long winter on beef jerky and dried nuts. But that’s how my body works — every year I prepare for a non-existent winter food shortage. Plus, all those holiday parties may contribute to that winter weight gain, too.
But this spring, I feel healthier than I’ve been in several years. I feel stronger, more flexible. I’m sleeping much better. I feel like I can focus more intensely. I don’t feel so bone–tired like I did even a few months ago.
At least, I did before my insane cheat day. I don’t feel so healthy today. But, overall, the trend these last couple of months has been very positive.
So that’s good.
Let’s acknowledge positive progress when we can
It’s important to keep in mind that progress doesn’t happen all at once, or all in the same direction.
I’ll take a win where I can get one. I’m healthier now than I’ve been in a long time.
But, I’m also heavy, and I need to deal with that.
My theory is that I’m going to find it a little easier to lose weight than before, because I’ve got:
- more practice losing weight (and more practice putting it back on, TBH).
- more physical resilience, because I’m healthier.
The thing is, these subjective feelings (like, “I feel healthier”) are hard to measure objectively. I need to figure out a way to measure how healthy I feel that isn’t just based on some vague impressions.
Photo by Anna Sullivan on Unsplash