As I’ve talked about before, this whole journey started out because I did a weight loss bet against my husband and signed up for a sprint tri as a way to help me win the bet. Everything I ate and did physically was for the purpose of losing weight. Fast forward now and boy has that changed. Now I train because I love to and I eat to fuel myself for training.
The thing is I’m weak. I have no problem admitting it; all humans are weak in some area. That’s right, we ALL have a weakness. One of mine is food. In particular chocolate and peanut butter and any type of dessert and having to clear my whole plate no matter how much food was on it. At least there’s the comfort of knowing it’s a common weakness among humans and any dog who will suddenly become the most well behaved creature if steak or peanut butter is present. Another weakness that feeds into my number one weakness is that I can be easily influenced based on the actions of those around me. Therefore, if I’m with a group of people who are chowing down on chips and salsa, I find it much easier to cave then if I were by myself. Luckily it can work both ways and if I’m around people only eating healthy, I’m more likely to continue to eat healthy. This is the way most humans work, mimic those around us.
The two times I’ve been most successful at losing weight was during the bet against my husband and in college when my roommate and I worked out together and ate many of our meals together. When I’m around (or specifically living with) someone who is trying to lose weight as well, it becomes easier for me to stay the course.
Since the last bet, I’ve been ever so slowly working my way back up to my weight before the bet. Lots of this is muscle though so I’m not that freaked out by it. But nevertheless, I knew it was time to start reversing that trend. Hence, round two. During our long car ride home from the holidays I convinced my husband that we should do it again. I didn’t want it to be a New Year’s resolution type thing so I managed to convince him to start the next day. Plus, when you are serious about this type of thing, you don’t look for excuses like “let’s wait until after this holiday” or “let’s wait until after that wedding”. Why wait? I knew New Year’s Eve was going to be a bad night of eating and I was ok with that. I made the conscious decision to be ok eating poorly that one night knowing it wasn’t going to have a big impact over two months.
I also know that the key to losing weight and then maintaining that weight is doing it slowly with changes you can sustain once you are happy with your body. Crash diets don’t work in the long run and they aren’t good for you. This time around there are less ways I can improve my diet and I can’t cut way back on what I’m eating or my training will suffer. So this round will certainly be a challenge and a learning experience for me. In the end, it’s not just about the way my body looks (but yes I’m female and still care about how I look), but also about how I feel and how I treat my body. I’m looking forward to what this learning experience brings me. And of course, I’d like to win so wish me luck and please stop offering me desserts!
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