What Do You Do When You Back Slide?

So I had to go to the doctors this morning. Nothing serious. However, I left Dr. Light’s a little bummed. I got on the “ol accurate scale” as part of my regular checkup and man, did I backslide! I gained over five pounds in a month. How could this be? I’ve been eating like my normal, healthy self. I’ve been working out diligently. I’ve been… lying to myself for a month and it better stop.

Now, I’m on a plane on the way to Michigan to celebrate the Thanksgiving break with my family. Those five pounds are hanging a little heavy on my mind (and my thighs). I don’t have any extra wiggle room (literally) to indulge with abandon on my Detroit family gathering. Now, I’m not going to be a crazy food Nazi and drink only spirulina drinks and chew celery while everyone eats Pumpkin Pie, but I do need to keep myself in check. I need to really practice mindfulness.

What is the best way to combat a backslide? For me personally, it involves reflection of what has gone on in the past month coupled with what needs to happen differently in the future. We will get to this in a second.

First, here’s what NOT TO DO (this is from tried and true experience ladies. I’ve done every point on here and all it’s brought me is a messed up metabolism).

1) Don’t crash diet. It will jack with your metabolism. You will loose weight for a while, but you will cave.

2) Don’t go and buy a Fat burn diet supplement, especially not those with the photoshopped D-list celebrity on the front (I’m sorry, but I had to actually laugh at the most recent ad I saw for one with Chloe Kardashian on the front in a bikini PHOTOSHOPPED BEYOND ALL RATIONALIZATION). Plus these supplements make many IRRITABLE and you will get in a fight with your significant other over something dumb, like how to pair socks, in no time.

3) Don’t ignore the weight gain! You are doing something (or a combination of somethings) differently and you need to find out what it is and nip it in the bud (or should it be butt) because we aren’t hoping and praying that the weight gain is just our bodies way of getting us back to our “natural set point.”

4) Don’t beat yourself up over it. Your self as a whole is not soley based on your weight. Most people won’t even notice the weight gain but you. Your weight gain is your body’s natural way of telling you it’s distressed, sad, and needs you to give it a little more love and understanding.

The Reflection: What the Hell Did I Do the Past Month? (Be Honest)

1) Lots of travel. In the past month I’ve been to NYC, then Vegas, then NYC, then Philly, now Michigan. Traveling throws off both a diet and workout routine.

2) While traveling, I did not pay as much attention to my diet or exercise routine. Exercise lost its importance. I ate on the run, often grabbing processed foods with sugar alcohols and other artificial ingredients.

3) I’ve been under so much stress with the two businesses I run! I eat when I’m stressed. I’ve been stress eating more often, as well as consuming larger quantities of the food I normally eat and smaller quantities of things that I used to forbid, such as cookies, chips, etc. Oh, did I add that much of this was eating after 9:00 pm? Nice.

4) Wine is not the health Goddess the press touts it to be. I know this, but I’ve become lax and indulged, instead of sticking with my go-to grey goose and soda with lime. Wine makes me crave carbs and the sugar leaves me with a bad hangover (domino effect being that I don’t want to work out in the morning)

5) Soy Crisps. These are like Oprah’s Blue chips that she says are her nemesis. I am incapable of eating only a serving size. For a while, I didn’t let myself have them at the house or in the office. I’ve let them back into my heart and it has added to the fat on my thighs.

6) I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray: I gave it up and started using it again. It says it’s calorie-free, but only with 1 and a half sprays. How about 60? I need to add that it is so incredibly fake too (like, as fake as Chloe Kardashian’s photoshopped pic for the new diet pill).

7) I’ve been snacking as I prepare my meals. Enough said, very damaging.

So, What can I do to Change it:

1) Prepare better when traveling. Just because I’m in another state doesn’t mean I can indulge in things I wouldn’t eat while at home. Duh.

2) Stop putting soy crisps in the cart because I have no control.

3) Stop using I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and sub with “just a pat” of the real stuff or flax oil… which I love.

4) Stop drinking wine. This isn’t so much for the wine itself, but the effects it has on my brain where I think I can consume every carb in site after the second glass.

5) Start to make exercise an appointment I can’t break at least 5 days a week.

6) Reduce sugar from my diet and think hard about the foods I introduced back into my diet in the past month. Are they really worth it?