Feeling fat and gluttonous

[Formerly SK]

I haven't worked out in a month. Two sinus infections kicked my gym habit and now it looks like I have polyps so I need to see someone about that. Anyhoo, I'm feeling good enough now to workout, but my schedule is just so full it's hard to prioritize that when I have so many other things to do. Excuses....I know.

I have a crazy heroin-reaction to sugar and ate too much this weekend for Easter. Now I'm detoxing which is incredibly hard. I know once I go cold turkey on the sugar for 48 hours or so the cravings will subside, but those 48 hours are ROUGH. Sigh.

Anyway, I know what I have to do and I'll do it. I just needed to vent.

[Deleted]

Don't feel bad! Most people fall off the wagon at one time or another, but the important thing is that you want to get back to your program. Sometimes missing exercise can't be avoided, like when you are sick. Just look towards the future and stop feeling guilty.

[pig]

Beating yourself up over a few bad days of eating is very counter productive. Within the last month I've eaten two entire large bags of chips and had a double quarter pounder with cheese and fries. I felt great after eating them.

[Deleted]

It took you a month to eat two bags of chips? Light weight.

[pig]

No I ate them in one sitting. I felt so bad because I was glaring at my son everytime he looked at the bag.

[cael]

It's all good! I'm detoxing from sugar too, I really fell off the bandwagon last week with my healthy eating and I've been craving crap - it's hard for me to not want to eat sugar and I have to work really hard to control it once I resist it for a few days I usually settle down again... I feel your pain!

[Formerly SK]

Thanks everyone! Logically I know I can pick up the pieces and get going again, but emotionally the past couple of days have been hard (probs with autistic 6yo son) and sugar has been my bandaid. Gotta do the ol' bootstrap thing now....

[KaraBoo]

SK - boy oh boy do I know where you are coming from! I've been to the gym exactly once this week. I haven't started eating any healthier and my consumption of Dr Pepper has crept back up.

I blame it squarely on work related stress at the moment, but I know - way way way down deep inside - it's my old habits creeping back in. I have vowed to myself that starting on Monday - my Dr Pepper goes bye-bye while I'm at work (I get it for free). They just remodeled our cafeteria here and put the water/ice dispenser in a totally different place than where it was before. Before, I had to walk past all of the sodas to get to the water. Now, the water is located far, far away from the food and sodas, so to refill my cup, I'm not being tempted at all by anything (as the water is the first thing you get to when walking in).

Since I'm heading for a life-style change, and not a "diet", I'm not banning Dr Peppers from my diet all together - just while I'm at work. My drink of choice will be water while I'm at work. I've done this one time before, and I lost 20 pounds just cutting the soda out of my diet, so I know I can do this again.

Due to probably similar situations that you've been dealing with - it's easier for me to give a date and say this is ground 0 - this is where I start and give myself one last hurrah (this weekend - camping with friends). Maybe you can do the same thing?

[Formerly SK]

Well, I made it to the gym today (after 5 week absence). I could only lift about 75% of my old weight. Bleh. But, I got in about 25 mins of cardio so I feel slightly better.

I didn't have any candy/chocolate yesterday so I'm on my way detoxing. My trick (to eat raisins when I'm really craving sugar) works pretty well - gives me sugar without making me crave more. Kinda like using the patch when you're quitting smoking.

I haven't gained any weight but felt so fat at the gym. It's a good motivator to get my flabby self back!

[shandi76]

Gym instructors usually tell you it takes twice as long to get back to where you were, as the length of time you have been away. I think that may a bit of an exaggeration for short breaks, but expect it to take you 6 weeks or so to get back to where you were, and don't get disheartened.

I've been eating loads of chocolate over Easter. We still have some. My thinking is that the faster I eat it, the better it will be in the long run because a) it will sicken me to chocolate and b) the sooner I can start detoxing.

[azphx1972]

Apr 28, 2011 10:29:54 GMT -5 @familycfo said:

Don't feel bad! Most people fall off the wagon at one time or another, but the important thing is that you want to get back to your program. Sometimes missing exercise can't be avoided, like when you are sick. Just look towards the future and stop feeling guilty.

Try not to feel bad about what's happened in the past since there's nothing you can do to change it. If you get too hung up on it you'll never return to healthier habits. Just try to learn from it and not repeat the same mistakes.

Since I started my gym membership over 12 years ago, the longest stretch I've gone without working out is 4 weeks (I traveled out of the country for vacation). It was tough getting back into the gym, and I had to drastically cut back on my weights when I did, but I persevered and eventually got back to where I was (I think it took 3-6 weeks). I find that taking more than a week off results in loss of progress, but it's not too difficult to gain it back unless you take significantly more time off. But working out and being healthy isn't a competition, it's a lifestyle choice and as long as you focus on being healthy and not how much you've been able to do in the past, it makes it easier to get to the gym after taking time off.