Which is what I have been telling myself all day. It pretty much sucks.
As anyone who knows me can attest, I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I fight bad genes that predispose me to being overweight, a serious love affair with potatoes, and my own often distorted view of how I actually look. That being said, I currently am not overweight. My time in Afghanistan took off the few extra pounds I was carrying around, and I am mostly happy with what I see in the mirror these days. That, however, does NOT mean that I can't afford to lose a few pounds.
My mother suffers the same weight loss battle I do, only her love affair is with bread, not potatoes. That being said, a few years ago she went on the South Beach Diet, followed it to the letter, and lost over 40 pounds. Then last spring, she broke her ankle in several places in a nasty fall, and was confined to a wheelchair for several months. The sedentary lifestyle took its toll, and she put back on half the weight that she had lost. Mother like daughter... we look at a cookie and we gain five pounds, and if we can't exercise we gain ten.
So, together, we've gone back on the South Beach Diet. Since we're living under the same roof these days, dieting together makes meal planning easy. And, we can cheer each other on through the rough patches. I don't follow the diet as strictly as my mother does. I'm only looking to lose 10-15 pounds, and I'm too active to cut all the carbs out of my diet. I am pretty sure I would die. So, I'm on what I call South Beach Lite. I allow myself one meal with a minimal starch each day, and allow myself fruit (which normally wouldn't be allowed in Stage One of the SBD). But, otherwise, I am very food conscious, don't snack between meals, and am very careful of my portion size. I've cut my coffee consumption in half, and in its place doubled my water consumption. I pee all the time, and surprisingly, am hungry very rarely. So far so good.
Well, then today happened. I worked out hard at the gym yesterday, which was my fifth consecutive day at the gym, so today was a dedicated rest day. My sore muscles needed it, and I was thankful to not have to make the 40-minute drive to Planet Fitness. However, today was also snowing, so the roads were terrible. That meant I was also stuck inside, because the nasty roads I decided weren't worth smashing my dear truck up on to get some photos. So, I took care of some paperwork-type things, and made some phone calls, and otherwise dealt with domesticness. Then I sat down on the sofa after lunch, and settled in to watch Braveheart on TV. A half-hour in, the nagging desire for something sweet kicked in. It continued to nag, un-indulged, all the way until dinner time.
I wasn't hungry. I was bored. I don't do sedentary well. I guess that means that I don't know how to relax, but that's ok. I like my active lifestyle, and wouldn't trade it for anything... especially not if it means fighting my sweet tooth for hours on end.
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