Sunday was rough. I'm not going to lie about how difficult Sunday morning was after I stepped on the scale and realized just how much Saturday night's decisions affected my weight, attitude and overall state of mind on Sunday morning. So, having gone over this little hurdle, I thought I would tell you about it.
On Saturday night, Mike and I got together with some friends of ours for games and drinks. Knowing I'd be drinking that evening, I tried to save my calories during the day so I didn't blow my calorie count completely out of the water. Also, while drinking, I try to stick with Diet Coke and vodka since vodka has a fairly low calorie count (at least compared to other hard alcohols, wine and beer). Well, my plan didn't exactly work and I paid the price for it on Sunday.
As the evening got going, I poured myself a couple of vodka-diet cokes and even had a 100 calorie pack of popcorn. However, somehow during the night I switched from vodka to whiskey and became quite drunk. To make matters worse, on the way home (don't worry, Mike was driving and he didn't have a single drop of alcohol) I begged Mike to stop at McDonalds or IHOP. Well, we stopped at McDonalds and I devoured (literally, consumed it super fast) a chicken sandwich and french fries -- the first french fries I've had in almost two months. The saddest part is, I don't even remember eating those darn things, and I wish I did because it would have tasted like heaven!
I crashed as soon as we got home and woke up the next morning feeling awful. I wasn't really hungover or still drunk, and I didn't have a migraine or anything, but I put the pieces of the evening before together and knew that what I had consumed was a killer shark for my previously almost-perfect dieting plan. Bummer!
Sure enough, I forced myself to step on the scale and saw it flash a 214.8, more than a pound higher than the day before. This felt like a stab to the chest, but at least it wasn't 215 -- that's what I told myself for some consolation.
So, how'd I recover? I woke up, drank water, had a Slim Fast shake and went to the gym. I spent an hour and 40 minutes doing cardio, both treadmill and elliptical to burn off those McDonalds and alcohol calories. I also ate very carefully the rest of the day and drank excessive amounts of water to help put my body back on track. It seems that I took the right steps because this morning the scale was down to 214 ... definitely a step in the right direction.
I definitely learned my lesson: careful with the over consumption of alcohol, it does horrible things for your diet!
Here's a trick I teach my clients: if you're going to consume alcohol at a social event, make every other drink straight seltzer with lime or lemon. Not only will you drink half the alcohol, the seltzer will help hydrate you and keep you from getting headaches or other side effects. (Soda doesn't work the same, you need clear liquid - you can do regular water too - but the seltzer looks more like a "drink" to others.)
ReplyDeleteBTW, it takes the body a while to make or burn fat - about 10 days per pound. So, what you're seeing in an overnight change on the scale probably isn't real fat change, probably a lot of it is water fluctuation as your body tries to rid itself of the toxins from the alcohol. Here's a link with some different perspective on the scale: http://www.patbarone.com/WeightLossTip39.htm. I hope it's helpful!
Good luck. Keep up the good work!
Pat Barone, CPCC, PCC
"America's Weight Loss Catalyst"
www.patbarone.com