no I’m not going to rant about the commercialisation, and surprisingly I’m even going to avoid getting into the topic of pagan origins being hijacked by relatively modern religions like christianity…
this post is about over-indulgence. specifically /my/ over-indulgence, and the resultant effect on my waistline 🙁
shorter than Christmas but more calorie-dense?
it’s just a 4-day weekend, compared to the week-long Christmas/New Year thing, and I didn’t (really) slack off the training either – in fact I did a 20km run on Sunday morning. but Easter has added a kilo or two to my weight, just as Christmas did.
but I’ll be honest. there was chocolate, lamb, beer, wine, more chocolate, cake covered in chocolate and more beer – and that was just Easter Sunday!
actually it’s probably not fair to blame Easter
portion control and snacking has got a little out of hand in recent times. the thing I am most guilty of is the crime of “justification” – e.g.
“I need to eat a larger bowl of cereal because I burned 1000 calories (or whatever) on that run”
“It’s OK, I can get away with just one slice of this cake because I go to the gym every day”
“The weight increase could be because I’ve increased the weights, so I’m building muscle”
You know the kind of thing I’m talking about, I’m sure!
Net effect has been that while my fitness has improved (did I mention that I did a 20km jog?!), the weight’s creeping upwards in stealth mode.
it’s my fault for deliberately ignoring it
Recently I specifically stated that my focus would be on the marathon training, and that I’d get back to worrying about weight once the marathon’s out of way (there’s still 20kg or so needs shifting).
Talk about “when the cat’s away”. Didn’t take long for bad habits re-appear like proverbial mice in party mode.
So once again, dietary intake switches to the foreground as a primary focus, in particular:
- control over the quantity and frequency of snacking (nuts and dried fruit are healthy but only in small doses)
- better portion sizes at brekkie (e.g. one piece of toast instead of two, one egg, a normal sized portion of cereal)
- a return to healthier lunches – standards have slipped a little in recent times
it’s all a lot harder than it looks
I’m actually stunned at how easily the weight creeps up. I train 5 days out of 7, the sweat gushes off me in torrents by the end of each session, and yet the teeniest dietary errors seem to blow up exponentially.
It’s also a strong indication that I still haven’t developed long-term-sustainable eating habits. imagine if I stopped training tomorrow? I’d be back to the fat walrus state in no time at all.
There’s a terrifying (yet strangely motivating) thought, that should help keep me on track!