Why?

Ok I faced the music yesterday. I went to a Weight Watchers meeting close to home and did an official weigh-in. I am up 13.4 pounds from my pre-vacation weigh-in.

You may be thinking the title of my blog stands for "Why Did I do It? It wasn't worth it!", but that is not why I titled my blog "Why?".

I do know WHY I did it and although I don't regret it I am not sure whether it was or was not worth it. There are a lot of really silly and unnecessary choices I made simply because I was "on vacation". It's such an easy excuse, but if the focus is on "health" rather than weight loss that excuse doesn't really hold a lot of weight (pardon the pun).

Believe it or not I am not upset in the least about the weight gain. I was actually relieved because I expected it to be in the 15 - 17 pound range.

It does not make me feel anguish because it will take "so much work" to lose it again as one might expect. I have certainly felt that way before.

That is the first "Why" of my title. Why doesn't this anguish exist?

The answer is because I am not returning to the dreaded "work" of weight loss. I am returning to my new lifestyle. The way I should be eating whether or not I am trying to lose weight. So the "work" doesn't exist....just the desire to be healthy and eat well forever.

The second "Why?" comes from my own reflection on yesterday's blog. In that blog I said: "For now I am ok with a bit of the processed “low fat” stuff even though I know it may not be best from a health perspective."

So the second big "Why?" is "Why I am ok with that?". If this journey really is for life and really is about health then why am I ok with processed low fat garbage in the short term?

To be honest when I started typing this blog, not ten minutes ago, I had planned to say that although I was questioning why I was saying this I wasn't committed to moving away from low fat processed food just yet. I was going to say that before I ate it I would at least ask myself that question "Why am I eating this?" before making the final decision.

The power of writing this blog, however, has made me realize that there really is no acceptable answer to that question. I should not be eating processed food, low fat or not. So, as long as it is in my control (i.e. at home) I will not eat processed food options anymore. There we have it, the decision is made.

I went back to the gym yesterday, only did 40 minutes on the elliptical and I was sweating so much my shirt was drenched. Man three weeks away can really affect you.

Look at the dry sleeves vs the sweaty shirt.
That is after only 40 minutes of Cardio!

It is great to get back to the gym though.

I was going to do a raw fruit and vegetable cleanse for a few days, and I will, but I have decided not to do it yet. Jumping from excessive food to raw fruits and vegetables is proving to extreme a switch so I will focus on healthy eating and do the cleanse in a week or so.

Be healthy!

Alan

P.S. CONGRATS QUADE!!!!