A Minor Rebellion

Have you ever had a day where you want to throw all the healthy stuff out the window and just do whatever you want for once? Not having to worry about spending an hour+ at the gym after work, or staring at a menu for 5 minutes trying to find the healthiest option, or walking past the box of donuts that your coworker brought in to share. Or even just something as simple as drinking something other than water with your meal!

I may have had a day like that yesterday. It was 99 degrees out, my gym has crappy air conditioning, and I just wanted to eat some Chick Fil A and get a small cup of ice cream with it, while skipping the gym after work since I didn't want to die. And I did it. Still stayed around my calories, and I did walk around the mall on my lunch and around Town Center after work so I wasn't completely sedentary.

And ya know what, the world didn't stop turning! And the scale didn't shatter when I stepped on it this morning... it was actually down to 158.3, which is the lowest I've seen all week. And I REALLY enjoyed the cup of ice cream and having a small bottle of beer with my dinner.

I think sometimes we get so caught up in being PERFECT with trying to lose weight/be healthy/reduce body fat %/whatever your goal may be, that we forget that it's not really something we're going to do every single day of the rest of our lives. There will be hot days where all you want is a beer and an ice cream cup, and there will be days where all you want to do is hit the gym and sweat it out. I've had both. I logged what I had yesterday, and I didn't wake up this morning hating myself for "stepping out of line" for a day.

The most important part of this whole journey is to think about the long term. I've been maintaining my 60-ish lb weight loss for nearly a year and a half now. If I tried to stick to 1200 calories a day, crazy cardio, gym 6 days a week, etc, I'd completely rebel and regress back into old habits. But if I let myself have a mini rebellion day every now and then, a beer, an ice cream, skipping the gym, eating out with the boyfriend, etc. it keeps me sane! And it's not enough of an impact to throw the scale into oblivion. I bounce back, I get motivated the next day to continue, and that's the most important thing. I admit sometimes I give myself a little too much rope and end up hanging myself (i.e. the scale freaks out for a week or something), but I pick up where I left off.

I just wanted to explain my thought process on long term success. I know many people on here are still in weight loss mode... but what happens when you're near or at your goal? You still have the rest of your life to deal with it! I like being a voice for the maintainers, since it's not a voice you here as often. My victories are in a new weight for my deadlift, or surviving a week away without gaining 5 lbs in the process. And just being happy to buy clothing that is 5 sizes smaller than I was 3 years ago. It's all about balance and seeing progress in those things.

And yes, eating a cup of ice cream every once in a while!