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I had a bad migraine hit on Monday. I kept not going to the store for food, so one night my dinner was literally pretzels and chocolate mints.
So, I decided to take a week off from Weight Watchers. WW does a weekly points system, so I threw out the whole week and am restating today. If I tried to do points while not feeling well and tried to only eat as many pretzels as my points would allow that would have stressed me out. Long term, that kind of stress is a health / healthy eating killer. I knew skipping a week was the right move.
I wasn't stressed out about it because I am already down over 30 pounds. Having a migraine screw up my week sucks, but this tripping up my diet didn't bother me. It's hard to be bothered when my clothing hangs this differently. My shoulders are very broad, so my shirt size hasn't changed yet and isn't going to even if I lose another 30. My shoulders don't get skinnier. So, I am mostly wearing the same clothes, they just look a lot different.
I went off plan, but I didn't binge or have a bunch of beer. I did make and eat a lot of rice with chicken and cashews because I have a bag of cashews in the house. I didn't eat great and also I maaaay have had a big dinner and desert last night since it was going to be my last off plan night for a while.
And I am still down a pound anyway!
Thing about diets is that they need to be able to work with the real world. Keeping stress low, not winding up with food stress, messed up ideas or feeling towards foods, getting sleep, it all important. Dieting / food stress that can give people long term eating problems, aversions and ... I am not sure what I call it. I don't want to use the term 'disordered eating' but it's ... food issues? Whatever the word is for the middle ground between a bad habit and actual disordered eating. Like the illogical bad complicated feelings I get when I add a full 1/4 teaspoon more oil than is strictly needed when cooking.
But I do need to have a better plan for not feeling well than just eating pretzels, especially since the vaccine can knock people out for a bit. My doctor actually has recommended against me getting a flu shot the past few years because of how strong my body reacts. So I need to plan for those speed bumps as well.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-30 02:07 am (UTC)From:In my experience the "getting the diet to work without food stress" is the challenging part. I know I've got a lot of food issues (which does sound more accurate than full-blown disordered eating, which I've also dealt with, but doesn't compare in severity.)
Are there any low-effort foods (that are more complete than pretzels) you can stock up on ahead of time? Soups, or something you make in advance and freeze to reheat? I'm bad at actually *making* those plans, but when I do, it's nice to have something that requires minimal effort when I don't have the energy to spare.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-30 08:29 am (UTC)From:I've grabbed a lot of the meal replacement bars I use while traveling. I literally grabbed a display box and dumped it in my basket. I could stock up on a few frozen meals, but when I have them I always want to eat them :) Once I have an appointment I'll also grab some pudding and some other stuff, in case it really knocks me out.
I feel like working out food issues is like 90% of weight loss, and so many diets just seem to cause issues!
no subject
Date: 2021-03-31 04:26 am (UTC)From:(And lol, guilty on the frozen meals. I mean to save them for genuine low-energy, no-time nights... but then the siren song of an easy dinner calls to me, haha.)
Amen to that. Diets that leave you with new and worse issues do no long-term favors, imo. (And yes, that is absolutely most diets.)