Last month I lost 3,3 kg (7,3 lbs) in my weight loss challenge. I felt very proud, but at the same time I knew I shouldn’t keep my hopes up for the following month. Because December came. And when it comes to losing weight, December definitely is the hardest month of all. I figured maintaining my weight would be a true challenge, losing it would probably be impossible. And I was right. The scale gave me some brutal facts this month. But the hardest days weren’t even the holidays. The most difficult part was the first half of the month.
That part consisted of stress. A LOT of stress. I drove to hospitals multiple times, because of my sister and my mother laying there. Unfortunately not because of a common cold, but both in critical condition. The fear of losing someone you love forever, that’s really heavy shit. A diet probably is one of the furthest things of your mind then. Fortunately, my mother got all better and my sister got off the ICU. The peace seemed to return, but the damage on my body had already been done.
Because like I’ve written in my first weight loss post, I eat when I get emotional. In such a state I’m convinced that chocolate will sooth me, even when it never ever does. So I ate a lot of sweet, unhealthy stuff, trying to feel a bit better. Note to self: eating doesn’t make you feel better, instead it makes you feel worse.
I didn’t just eat because I was stressed though. I also had to eat a lot at McDonalds, gas stations and those kind of shitty places, because I never was at home during dinner time. We could have fed a whole orphanage with all the healthy food we had to throw away those weeks… All the pounds I had lost in November, suddenly came flying back. I felt awful.
However, I had told myself in the beginning of this challenge that I wouldn’t let a little bit of failure get to me this time. I would just take a deep breath, get over it and start again. So once my mother and sister were in better condition again, I tried doing just that. And I didn’t even have to start from the very beginning. I mean, I did lose 3,3 kg (7,3 lbs) the first month! I only gained around half of it. So, technically I was still on track! This pep talk to myself actually worked. Healthy food started traveling through my mouth again and my sweets quietly stayed in their boxes.
A week flew by and then suddenly it was Christmas. That meant there were three Christmas dinners waiting to fill my stomach. Three you ask? Yes, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and here in Holland, we also celebrate Boxing Day. I decided not to worry too much about Christmas. I would at least try not to over eat, but I agreed to myself I would enjoy it nonetheless. I accepted the fact that I would gain weight this month and I would just start over in January.
On Christmas Eve, we ate a home made tapas meal, which you can read all about in this post. The next day, I got curious what damage this meal did, so I asked my frenemy The Scale. I couldn’t believe what I saw; I lost 100 g (3,5 oz)! Who knew tapas could be such successful diet food? The next day, we ate some left-over tapas for lunch and a nice piece of tenderloin wrapped in bacon, accompanied by oven-baked potatoes and Brussels sprouts for dinner. Surely I would gain some pounds now, right? Wrong! The day after, I lost 100 g (3,5 oz) again! It made me feel really excited. Losing weight at Christmas, has anyone ever done that? For our third Christmas meal we had a big piece of ham, baked potatoes and poached pears. I didn’t lose any weight the next day, but I didn’t gain any as well! This really was a Christmas to be proud of.
So here we are, the last day of the year. I gained some weight and I lost some this month, but the real question is: Did I gain or lose weight compared to last month? To refresh your memory, at the end of last month my weight was 108,2 kg (238 lbs). This morning, The Scale told me my weight is… 108,1 kg (237,8 lbs)! I lost 100 g (3,5 oz)! This may not seem much, but considering the rough start I had this month, I’m very proud of this achievement! And it means in total I lost 3,5 kg (7,7 lbs) now.
So despite all the stress, the unhealthy food and the weight gain in the first part of December, I can honestly say I will end this year with an unexpected but very pleasing success! Happy New Year!
No Comments