Most of us know what I am talking about…
Having great results on a diet or lifestyle change, losing weight, feeling fabulous ONLY to test the line too many times and actually cross it to find you gained weight back! Backsliding. Or seeing your blood sugar numbers rise. The problem is in thinking that a few “cheats” on food won’t affect you in the long term, but when you start stringing cheats together, you start sliding back into old, bad habits of unhealthy eating! Self-control is lost.
Why is this important?
I tell this to encourage others and to acknowledge that this Low Carb lifestyle isn’t easy. Except for the superhuman, we all backslide. ESPECIALLY when we LOVE food! The thing to remember is that a Low Carb lifestyle is necessary for our health!
I saw first hand what diabetes and metabolic syndrome did to my mother. If she knew then what I know now about Low Carb eating… it would have changed her life. She might still be with us. The information simply wasn’t out there then. I lost count at over 40 mini-strokes. Each one took a small piece of her away from us. That is potentially my future staring at me if I don’t get back on the bandwagon. And face it, there is a higher potential for strokes if you are diabetic OR metabolic… and more so if you have both! I am not about to leave my family caring for someone WHO DIDN’T TRY HARD ENOUGH. It was hard and heartbreaking caring for my mother. I can’t imagine my husband having to endure my caregiving simply because I gave up to eat what I wanted! I can’t imagine a more selfish act on my part! I have the knowledge and information. I simply have to apply it! I simply need some self-control!
Let me give you a little backstory:
- I weighed myself on the scale this morning. I was horrified to see I had gained weight! How much is irrelevant, but it wasn’t a small amount.
- I checked my blood sugar this morning. I was horrified to see that my sugar was up. It had been doing so well with Low Carb eating that it was below 100 every morning (with oral diabetic medication). Now it was well up over that. It had been climbing upward over the past several days, but this morning’s number was the wake up call!
- I had decided that I would cheat ONE day 4 times a year. That way I had something to look forward to every quarter. Sounded reasonable. It worked for 8 months!
The realization.
The problem came when I had an accident and was housebound for several weeks. In pain. In self-pity. In boredom. I QUIT watching the carbs as close. I quit writing down my numbers (which in itself is kinda a pain, and I somehow thought I could keep the numbers in my head well enough now that I had the lifestyle down. Note to self: I can’t do it in my head!) I started drinking more diet drinks… a lot more. I started eating more nuts. I started eating more Low Carb breads and crackers. I started experimenting with the recipes here on this site and taste tested a bit too much. I started eating larger portions. I started to reason with myself that the broccoli cheddar soup I craved really didn’t have as many carbs if it was just cheddar cheese and broccoli. (The truth is, flour or cornstarch is used to thicken the soup and therein lies the carbs!) I started to reason that way with most foods I did not cook myself.
LIFE HAPPENS! We all have issues in our life that will alter our food habits. Accident. Illness. Depression. Stress. Loss. Lifestyle changes. Parties. Celebrations. Even medications can alter your weight, for better or worse, and blood sugar. YOU NAME IT! It can throw off your game plan!
Too, because life happened or a lack of self control… you might have an unwillingness to acknowledge that you have crossed the line you proverbially drew in the sand concerning your Low Carb counts. I definitely did that too.
The thing is… from everything that I have written on this blog… I KNOW Low Carb Living WORKS! You lose weight. Your sugar lowers. You feel great. You have more energy. I also noted the added benefit of less aches and pains! Why WOULDN’T I not live Low Carb all the time if it that did all of that? The answer is…. Life Happens AND I love food!!!! And… I would throw in that I am only human. I pride myself on being strong, but I can be pretty weak when I see or smell my favorite foods. I lack self-control at times. But… as long as it is only SOME times instead of ALL times or MOST times… I will prevail! And… for my own health’s sake… I HAVE to prevail!
Here’s what I am going to do about my backslide!
- Start writing my carb counts again!
- PORTION CONTROL! Sometimes it is not what you eat, but how much you eat!
- Drop my diet drinks back down to one each morning until I can quit altogether. Water drops, tea and my beloved Pellagrino are my go to drinks! I’ve also grown fond of various LaCroix waters. As I’ve noted before, the more diet drinks I seem to drink… the more ravenous I become. It is a pattern that I’ve inadvertently tested at least a dozen times now. There is a definite correlation I see. I’m not the only one, if online searches indicate anything.
- Stop eating nuts during weight loss and only later add nuts if it works into proper carb counts. Lots of fats along with added carbs. They are a handy snack. Too handy.
- Stop eating breads and crackers during weight loss and only later if it works into proper carb counts.
- I will still keep my 4x per year cheat dates if they are in moderation. Those dates are motivating for me as long as I don’t extend it to more. Even once a month is too much… for me. Every season a cheat date seems about right.
- Exercise more! Even if it is calisthenics, using bands or walking… get moving!
I start TODAY!
I hope this encourages you to just think about the consequences in your life of unhealthy eating and get on… or back on… the bandwagon with me!
Dee
