Yesterday I was in a foul mood and had a rant about how it was so annoying that I had been doing so well only to have all my progress knocked out by a single fun night at the pub. I drank more than I intended and had a few slices of gourmet pizza, but surely that shouldn’t destroy everything.
I hadn’t made that much progress, but it was still my progress and I was proud of it. To have it taken away so soon was a harsh blow that I wasn’t expecting. Yes, I’m losing it again, but I don’t think it’s healthy to have my weight jump around like that not to mention not wanting to sacrifice my social life.
Something wasn’t right.
I felt like I just needed a single puzzle piece to work out what the heck was going on. Plenty of people don’t have to sacrifice their social lives to lose weight. So how did a couple extra schooners and a few slices of pizza screw things up so badly?
As it turns out, they didn’t. I’m not saying pizza is a new health food, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. My body was just reacting as it should: packing away all available calories while in starvation mode.
Yep, starvation mode.
The Bloke suggested that my problem might not be from having an extra drink every once in a while but from what I’m doing in the time between that could be the problem. He suggested I check my food log to make sure I’m getting enough calories to make sure I’m not putting myself into starvation mode (thus making my weight bounce wildly when I do have more than usual calories).
Lo and behold, probably the most important number on Nutridiary I had been completely ignoring: Daily Quota
I had a look at one day, and I had eaten only 510 calories. Another day, 739. No wonder my body is so confused! Mix in a 2000 calorie day and my body wants to pack it away like there is no tomorrow.
So I have new – and very strange – goal this week: eat more. It goes against everything in me, but it will be a stunning experiment to see if meeting the minimum will actually help me to lose weight. I know I have to do it for a while so my body will learn to trust me again, but I’m looking forward to the results when paired with exercise.
And really, I love any excuse to have more carrots and hummus.
Wow, you were eating very little! Your body needs fuel in order to lose weight. Good for you for upping your calories!
And it’s influenced even the first day after! I never would have thought I’d have to increase my calories to lose weight.