Learning to deal with deviations from the diet routine - NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

By Lisa Spodak ResultsNotTypical@worldnow.com
Provided by WorldNow

Week 87 Weigh In:

Change this week:  +2.5 lbs
Change overall:  -91

I'm finding that the hardest thing for me to deal with lately is changes to my routine.

When I have a "normal" week with no real distractions or special events, I do fine.  But as soon as something different is going on, I fall off the wagon.

This week was a perfect example.

Over the weekend, I participated in The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  It's a 2-day, 39.3 mile walk to raise money and awareness to fight breast cancer.

You would think that walking 39.3 miles would be great exercise and could only possibly be a benefit to a weight loss program, right?

Well, if I'd stuck to my program, the exercise would have helped!

Unfortunately, I used the walk as an excuse to consume things that I shouldn't have in quantities that I definitely shouldn't have: pasta three nights in a row, copious amounts of bread, wine, cookies.  And because I was getting ready for the walk and recovering from the walk, I wasn't doing any other exercise.

Seeing it in writing only emphasizes how ridiculous it was!

I really need to work on keeping focused on my goals and remembering that my body doesn't know when there is a special event or excuse to eat something extravagant - it only knows calories-in and calories-out.  So no matter what rationalizing I do in my mind or excuses I make to myself, I can't be surprised by gaining weight after eating foods I shouldn't.

Now I just have to work on realizing all that before I give in to the excuses and temptations!

In the interest of putting things in writing to see how ridiculous they are, here are the 5 worst excuses I made this week:

1) I'm going to be walking a marathon and a half - my body needs carbs to keep it going (this is, perhaps, actually valid - but not for the large amounts of pasta I was eating!)

2) Wine will relax my muscles

3) Weight Watchers includes olive oil in its ‘good health guidelines,' so I should go ahead and eat lots of fresh foccacia bread dipped in oil.

4) If they're supplying bagels and peanut butter for breakfast, that must be the best thing to eat.

5) One more decadent meal won't make a difference.