4XLT

Today’s Weight In: 331.4 pounds
Days Till Goal: 19
Pounds To Go: 11.4

In an frustratingly similar experience with last week’s episode of eating twelve hot wings and gaining three pounds, I ate well yesterday, but a small mistake at the end of the day cost me big time.

One of my spiritual moms begged me to come out to her and her husband’s house Monday evening, which I was happy to do. I arrived that evening at roughly 1850 calories of my daily goal of 2400. That gave me about 550 calories of wiggle room, although I had deliberately eaten at Subway after work to keep myself from feeling like I had to eat.

But Vicky had fixed a chocolate cake, and I had failed to keep my wits about me and had a piece. Not a small piece, but not a big piece, either. Just a normal piece of cake, with 500 calories to spare (could it have been more?), three and a half hours before I went to sleep that night … which had me gain two pounds in the morning.

I have to learn what went wrong here if I am to not repeat this mistake again a week and a half from now. Here’s what I’ve learned from my recent Wingsgate and Cakegate scandals:

1. Food is Fuel

I’m not what you would classify as an “emotional eater.” I’ve never been the type to dive into food when I get tired, sad, angry, or anything else. My problem has always been that I made extremely poor choices when I ate.

I drank a lot of pop and a lot of fried food. I had GIANT-SIZED meals and rarely ate breakfast. I’d eat really late at night. I loved fast food and super sizes. I thought it was good. It was bad.

I have to keep looking at food as nothing more than simple fuel for my body. Nothing more. I want the best fuel possible at the right times. If I deviate, I’m prone to breaking down, and since I’m in the race for my life, I can’t let that happen.

2. Food Plans are to be Followed

Along with the allegory of food as fuel, I have to begin being extremely disciplined and proactive in following my food plan. If I had to single my mistake down to one thing last night, it would be that I had a carbo-overload (damn cake) at 8:00pm.

I have to follow my macronutrient and calorie plans rigidly. Some deviation can be worked around, but last night – though it seems minor on the surface – was anything but minor.

3. Food is Not for Friendship

Food can be a social glue, but I’m going to have to learn to be sociable without it. The big reason I had the cake last night was that everybody else was having one, and I didn’t want to be rude.

But the truth is, had I simply smiled and said “No, thank you. I’m fine,” no one would have batted an eyelash.

I make this mistake far too often. I hang out with a friend, and we go get our grub on. I’m at a friend’s place, and we snack (this is rare, as I’ve not been super-sociable as of late). People are all eating, so I eat.

Food is for fuel, not for friendships. If I can learn to implement this, then I’ll be well on my way to making a real, long-lasting change in my eating habits.

Well, here I go, off to lose those two pounds all over again. Stupid piece of cake.