As you can see by the date this was posted, I haven't written anything on this blog or about this Even It Out challenge since December 5th. I apologize for that. But I didn't really have anything to say and by the time the month came to a close, I didn't want to report on the results. I started out December at 350 pounds. I finished the month at 356 pounds. If you've been following along, this would be the first time that I gained weight during this experiment. And not only that, but I gained a lot of weight. I was consistently losing 1-2 pounds and feeling better every day. So what happened? Everything was going great until the holidays. I set up my schedule of eating every other day so that the eating days landed on some holiday parties, Christmas Eve and on my Star Wars Marathon on the 18th (when I watched Episodes 1-6 in preparation for seeing The Force Awakens on Saturday the 19th). As soon as Christmas approached, the wheels fell off and I failed to put them back on.
I went to church on Christmas morning and I fully intended to go the entire day without eating (as I had on every odd day this month). But then I ate some snacks around lunch time and it all went downhill from there. I figured that I could use Christmas as a cheat day and then I could get back on target. I should have known better. The whole reason I did this challenge is that I know I can't handle moderation. Once I get a taste I don't want to stop. I want the whole thing. Then after eating it all I sit around feeling sick wondering what happened. By the time I weighed myself on January 1st, to no surprise I had gained a lot of weight in a short period of time. The Holidays can be a real bitch for so many reasons.
This is why people make New Year's Resolutions. They usually involve giving up something or losing weight. I'm guilty of falling victim to this ploy and setting unachievable goals. That's why I didn't set any this year and also why I decided to end this Even It Out challenge. While I can't argue with the results when I was sticking to the plan, I know that I did make some mistakes along the way. It's now the end of January and I weigh the same that I did at the end of December. While this could be construed as a bad thing, this means that I've been able to maintain my weight without having to give up eating every other day. I definitely need to keep on losing weight and become a healthier person, but I was going about it all wrong. What good does it do to give up eating on an even or odd day if I eat like shit on the days when I can eat? That does even it out. Instead of say consuming like 2,500 calories in a day, I would consume 0 in one day and 5,000 in the other. So it's all the same in the end. I didn't pay attention to what I was eating and how much I was eating, which is why this approach ultimately does not work.
But it did garner some positive results. I have lost like 10-15 pounds and kept if off (for the most part). I have figured out yet another way that doesn't work for me. That means the only way to being healthy is eating right and exercising. Who would've thought? This sucks. I thought that I could come up with a magic solution that would produce incredible results, but it turns out that the tried and true method still works the best. I guess there's nothing left to do but pay close attention to the food I am putting in my body and make sure to get plenty of exercise. Damn it.
- pookon -
http://www.pookon.com/
https://twitter.com/pookondotcom
https://www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeIceman
