Day Forty Three!!

Sure as Sugar!
So since the fiasco of the celebratory dinner and after party, I checked myself today and the good news is I have maintained my weight loss of 18 pounds. 


As Dr. Laurie says, “celebrate and then the next day get right back on the plan. The goal is not to condemn yourself, or feel that you have failed (guilt) or that you’re a bad person (shame). Instead acknowledge the celebration as what it is, a celebration, and give yourself permission to indulge. Yes you will notice a spike in weight gain and with jumping right back on the program you will see an immediate decrease in the spike and then you just carry on.”
No need for any bad feelings. 


I would like to say though that the one difference I experienced was a physical difference. I had a bad aftertaste the next day, and I was extremely thirsty because of all the salt that I ate. I had a general ‘ill’ feeling, like I was coming down with something. I also had ravenous hunger pangs as the next day wore on. 


So this physical experience is important, and this is the addictive part, because the sugar is needing to be replaced in my system with a new dose of sugar. It’s important just to realize that that intense hunger feeling is not actually the need for food, it is the need for the next fix (sugar high). Just like an addict. Hunger pangs are also the experience of the decreasing size of my stomach from eating so much food all at once. It’s important not to get confused. 


That brings us to pain tolerance. Sitting out and “being with” an intense craving or hunger pang is a painful experience physically. Having bad emotional feelings as well as negative self talk are also painful experiences. These experiences affect us emotionally and psychologically. The negative self talk needs to be countered with a positive self statement, the bad feeling needs to be acknowledged and changed to a feeling state of being okay and the physical discomfort needs a coping strategy. 


If you can keep in mind that you celebrated yesterday and so therefore this physical discomfort of either a craving or a hunger pang makes sense, then you will be able to understand what this pain is about and be able to see it and experience it for what it truly is. You will know that there is an equation of a+b=c.
a (overate or ate sugar) +
b (coming off of sugar high and tummy needs to shrink) =
c( a need for a positive self statement and positive feeling state) 
“I have done a good thing and I am ok.” 


This process will allow you be able to sit with the discomfort and be okay with the discomfort. This process will allow you to not get into negative feelings of fear (there must be something wrong with me) or overwhelm (I can’t handle this) or anxiety (I need to feed my discomfort or I might die). Need for survival. 


And just a side not: you can be sure as sugar that if I had more chocolate in the house I would’ve tried to nibble on it.
Good thing I ate it all.
:)