This is exactly why summer is so hard for me. I have no problem with the holiday season in November and December, but when it comes to food and drinks all summer, I have this summer attitude that gets me in trouble. It's not even that the summer foods are irresistible (well, except ice cream--I could live off of that!) but more of the idea of summer foods.
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| August 2015 at a beer festival with Brian and Becky in Portland |
Fruity drinks, cooking on the grill, going out for ice cream on a hot day, getting fried foods at the fair (Lord, help me, come August!)... it all has this sort of romantic ideation around it for summer.
And it's all in my head! I know this. I could see it coming. I planned for it. It hits me EVERY SINGLE YEAR. And I still fell for it, hahaha. Anyway, my moving average weight was up this week thanks to overindulging Friday through Sunday.
It looks so much nicer seeing the "Moving Average". My actual weight this morning was 133 *gulp*. I have officially gotten back up to my goal weight, which is pretty scary, considering we are only two days into summer!
BUT. I really hate it when people complain about things and/or make excuses and then don't do anything to fix them. So, I refuse to do that. I'm trying not to panic, but it's hard not to when getting on the scale and seeing that I have exactly ZERO wiggle room for summer. Especially since Jerry and I are going to Cadillac this weekend.
So, my plan is this: Cut back on my calories to around 1,800 or less for six days this week, and then have just one high calorie day, which I'll cap at about 3,500. These numbers aren't set in stone--I do much better when I don't have an "official" calorie goal--but just something to aim for. I'd really like to get my weight back down to 128, so that I have 5 pounds of wiggle room through the summer. There is no reason to live by my "summer attitude" regarding food each day, all summer long--that's how I always end up gaining 20 pounds. I'm going to Virginia Beach at the end of the summer, and I really want to be at or under my goal weight for that.
I'm not going to try and plan out more than just this week right now. I want to stay focused on the present, and not panic. I'm afraid that panicking would cause me to overcompensate and cut back too drastically (to, say, 1500 calories a day) and then I'd feel really hungry and deprived, and binge. So, I'm going to cut back sensibly and see what happens. I know (logically) that as long as I don't go overboard several days in a week that I won't continue to gain. I'm going to look at today's weigh-in as a wake-up call ;)
This weekend will be challenging, because I no longer have any wiggle room from my goal weight. Jerry and I are driving up to Cadillac, Michigan for the Lake Cadillac Team Marathon+. We plan to run the 10K on Saturday. Last time we were there, we only stayed one night; but this time, we're staying Friday and Saturday nights.
I already looked up restaurants on Yelp, so I know where we'll be eating. Today, I'm going to come up with a plan of what I'll order so that I can track my calories ahead of time. We're going to see if we can somehow fit both of our bikes in the back of the Jeep--it would be awesome if we could bring our bikes with us! We could ride everywhere we want to go, and the loop around Lake Cadillac is super nice. We do plan to be pretty active, even if we don't have our bikes, so getting in exercise isn't a problem.
I also started to think about what I could do to keep that romantic ideation of summer, only in a healthier way:
- Instead of sipping fruity drinks, shandy, or margaritas on the deck in the evenings, I could make a pitcher of flavored David's Iced Tea (still summery, but no calories).
- When cooking on the grill, we could make turkey sausage or chicken kabobs with lots of peppers, onions, and mushrooms, instead of cooking hamburgers and hot dogs.
- I ADORE corn on the cob cooked on the grill. I can experiment with different seasonings.
- When going to a barbecue with friends or family, I could make a fruit salad instead of homemade coleslaw (which is my go-to).
- Instead of getting flurries at the ice cream shop, we can grill some pineapple at home and top it with a small scoop of ice cream--again, very summery, but a fraction of the calories. OR, if I really want to go get ice cream, I can't forget about my beloved cones from McDonald's! A vanilla cone is only 170 calories; and they have dipped ones during the summer that are only 270 calories. I like these just as much as an 800-calorie flurry.
I like this idea of substitutions, because then I can still feel like I'm indulging in summer, but I won't gain 20 pounds doing it! ;) Anyone else have ideas like this that scream summer but aren't too high in calories? Please share!
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