Thursday, July 17, 2014

Love My Body Project Weeks 2 & 3

Last week was awesome. I felt awesome. I looked awesome. I was eating awesome. I was in control of my food and my exercise routine. It was an awesome week.


At the end of the week, we got a huge bonus surprise; my brother- and sister-in-law from Texas came to visit us with their three children for Jaguar's birthday weekend! We had a wonderful time. It was such a great visit, especially since we haven't seen them in about three years! (And details of that will be for another post.)

But as always, with out-of-town guests, we spent a lot of time eating out (and drinking booze...). Splurging every now and then is fine, and it's something I think I should be allowed to do if I really want to, but I didn't anticipate how it would make me feel afterwards.

Getting back on track with keto has been a nightmare this third week in. I feel a lot less in control of what I am eating and a lot more hungry. I don't feel as confident. To make matters worse, I'm approaching shark week, which means I'm less energetic (making trips to the gym a huge effort) and bloated (making my belly bulge out like I'm 20 weeks pregnant). My clothes aren't fitting well this week. The scale is still promising progress, but the mirror is decidedly not. I also have not been making myself say I love my body this week like I should. Instead, I've been internally spreading negativity about it.

I woke up this morning feeling groggy, demotivated, fat and hungry. I planned on going to both a weightlifting class and Zumba but couldn't get up and out in time. I missed the weights class and considered just staying home and doing nothing at all. But my kids (thank you, kids!) insisted we go to Zumba anyway, so we went. The first half of the class was killer; I had no energy and just did not feel like doing it. By the second half, though, I could start to feel my body wake up, and I was so glad I'd gone. It gave me the energy and motivation to do everything else I needed to do today, like get groceries and return books to the library. It gave me the determination to keep off the carbs at lunch time and during peckish moments of the day.

I guess loving one's body is a process. It has ups and downs. Hormones play a large part too. The key is probably just keep going, don't give up. And keep giving your body and your mind some love. I put on all black after realizing I was feeling negative again about my body and said defiantly to my reflection, "I LOVE MY BODY, DAMN IT."

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:12 PM

    Congrats on getting back to it :)

    Have you considered trying paleo instead of keto? I find I don't have problems with energy with paleo, but it still avoids carbs and just processed food in general: it's basically about eating "real" food like vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, fruit, nuts, etc. instead of stuff that comes in a package. I feel pretty great and healthy eating paleo and the results are good too.

    Sorry for the random suggestion -- I'm a long-time reader and thought I'd jump out of hiding on the off-chance I can be useful.

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  2. Hello, long-time reader! :)

    I tried paleo before, and I've tried and am again trying keto...

    I think *really* what I'm doing is a combination. Best of both worlds, so to speak. For the past two weeks, I doubt I've been in ketosis at all, really because I've gone over my carb allowance a little each day. But I'm still losing weight, feeling great, and likely still between 50-100 carbs a day, except on my absolute worst days. I like aspects of paleo, like allowing fruits and carb-y vegetables, but there are just certain manufactured foods I don't want to live without that are acceptable on keto - like sugarfree substitutes (which I know are not actually healthier) and hot dogs.... In fact, I was just coming online to blog about this, when I saw your comment!

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  3. Anonymous3:43 AM

    That sounds good! I think it's far more important for people to find what works for them than to stick blindly to one particular program or lifestyle :)

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