“Listening to your body” is a phrase that’s wholly overused in the blog world for myriad reasons: not eating much, eating too much, not exercising enough, exercising too much.
I’m sure I’ve been guilty of it a few times myself, but I try not to use this phrase. Why? If I listened to my body, it would tell me to sit on the couch and order Chinese food and drink a glass (or three) of wine.
Four years ago, I decided to change my life for the healthier. That meant more exercise, and less takeout. That went well, and I lost 50 pounds.
Since reaching my goal weight three years ago, every single day is a fight to make the healthier choice. Most of the times I do, but not always. I really like wine, bagels and French fries and never want to cut any of those things out of my diet 100%.
There’s been a lot going on the past few months, and you could say I’ve been “listening to my body.” My body said “drink more wine, eat more crap, exercise less.” I listened to my body.
I went on two awesome trips in the past few months, and I brought back some more weight from both of them, and then there’s some of the life baggage that is currently taking up residence on my stomach and thighs.
I stepped on the scale on Monday morning, and it said a higher number than I’ve seen in a longer time: 148. That’s 9 pounds higher than what my original goal weight was, and about 13 pounds higher than my ultimate lowest weight. I generally don’t freak out about my weight much (oh hai gaining 50 pounds between 2001-2009), but seeing a 9-pound weight gain made me a bit nervous. Nervous that it would be a slow slide back to where I came from. That I would be one of those statistics of people who lost a lot of weight and gained it all back.
Let’s just say I’ve been very social lately, and that I love wine. Well, that loving wine has led to, quite honestly, a lot of poor food choices, on top of wine not being the healthiest choice in the world.
I know that alcohol (and certainly wine, with lots of sugar) can contribute to bloat, so I’ve been trying to eat as many whole foods and few processed foods this week and stay away from the wine.
This morning I got on the scale, and it read 143. HOLY BLOAT. I was holding on to at least 5 pounds of water weight from poor food choices. I’d still like to lose a few more pounds, because I also just feel mushy around the edges. I’m not going to do anything crazy, but just continue to be cognizant of making healthy decisions and taking care of myself
Moral of the story: weight maintenance ain’t always easy, wine bloats you like crazy, I cannot actually “listen to my body,” because my natural inclinations are not to be healthy, and it is a battle I fight every day. Some days I lose the battle, but I won’t lose the war.
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I could have written this post. My body tells me to eat like a 10 year old boy at his birthday party. My translation of "listen to your body" is "imagine how good your body feels when you eat a tangelo instead of three pieces of cold deep dish pizza."
I am feeling the same lately! I am feeling better about things today, but stress has been huge and it tends to cause me to make horrible choices! Good job on the recent weight loss and definitely congrats on your original weight loss! You will do great and so will I!
Yeah, right now my body is telling me to buy one box of each flavor of the Girl Scout cookies. It's also telling me to sleep in every morning instead of working out. So I CAN'T listen to my body at the moment!
I would argue that's not your body speaking, it's your mind. The distinction is hard to make but once you do everything changes
Oh I can totally relate to this. If I listened to my body, my diet would consist mainly of carbs, peanut butter, and margaritas. It's hard to accept that the struggle to make healthier decisions may never go away.
I feel the same way. Desserts, wine, beer and good food has been calling my name way too much lately. The good news is, our bodies know better and remind us how good it is to feel our best! This is helping me reel myself back in. Sounds like you are too!
This is absolutely brilliant and needs to be said much more often.
I'm so with you. My whole "listen to my body, intuitive ness" has led me to gain some weight I don't necessarily love! I haven't weighed myself, but time to recommit to some of those good habits that helped me get healthy in the first place
Oh boy. I think we've all experienced this! The wine and extra calories that we ingest on vacations and special occasions should always be enjoyed. That's why we're not always on vacation! Stay clean and those edges will harden up. ;)
Love your honesty. I've found myself in a very similar sitch, combined with not working out until this past weekend because I'd had surgery on my foot. Cheers to make some healthier choices! :)