A New Deal

Since my injury, I won't lie, my biggest concern was how I could get through this without gaining too much weight. I've worked really hard over the last two years to get into what I would consider decent shape, and I have been really worried that this injury would seriously derail my efforts. When I found out about the necessary surgery and the long recovery process, I made myself a deal. I'm pretty good at bargaining with myself...unfortunately, one side of me is a big pushover! So I "gave" myself eight pounds. I determined that weight gain would be inevitable, so as long as I didn't gain more than eight pounds I would be happy. I immediately set out to change my diet so that I wouldn't gain more than that magical number over the next few months. I continued to weigh in every Friday, and I saw something that changed my thoughts on the "deal" I had made with myself. 

Over a period of two weeks on a new and improved lifestyle (like with many people nowadays, "diet" has become a four-letter word with me. I'm making a permanent change, not trying to make weight for a wrestling tournament), I lost five pounds. Without exercise. This got me thinking. Why do I need to "give" myself eight pounds? Why have I been SO incredibly focused on limiting my weight gain when I can actually strive to lose weight during the journey? I have always felt that I couldn't lose weight without exercise, because my body really does respond well to exercise, but at this point I have no choice. I have to do it with minimal cardio and strength training, but I've now made a new deal with myself, and that is to JUST DO IT! So far, I have been very successful, and my next post will explain just what I've been doing and how it has been working for me :-)