My Holiday Miracle!

This is a post that I wrote, and never posted as we got further and further from the holiday. Going through my drafts, I thought that just maybe I could post it. It may help me remember my goals!

Usually the holiday season is the time of year when I just say go hang and eat what I want.

By December 31st I have already put on pounds.  Even though I know that whatever I put on now I will be sweating and cursing to get off in January and February and March……. Last year I even took the month of December off from exercise because, dang it, I was just burned out.

Not that that worked, I apparently get cranky without my yoga.  Some people drink, some do cocaine, I have my endorphins.

And my coffee. Don’t take my coffee away from me. I don’t even need caffeinated, just drinking decaf has a placebo effect on me. But I digress. I found myself doing yoga a week or two into December. But I still gained seven pounds from last year’s holiday fun.

I got on the scale the at the beginning of December 2014 and I was at the lowest point that I have been in 6 to 8 years.

      How did this miracle happen?

 I blame running. Not only am I burning calories, but I find that I just don’t want to eat as much. This makes sense if you think about why I eat.

My husband is a smoker. I don’t think it is fair to nag him to quit if I can’t kick my own addiction: food. I know, I know, we all need to eat to survive. My food addiction isn’t about survival but enjoyment. I am easily swayed; reading an excellent description of a meal in a book can make me immediately crave whatever the characters are having.  Savory meats and puddings in historical fiction sound much better  in my imagination than they most likely were. My cravings usually revolve around spicy and salty, but I venture into sweets sometimes too.

I eat when I’m bored. Sad. Happy. Even when I am nauseous, I feel if I put just the right thing in my stomach I will feel better. Food is a cure-all to me. In the past when I lost weight, it seemed to be an immediate invitation to eat more.

This year that hasn’t happened. All the work I did with the 7 Day workout and my running seems to be stripping me down to who I should be. Maybe it’s just the endorphins talking, but I want to keep the momentum going more than I want the holiday food. At least, not in excess. I pretty much eat what I want, but in smaller quantities.  I made snickerdoodles from scratch for my party, and only had one beforehand. In previous years my guests would have been lucky to get half of them.

Now the holidays are over and I got on the scale: minus  .02 lbs. Not a lot, but certainly not  plus seven extra pounds. My food cravings are increasing a bit, which is odd now that the holiday season is over. However, the will power I developed during the holidays seemed to have carried over. I look at the food and then decide whether I am bored or if I really need something. Not that I don’t still eat it occasionally, but at least I know what I am doing!

Running seems to have increased my motivation. Before I was exercising to lose weight. Now I am losing weight and eating right so that I can run better. The endorphins are still the same, however. While running may not be the answer for everyone, I do hope that everyone can find that one sport that turns the motivation around.

 The enjoyment of the sport make it much easier to deny the occasional bowl of ice cream or pizza when you can get out there and fly down the road.