The Scale Is NOT My Friend...

You will find out this week that my son was diagnosed with autism last Wednesday. I plan to blog about it but I just ran out of time to craft it today. We are all FINE and thank God for my family, husband, and PNP girls. I get a lot of comfort and great advice from them and it means a lot to me that the "Queen" can leave and they just keep getting Phit! Must mean they have an excellent teacher.   As one of my beautiful girls said, "Watch out autism! Corinne is going to kick your butt!" No truer words have ever been written. I plan to get out the biggest can of whoop A** I can find...I've been preparing for this fight for a long time and, well, I don't want to spoil my fantastic blog!

Anyway, we flew out of town the next morning to attend a DAN conference so we could get our heads around what's going on in Loggie's body. That's where I have been the past few days and now for the blog about why I hate the stupid scale.

How many times have you bee-bopped your way to the scale in the morning not really expecting a whole lot and suddenly you see a GAIN of five pounds? That was me this morning! Natually I put on my best Fat Girl Thinking (FGT) hat and started mentally beating myself up for having two semi-healthy cheats this weekend. Of course we all know that when you workout like a demon for six straight days (I'm talking some STAUNCH workouts), eat cold fish and canned tuna until you are growing gills, and then have a tiny indulgence two days in a row for dinner that it translates into five pounds of fat. That's just what happens to us girls who get fat easy.

Yes, ladies, those are the stupid thoughts running their chubby little feet through my head as I am weighing in at 4:30 a.m. before doing an hour and a half workout. That's a good way to start the day, right? Now that I have given you a description of the totally ridiculous way of thinking let's look at what's really happening so that I can help you the next time the scale goes bonkers!

1. Stress. Stress will cause weight gain from eating foods that bloat you, hello carbs, to consuming things like coffee more than usual to stay awake. All of this makes the body hold water and jack up the scale temporarily.

Here are some interesting articles on stress and weight gain:

Can Stress Cause Weight Gain?
Can Stress Make You Fat?
Stress: The Hidden Factor for Weight Gain

2. Eating Off Plan. My new food plan is pretty strict and super low carb for me (check my Spark page for a copy). Once I got out of town and ran out of food I added in carbs I haven't been eating and bloat city happened. I'm sure my body is overcorrecting for foods that I have been avoiding.

3. Dehydration. Let's face it, I didn't drink enough water and OD'd on coffee. That means my body was dying for water and holding every ounce I put in for fear it wasn't going to get enough.

4. Flying. Travelling can cause bloat especially when you fly. I am always up the next day after a flight.

5. Lack of Sleep. Ladies, I've told you a million times you burn fat while you sleep. Exercising and eating right set the stage for your body to burn through the fat at night. Well, I didn't get a lot of sleep. I never sleep well when I'm out of town, our hours were crazy, and I WAS a crazy momma tossing and turning. I'm sure my body is tired.

6. Hard Workouts. One thing that keeps me sane is exercise and I kept my schedule going while gone. Enough to make me sore and hold even more water than the other things listed.

I lifted hard in anger and I cried through most of my cardio, but heck, I was by myself at a hotel exercise room and it felt good! I highly recommend a good cry on the treadmill the next time you feel like crap. Not only does the exercise get out the yuck but the tears will just roll easy. If someone walks in they might think you are working super hard if you have been brought to tears! It also saved my marriage because I cried enough on Chris and TM crying just saved him grief.

You take all this junk, mix it up, and you get a five pound bump. Like the sensible PNP lady I am I will not be back on the scale until next Monday. My attitude is this: that five pounds is a mere reflection of how out of routine I was and means nothing to someone dedicated to the lifestyle. It ain't about one Monday morning weigh in. It's about a lifestyle that will keep me and my family healthy and happy.

So, if you have a weight gain and you know you ate right and exercised hard, look at other things that could be the cause versus automatically inserting your FGT! Take care!