Mindful Eating Update – Who Ate All the Pies!
It has been almost six months since I last did one of these mindful eating updates. Back then I was boasting about how my weight was the lowest it had been since my teens at 69kg (152 pounds). At that time I was preparing to fight Muay Thai and within two weeks after that post my weight had fallen further to 67kg. Fast forward to now and I’m embarrassed to say that my weight is currently 79kg – it was over 80kg a couple of weeks ago!
So What Went Wrong with Mindful Eating
I never expected to keep my weight below 70kg indefinitely, but I certainly never wanted it to go about 75kg again. When I abandoned my fight plans my weight did start to creep up, but this was to be expected and it was starting to level out at 72kg. The killer blow to my plan to maintain a healthy weight began with the Bangkok floods back in October. This meant I could no longer go running or visit Sitsongpeenong for Muay Thai training. Things got so bad during the floods that we had to stay in a hotel for over a month. I coped the wrong way with the stress and ended up doing a lot of comfort eating. I felt physically ill because of the amount of junk I was eating, but I felt unwilling to stop.
The real blame for this weight gain was my failure to maintain mindful eating when things started to go wrong. I’m not going to beat myself up too much over it because unfortunately this is my learning style. It was the exact same with my alcohol addiction; I would get periods of sobriety followed by relapse. Eventually I got the message, and I am convinced that the same is going to happen with my weight. The truth is that it is just too painful for me to live an unhealthy life now. They say that ignorance is bliss but by experiencing how great it is to be physically in shape I know what I’m missing.
Failure is Giving Up
I truly do believe that people only ever fail when they give up. I’m not giving up. I’ve been back exercising for the last two weeks and my weight has already come down by a couple of kg. I’m determined to be back in my safety zone of below 75kg by April at the latest. My previous efforts have not been wasted because I know what can be achieved, and it does not take too much effort. I still have not managed to get back to my Muay Thai class, but I am working on my fitness at home. I’m also doing a bit of yoga in the evenings to see if that helps.
I’ll keep you posted about my progress
I’n taking a real hit here with all the new year dieting!!! I liked your profile, and we too are trying to do things away from all the drinking and binging.
I do love pies so it is probably a good thing that I don’t live in Phuket 🙂
Paul I think most of us lose sight of our goals now and again, and moments of stress are usually a time when our determination and focus tend to drift. I don’t think 79 kilos is too bad a weight, it’s hardly a snowball situation but instead one which with a little determination will see a slim and trim Mr Garrigan being chased down the road by the soi dogs once again.
Thanks Martyn, all the local soi dogs survived the floods and now seem meaner than ever. If I do go back running on the roads it will almost certainy involve a lot of running.
Seriously, I don’t think you should feel TOO bad about gaining weight during the flooding. That truly was a SERIOUS emergency and I highly doubt anyone who was in the thick of things was able to maintain their priorities though that disaster. In any case, glad to hear you are getting back to your normal priorities.
Thanks Tan, I think the thing that bugged me the most was that I could feel how eating junk food was making me feel sick, but I just didn’t want to stop. Maybe if I’d gotten some comfort out of the comfort eating it wouldn’t have been so bad.
Soo soo! 🙂