Now is as probably a good a time as any to talk about
setbacks. They will happen. They have happened to me. In fact, this past week
was probably one of the biggest setbacks. I was on vacation. I went to River
Street for the first time with my wife and some friends. Do you know what they
do there? They hand you samples of candied pecans! For free! They would ask,
“Would you like to try…”
“YES!” *Nom nom nom*
Then my in-laws got here. My mother-in-law is a good cook.
She’s the kind of cook that I could watch scrape roadkill off the side of the
street, bring it in, prepare it and still be all, “Um…yeah…let me get some of
that.” So she did what she always does when she comes down here – make bucketfulls
of pansit and lumpia. I’m not ashamed to say I think lumpia (a Filipino
eggroll) is just about the best thing on the planet. Needless to say – I gained
some weight this week. It is a shame because I was only one pound away from my
goal weight! ARGH!
I said all that to say, setbacks will happen. You will, at
times, eat stuff you shouldn’t. It happens. It’s another reason why I say no “cheat”
days – because you will have them. They will happen because life is messy and
complicated and doesn’t care if you’re going low carb. Sometimes you eat carbs
because that’s what a guest or a host has set in front of you.
The good news is that you are always in control of your own
habits. Setbacks will happen but they need not derail your efforts. You’ll have
to gain back some ground, sure. Just consider it self-control practice.
The other thing I wanted to talk about is highs and lows. At
first I lost weight like it was going out of style. It was awesome to see
pounds drop off week to week. It’s definitely a good motivator to keep going.
However, I eventually stalled out. I’d sit at the same number for a week or
two. I’d measure success in tenths of a pound instead of pounds. Keep in mind
that I was keeping to my plan. Yet there were times when my body would just not
let go of weight. I remember 215 being a particular threshold. Then 210…207…205.
Every now and then my body would just decide it needed to keep some pounds and
I’d have to get all Meghan Trainor on it and say – “YOU NEED TO LET IT GO.”
I stuck to my plan though. Eventually, you break through
those walls. It just takes persistence. The key is not giving up. You have to
stick to your plan every day. EVERY. DAY. I’ll leave you with a clip of my
favorite anime, One Punch Man. In the
clip Saitama (the titular One-Punch Man) explains to his enemies the key to his
great strength. While I personally don’t do his training methods (though it’d
be pretty cool to do) what I’m inspired by is his discipline. It motivates me
to stick to my plan no matter what. God bless all of you out there trying to
get healthy and stay healthy! (Also, you should totally watch One Punch Man because it is awesome.)
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