Diet day 328

[darkemeralds]

The trip from which I just returned has proven to me that while travel is broadening, it's not necessarily fattening. I lost three pounds while getting almost no exercise and eating whatever the hell I felt like, as much as I wanted, whenever the urge struck me, for three weeks.

Three pounds is about as much as I would have expected to lose sticking to my exercise and eating plan here at home over the same length of time.

I'm not yet prepared to say, "Hey! Weight loss magic! I don't need to to that diet stuff anymore!" because for one thing, I really missed my exercise, and for another, I was beginning to feel the ill effects of random eating after three weeks. But this unexpected weight loss does get me thinking about the power of stress.

In a nutshell, my job and home life were like a pressure cooker, sealing up my energy and sort of condensing me. It wasn't till I left it behind and then came back after a long enough break that I could feel it. It's like being so densely packed that nothing can move.

Travel has its stressors, of course: connections, money, schedules, culture and language barriers, getting lost--stuff like that. But in a foreign environment, I deal with the stress by being sharp and open and alert. Energy moves. Whereas at home I en-cave myself pretty thoroughly, despite going to Zumba and riding a bike. Different predators, I suppose.

I'm not sure where I'll go from here with my weight loss. I guess I don't have to decide today.

Comments

[karen_jk]

I am so very glad you went on this trip! I have a friend with a hugely stressful job as a corporate lawyer in NY City...she's expected to work late many nights and cancel her weekends on a moment's notice to work some more. It's so nutty that she gets used to the nuttiness. From the outside, I'm worried for her and wishing she could quit. I know when she does, she'll wonder how she ever endured it as long as she did.

[darkemeralds]

While I can't claim to be struggling under the level of stress you describe ("corporate lawyer in NY City" has to be the very top of the stress-o-meter), I have been able to observe my own work stresses from a bit of distance now, and realize that they're greater than I had supposed.

I suspect that long vacations are frowned on as much for this revelatory aspect as for the inconvenience they cause in understaffed environments. I just hope I was gone long enough and thoroughly enough to prevent my falling right back into the trap.

[roseambr]

Interesting, isn't it, when we drop pounds when we expect to have gained? I can relate to you a brief story of a neighbor/friend who LOVES fairs and fair food. She lives for the County Fair each year. This year she went literally every single day of the fair and ate every fried, fat, butter drenched food she encountered. By the second week she was beginning to feel a bit ill, but hung in there and went anyway. By the end of the fair she had dropped three pounds. Her body was revolting, however, due to the high grease quantities. But, as you say, during that time she was stress free. No worries at home to deflect her activites, her usual health issues were put aside for the fun of the fair. And, I believe you walked a lot more than you realized and just keeping up with friends who are your tour guides can be very consuming! So glad you are home though!

[darkemeralds]

Interesting!

Carnival food is pretty unhealthy stuff, and yet it is food, however low-quality, and eating it for a few days can't do much harm. I think it's the fear of addiction--of being unable to limit ourselves to an occasional indulgence--that makes us demonize curly fries and elephant ears. I mean, what are the odds that we'll ever overindulge in broccoli?

I'm looking forward to talking with you more about the power of stress and negativity in weight loss and gain. I have no reason to change my belief that the calories-in and calories-out equation is fundamental, but I've got plenty of evidence that the burn rate can vary by miles. Three weeks of just putting the whole subject on the back burner seems to have done me and my metabolism a lot of good.

And, by the same token, now that I'm home, the stress is mounting. As I brace myself to go back to work tomorrow I can feel systems shutting down, valves closing, flows slowing to a trickle. Work! Now there is a toxic substance.