It seems like it has been a while since The Wellness & Lifestyle Challenge. Yet, it has really only been a few months. We are hoping that the information you received from the Elite staff was helpful and continued on through these spring months.
For myself, your Dietitian of 30 years, I have done some learning of my own. I don’t often talk about things I personally experience as a consumer of wellness planning myself. But today I feel it’s important I share this experience with you.
Much of the work I do during TWLC, is to reach out to members I have not had a chance to meet yet and spend the time to evaluate their personal eating problems. I love this time of year, as it keeps me very busy going from club to club, and meeting with so many individuals throughout the week. It almost becomes a fitness/nutrition social that I really enjoy being a part of! But that’s just the background for the real story here.
After several weeks of visits to the five clubs on a regular basis and enjoying so many people, I have to be perfectly honest, I was getting tired. I tried to get more sleep, relax more and go for more walks. But it never seemed like enough. I believe, but I am not sure, I started eating more. Not consciously, because who would do that? But rather, just a little more and surprisingly or not, in the car! It seemed like a release of sorts, going from club to club. I just, turned on the engine, drank some coffee, and started crunching whatever I had with me. At the end of the day I had gone through quite a few baggies of food, salty, sweet, or the like.
Funny thing was that I did not even know it, not consciously. I am sure it was just pure habit and something I did to keep going. But, it all came crashing down when I was visiting my physician for something else and he mentioned my weight. “Not possible,” I said, “I’ve never weighed that!” Later that night, getting ready to attend a St. Patrick’s Day Party, I found that my blouse would not close. I decided it was time to change things up just a little.
To tell you the truth, and I always do, my image of myself “never” gaining weight unless I was pregnant, was a little fractured. But, I was also faced with the thought that it had come on pretty fast. So, I was off to work…on myself.
Today, as of this publication, the extra weight is gone. As fast as it had come on. I have sized up my diet and really looked at what I was doing wrong. It quickly came down to too much eating in my car! But, that was not as scary for me as it was realizing that I was eating without even thinking. I think you could call it subconscious, and certainly, indiscriminate.
The party was over, and I was back to being what I had set out to do long ago. To live with an ideal reference weight I established at age 25. I am so much happier today, can do much more, and have more energy. After all, I had to figure this one out personally. How else can I advise other people unless I can do it myself? The biggest lesson here was not to get so busy that you are not able to take care of yourself and you actually lose yourself in your work! Lesson learned.
Written by Rita Larsen, RDN, CD; Elite Sports Clubs Nutrition Educator & Diet Counselor
Rita is certified in Positive Psychology, University of Penn; has a BS in Dietetics from Kansas State University; and an Internship and Masters at the Indiana University Medical Center.
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