Is it just me or does anybody else feel like they blow up like a blimp when they break their exercise routine or go off course and go munch on snacks for a few days? I know it is deeply psychological, but...
I’ve joined the many who have found joy and refuge in doing aerobic exercise in the pool. All the things you’ve read and heard over the years are true – little to no impact on joints, the water resistance causes you to use muscles you probably haven’t had to, especially during the COVID stay home and work pandemic, and the number of calories burned in a short time is tremendous. All this combined with the soothing sensation of submerging into warm water that never stops moving, swirling around your limbs, with the added sound of it licking and smacking the sides of the pool is almost hypnotizing.
So I’ve been at this for about a little over a month, sticking to my plant-based, dairy-free lifestyle and enjoying the feeling of trying to enhance and extend my life. Then my favorite pool shuts down just before Christmas for two weeks for repairs. So I start to go to a substandard pool nearby that has restricted hours and few classes and I immediately begin to feel like I’m not getting the most benefit from my physical activity. I could go walking or something else low impact, take out my favorite bike, but… Then here comes Christmas. I avoided baking sweets, so no nipping there, but there are things like oatmeal, pasta salad with veg that can be overdone, and other still plant-based, but very filling dishes that fill you up, like fettuccine with sautéed mushrooms and an “Alfred” sauce made from cashews and roasted garlic. OMG, so good, but high in fat.
So back to the original question, why did the dress that I put on to go out to dinner on Christmas feel like it was squeezing so tight it would stop my heart from beating if dinner went on for too long? Is it me or do others feel like the work that they’ve put in towards physical improvement and weight loss is lost with just a slip in exercise schedule or diet?