Reflections From The Kitchen Sink on Holiday Weight Gain

Weight Gain

I said it wouldn’t happen this year. I would not gain the holiday five. I was not going to eat beyond my appetite. I was not going to fall victim to the carb drive of holiday sweets. I was not going to let the rush of ball season travel to holiday tournaments lull me into lazy eating habits rushing from game to game through every drive thru within 200 miles of home. It would not happen this year. And it didn’t. No holiday five for me. Instead, I added the holiday six. Ugh.

How is it we can know things so clearly in our minds and have such clarity with our goals, but we can fall flat in a New York minute? Yep, even in the rural hot spot I live in, New York minutes exist. I think that is where the quandary lies: life is too fast. Add that to my being a bit of an overachiever, and, you guessed it, five becomes six, and the scale has made my head spin.

I’m wondering if I’m the only person who has seen a scale jump so many digits in one day. I know, I know…we are told not to weigh daily. Weigh in once a week. But inquiring minds want to know! I need to know if that one “healthy” helping of banana pudding got me. I need to know if the scale will pick up on the fact I had three of those pull apart rolls. Don’t judge me. They were still so warm the butter melted. I don’t do things like that all the time. Just occasionally. The scale didn’t even budge that day. It did, however, tally the combination of little extra nibbles and warm tasty treats though in one fatal swoop one morning. Six pounds in one day? I ate salad yesterday! How did I gain six pounds overnight!!?

Yeah, I’m smart enough to know it wasn’t a 24-hour swing. My mind though is naive enough to let me play the surprised card though. Like I didn’t know that having two or three of those special chocolates daily would add up. I couldn’t hurt my friend’s feelings. He knows they are some of my favorites and bought me the big holiday bag. I couldn’t not try to consume them all in less than a month. It is like mental Jeopardy. “I will take mind tricks for three pounds, Alex.” Oh, look, a Daily Double! Six pounds, it is, dang it.

We are about at the mid-January mark, so now it is time for the annual guilt to settle in. The calorie counting app will be installed on my phone later today. I will find the lemon juice in the back of the fridge for the mandatory water intake increase. I will walk the dog more. All that, and it will likely take me two to three times the time it took to gain the holiday six to get it off. Another of the joys of aging, I guess. 

I’m not much of a resolution maker, but I guess this is one of my couple goals for the close of winter. I think I should move that special bag of chocolates away from the coffee maker corner because you know how I like to spend my time here. 

I will report in on my holiday six progress. It’s good to have accountability partners when we set goals. What’s your top priority for the new year? Name it and claim it, friends!

Time for cup two and a trip to the scale. I need to make sure my six isn’t seven! Oh, dear, how I hope it isn’t seven.

Maybe I will add an aerobic step platform here at the sink, too. The joys of the holidays…

Bio-Melinda Campbell is a retired educator who currently focuses her efforts on raising her two teenaged boys, advocating for individuals with special needs and against drunk driving, and serving in her local community. Melinda has been gaining recognition for her writings labeled “Reflections from my Kitchen Sink” since the tragic death of her husband Michael in 2015. In her stories, she shares observations from her daily life including moments she has as a solo parent, a widow, and a woman who battles significant health issues including fibromyalgia and depression. BIG ANNOUNCEMENT- New Kitchen Sink Merchandise-Click Here?