As a basic millennial of the female type, I am under enormous pressure to enjoy Fall.
Yes, I’m white. Female. Twenty-something. I understand well what my obligations are.
Boots are cute, everything is orange, and all the pumpkins have features carved into them. I get it. And I don’t mean to distance myself from my cohort, but I just don’t enjoy Autumn. (Except, of course, for all the dogs in costumes.)
Fall makes me cold, and when I’m cold I want to eat creamy delicious things called “food.” When the leaves drop off, my body begins to sense that Winter is coming. This bodes poorly for my upper arms.
In Summer, hot long days bring me joy and food barely crosses my mind. During Fall, I sometimes find myself wondering how the fella adjacent to me on the subway would taste drenched in Nutella.
Speaking of which, I had a rough weekend.
I ate a jar of Nutella – the whole jar. (In all fairness to me, it happened over a two day period. But also, I ate it with buttery crackers).
This is what happens in Fall. Bad bad things. Bad chocolatey things.
I don’t consider eating a jar of Nutella a setback, actually. And I’m not “Falling” into Fatness.
My former self would ruminate, and to be perfectly honest – my current self is doing some of that also. But my current self also has a sense of proportion: Nutella happens, life goes on.
Fall is an easy time to put on weight for me, as I suspect it is for many people. But the key, I think, is to allow yourself to let go a little and remind yourself that not every decision needs to be a great decision. The important thing is that you regularly make good decisions.
There is no such thing as falling off the bandwagon. There is no such thing as “all or nothing.” To the extent these things exist, they are products of your own imagination. Products of my own imagination, and I’ve lived with them for years.
This weekend I ate an entire jar of Nutella. With crackers. But today, I’ll eat eggs and veggies. I love eggs and veggies, and I’ll enjoy the contrast.
I don’t think weight maintenance should be such a tricky thing. It’s hard as long as you make it hard, and for me, it’s harder in the colder months.
My simple tricks are these:
- don’t freak out;
- don’t keep tempting caloric things in the house;
- don’t avoid the scale (catch problems while they’re small)
- exercise if you want (long walks are nice)
I’m also going to try a bit harder to find joy in the colder months. Starting with cute new Fall boots, and MAYBE (just maybe) a new fitness regimen 🙂
Fat Girls Fitness 