Hey Kat, stop rationalizing your weight gain!

I know people who rationalize everything – they aren’t in a great relationship because their parents taught them the wrong values about relationships, so they just will never be in a good relationship. Or those who insist they aren’t in the job they want because of someone else’s shortcoming, so they’ll just never have a perfect job. And often times, they truly believe whatever it is they tell themselves. And, since it’s not their fault then there’s no action needed on their part to make changes, since it wouldn’t matter anyway since there’s a reason why things are the way they are.  But guess what!?

I realized in one area of my life I do this too!  Shame on me.

I gained a small amount of weight over the last few years; probably about 5-6 pounds. I know some of you are rolling your eyes, thinking, “geez, so what, I gained (other amount), five pounds is nothing!”  But to me, the woman who has been ultra-careful with weight gain her entire life since heaviness runs in the family, six pounds is a lot! My clothes don’t fit right, I feel girth where there was none. And while I still feel great about myself, I don’t feel totally great, if that makes sense. But I’ve been rationalizing the gain all along. I’ve been telling myself, it just is what it is and it’s fine.  So it is now time to debunk those thoughts. Here we go.

Muscle weighs more than fat.  While it is true that a pound of fat and a pound of muscle weigh the same, it is also true that the same size piece of fat weights less than the same size piece of muscle. However, I cannot continue to tell myself that the reason I’m six pounds heavier is because my three day a week jogging regimen has turned my thighs and calfs into solid walls of muscle that weigh oodles more than they used to. It’s just not true. My legs were always muscular and might now be a little more so, but I probably can’t attribute more than a few ounces of gain to my muscles.  So phooey to this attempt at making sense of weight gain.

My pants and shorts are on my hips because I’m actually losing weight.  No, the explanation for exercise pants that won’t stay on my waist or shorts that are slipping to my hips is not because I’m losing weight and therefore, they are too big. They ARE too big, but it’s because the material has stretched from being made to sit on my fatter tummy. And therefore, the waist bands are no longer providing the same oomph they once did. So I have to stop telling myself my clothes are bigger because I’m smaller. It simply. is. not. true.

It’s stylish to wear your shirts outside your pants and it makes you look thinner.  No. If I purchased the shirts that are made to be worn outside my pants, they might be stylish, but my changing my style because my pants are too tight and I want to hide it, does not make me look better/thinner/more stylish. Enough already. Everyone knows I took the belt off because it was too tight. Come on, Kat, get real.

I eat very healthy.  This one is true, I do eat healthy.  Usually. Except at dinner time.  For breakfast, I usually have fruit. For lunch, I might have a bowl of tuna/no bread. But… At dinner, I eat at least two helpings of something, have two glasses of wine, love to eat bread and cheese, and lately have also had some sort of sweet after dinner.  Not cake/cookies/candy, but perhaps a bunch of raisins or yogurt-covered cranberries or ice cream with chocolate sauce.  So I do eat well, but not always. So stop lying to yourself Kat, there is still room for improvement.

Love handles are sexy. No they are not.  Period, end of story.

Menopause equals weight gain. I did some research about this also. While it’s commonly thought that being pre-menopausal, or actually experiencing menopause, brings about weight gain, apparently it doesn’t really have to be that way. Metabolism slows down but there are ways around that – more exercise, healthy adds like flax seed or juicing.  Women apparently don’t have to gain weight when they get to “that” age, so the fact I’m nearly 55 and almost menopausal really isn’t a good reason to just give in to the weight gremlins.

So come on, Kat, what are you going to do about this?  You can’t hide under the “oh, I already am doing the best I can, and besides it’s menopause time, and I am a muscle machine” lies. I can’t keep rationalizing the fact that I like to eat and drink and don’t want to increase my exercise routine. I have to face facts and make a plan and implement it.

Maybe tomorrow. Tonight I want a bowl of raisins and want to go sit on my butt and relax. Besides, love handles are sexy……