Life and Times of the Fireflies: Battle of the Bulge

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts...with time and numerous distractions taking my focus away from my goal. But when you've been at something for a while, sometimes the shift in focus is also welcomed and sometimes it proves to be a necessary reprieve in which we can re-gather our thoughts and reassess our approach.

As much as it's important to push past plateaus, it's also important to listen to our bodies! I think that after my last post I was just mentally exhausted from counting steps and calories. From trying to make it to every single gym class. From filling up my weekends with workouts and activities. I didn't want to quit. I just needed a break!

And so I slowed down my pace. I exercised, but I didn't exercise every single day. I pushed hard, but I didn't push myself to the limit. I tried to eat well, but I didn't obsess over counting calories and micro and macro nutrients. I maintained a healthy approach, but I also cheated in between. Gosh! I even tried to binge eat before Ramadan, but surprisingly, my system couldn't handle the junk!! The good news is that even though I didn't lose any weight during my rebellion, I managed to maintain (I'm not including the kilos lost during the fast. Those always return soon after anyway); which to me, is a victory on it's own!!

I guess those seemingly small and insignificant changes that I stuck with through this time proved to be more monumental than I thought. That even though I slowed down, I didn't revert to old habits, and that has made all the difference. It's made it possible for me to pick up where I left off instead starting from scratch!

And now, as I emerge from our month of fasting, I feel ready to tackle things once more. I've had my break, survived through my rebellion and quite ready to return to the saddle! And this time it's not my mind directing my body, but more my body that is guiding me! When it rejects the samosas and the pies and starts crying out for exercise, then it is an indication that I didn't choose this fit life, but the fit life chose me!

If you've missed out on my previous posts, you can catch up with the following links:

Part 1: Battle of the Bulge

Part 2: Starting Slow

Part 3 : Fear of the Festive Season

Part 4 : The Mental Plateau