It’s okay… We’ve been here before…

I gained 2.5 pounds this week. After weeks of losing consistently, I woke up this morning and saw the scale had went the other way.

But it’s okay. I’ve been here before. Just a month ago after Memorial Day I stepped on the scale and saw some weight gain. The next few weeks I lost 10 pounds.

The fact is, weight loss and maintaining weight is a marathon, not a sprint. That’s my motto and I’ve said that over and over again. I’m not trying to lose weight as fast as possible. I’m trying to make sure once I get it off it never comes back.

Going from 184 to 186 doesn’t make me fat. It doesn’t mean I’ve jumped off the wagon and am now doing the things I used to do like sneak McDonald’s cheeseburgers when I was hungry.

The only thing it means is that I enjoyed my week-long vacation, took some time off for a little bit from tracking calories and workouts and just took some time off from the whole thing.

Only once during the week did I eat “bad.” But I did learn some lessons from what I did do. I exercised a lot this week. I went mountain biking almost everyday and burned calories. But I also put some bad foods in the system, didn’t eat breakfast a few times, left out some snacks and then drank some of my calories in beer during the week.

The lesson to be learned is that just because you workout a lot it does not equal, “I can eat whatever I want.”

I gained 2 pounds. But I also gained some memories this week. The pounds don’t matter when I look back on my vacation week and see the accomplishments I did make. I made my first long bike climb, I rode a trail I always had problems with for the first time with no problems and, most importantly, I enjoyed some time with my family.

By my next vacation, I plan to be 15 pounds lighter. I may gain two pounds on that vacation.

But it will be okay. Because I’d still 50 pounds lighter than I was before, just like I’m still 35 pounds lighter today than what I was before.

It can be slow, but I’ll win the race.

I’m now on the 18th mile of the marathon and had to stop for a water break.