My family and I just returned from Disney World. It was beautiful weather and overall a wonderful time. We go to Disney annually so each time I go I try a new experiment with myself. As you may or may not know, Disney is not exactly trim-waistline friendly. Everywhere you turn there are delectable delights! Food is generally loaded with salt and sugar. My husband and I actually have an unstated “contest” as to who can gain the least amount of weight while at Disney.
Read my post “How to Survive Disney Meals”
In my last post, I proclaimed my frustrations with weighing myself and how damaging those little numbers can be. If you follow my blogs, then you might have read my last blog post on my rant about the scale. If you haven’t please click here to read it.
Before we left for Disney, I decided to take my measurements and ….yes, I stepped on the scale. I was curious….
We stayed at Disney for 8 days. I worked out only three days this trip. (I love the Disney gym! It’s like my second home 🙂 I get in there between 5:30am and 6am. I pretty much have the place to myself. They have limited free weights so I don’t like to share (lol).
This Disney trip I decided to listen to my body.
Three days, I woke up ready to tackle my workouts! So, I did. The other days my joints ached and I felt exhausted. So, I didn’t do my gym workout those days. Mind you, when we hit the parks, we are walking fast and sometimes sprinting to catch the Disney bus so it wasn’t like I was lounging at the pool.
Having taken my new-found approach to listen to my body and what it truly needs added a new approach to selecting meals at Disney. Plus, right before I left for vacation, I was (finally) officially diagnosed with hypoglycemia. (For 13 years, I had self-diagnosed myself with hypoglycemia but the physician tests never confirmed it. I do not have the hypoglycemia that develops into diabetes. I will write a separate blog post about that at another time). So, I needed to be nice to my body meaning I wasn’t going to feel deprived. I had to watch how much sugar I was eating so I didn’t pass out. And lastly, stop eating when I was comfortably full.
This was kinda a huge thing for me!
Because I had always been on the diet roller coaster…restrict my foods…once any type of vacation happened, I was in binge mode because I knew that I would only allow myself to eat these types of foods while I was away.
I think I did pretty good. It’s really funny how once you give yourself permission to eat whatever you want…you kinda don’t want it. I focused on tasting the food…really tasting it. I noticed when I started to get full and I stopped. I mainly chose healthy supportive foods but still had my Disney favorites.
By the end of the trip, even though I had made healthier choices and stopped when full…by the last day I felt like a stuffed sausage. Normally, I would have freaked out!! But this time I chose to take a breath and tell myself that it was okay.
When we got home, I took my measurements and yes stepped on the scale…. everything was up. Way up! 7lbs up! Which I wasn’t that surprised. Remember in the beginning how Disney food is mostly sugar and salt?
Sugar and salt will puff you up. It will make your joints hurt and will make you retain fluids.
After settling in at home, I got back to my normal eating and exercise patterns. Within one day, my weight dropped by 3 pounds. That’s three pounds of fluid retention. Within two days, my weight was back to where I was before I left.
THIS is why I say the scale is NOT accurate! In the not too recent past, that scale increase would have sent me into an exercise frenzy and a restrictive diet. But not this time, I accepted the scale weight for what it was…fluid. I know that I will get back to a comfortable body “weight” but for right now my brain needs the comfort and security and doesn’t need another diet to send me into restrict-binge mode.
Why am I sharing my Disney weight gain with you??
Because I know I am not the only one who has felt like they have a free pass to devour everything in sight on vacation because you are “off” a diet. I know women who only focus on what the scale says and that it destroys them thinking if they are not a certain weight that they are no good. It’s just NOT TRUE! You do not need a scale to “tell” you if you are worthy. Come on! You can feel it in your skin. You can see it in the mirror. You can tell by how much medication you are taking. You DO NOT need three little numbers to tell you if you are healthy or not! We are not that stupid to take the “opinion” of a device that you step on. You know it intuitively whether you are healthy and fit.
Here are my Disney take-aways
- Start listening to your body. There may be a bunch of static and deceptive noises in there but if you listen closely you will know what your body truly needs.
- Enjoy food! Part of the Disney experience IS tasting new foods and enjoying favorite treats you can’t always get.
- There is so much more to vacations than eating. We have taken eating to center stage when it really is just a compliment to your surroundings and the people you engage with.
- Be active on vacations and take the rest you need.
- Be nice to yourself. Talk and take care of yourself like you would a small child.
- And lastly, get off the dang scale already!! 😉