You wake up in the morning, you look in the mirror and you you just feel crap. We’ve all been there. Nine times out of ten, nothing has changed from the day before, but you just feel a bit fluffier, a bit softer and a bit, well, fat.
The most annoying cases are when you’ve eaten really healthily the day before, you had some successful workouts through the weeks, and yet you still feel like you’ve gained weight. Surely you don’t deserve this? You’ve been so good! The more understandable situation is when you’ve had a bit of a blowout the day before… you swear you can almost see that sticky toffee pudding protruding from your mid-line.
But it’s all in our heads. Yes maybe you ate a ridiculous amount of food the day before, but rest assure it’s not going to miraculously turn into fat within 24 hours. Usually what’s happened is that you’ve eaten a lot of carbs and salt and your body’s holding onto a bit of extra water so you are probably a bit puffier than the day before but it’s not going to last.
And in the case where you’ve been really ‘good’ with your food choices, you’re probably just a bit bloated. Whatever food you eat will affect how flat your stomach is regardless of whether it’s a pizza or broccoli. And vegetables and fruit are all fibre-tastic and can cause your body to bloat as it slowly breaks it all down. But temporarily again.
I’ve had my fair share of fat days. In the past I’ve stood in front of the mirror and picked and prodded different parts of my body, allowing myself to get down about it and vowing to eat “clean” for the rest of the week. If you let it bother you, it can really put a dampener on your day and your confidence, but now I’ve just learnt to deal with these days in a more positive way.
In fact I hate the term “fat days”, despite using it throughout this post. The word “fat” is not a particularly great word.
And in reality, you’re not fat on fat days. You just feel like you’ve put on weight – whether that weight is actual fat or not is almost a moot point: you believe you’re appearance is worse than it was yesterday.
Here are some tips I find helps me get over those annoying fat days:
- Move away from the mirror. Stop poking, prodding and staring. Accept that you’re not happy with how you look but stop dwelling on it.
- Focus instead on what you are happy with that day. When I have a fat day I try and make sure I have a good hair day for example (I know this sounds like such a stupid thing but it works for me!)
- Wear an outfit that makes you feel good. I have a pair of jeans I don’t go anywhere near when I’m feeling heavier. Instead I’ll wear a pretty dress or something that isn’t close-fitting. It’s got to be comfortable and make me feel good.
- Eat normally. Don’t vow to never eat a cupcake again. Don’t miss out on breakfast. Just eat what you normally would. Enjoy good nutritious food and lots of water. If you are holding onto extra water because you had a big salty meal the day before then the extra hydration will help wash that out and help readjust your body to how it was before.
- Don’t weigh yourself. Your body’s weight fluctuates every single day. My weight goes up one or two pounds and that’s just life. Hormones, food, exercise, hydration, stress… it all affects how much you’ll weigh in any given day. And if you think you’re heavier just ignore the scales because it could just put you in a worse mood about yourself – however realistic that weight is to normality.
The best piece of advice I always give myself is: look at yourself like your best friend, mum or partner looks at you. They don’t zoom into your thighs or supposed muffin top. They look at the whole of you and see only the good stuff – because really there is more good stuff than anything else. Only you know your flaws and only you focus on them. I guarantee if you mentioned your “fat day” to someone they’d have no idea. But regardless of whether other people notice or not, you still feel it and it can affect your confidence. Just don’t let it drag you down. It’s a transient thing. If you are trying to lose weight, just see it as a hurdle in the road. Use it to keep motivating you forward to make healthy decisions but again, don’t let it consume you or make you think you’ve failed. Progress is not a linear line after all.
Just a few of my thoughts today, when I’m having a fat day myself 😉
Have you ever had a “fat day”?
Are you confident about the way you look?
How do you boost your confidence?