I had my WW weigh-in last night and I was unsurprised to see that I was up 1.8 pounds. That is the exact amount I lost last week. I say I was unsurprised because I got my period on Monday. That's instant weight gain. I'm sure most of it is water weight, but I know I overindulged this past week as well.
And I've actually been sick for the past two weeks. It started with a basic cold and then when I usually would have started feeling better I felt worse. I have diagnosed myself with a sinus infection for the second leg of the illness. I never had a fever so I didn't go to the doctor (I've been hearing that most sinus infections don't respond to antibiotics anyway). But that seriously impacted my gym schedule--in the sense that I didn't go at all for two weeks. I was so tired and my throat burned every night as it was I guess from all the drainage, so I figured extended cardio activity causing me to breathe heavily would have made that situation worse. All of this to say, I miss my gym and I've felt lost in the afternoons. It really wrecked my schedule. If I go to the gym after work, I leave feeling calm and refreshed enough to make good choices for the rest of the night. When I don't go to the gym I tend to spend a lot of time staring at my phone and eating ice cream.
I am not trying to excuse my weight gain, but I do take it in stride. Weigh-in is a chance to start over and now that I've gotten the worst of the illness out of the way, and the worst part of my period is over, I really can start fresh. The WW meeting topic this week was also about starting (over in a sense)--decluttering.
I, like many others, have read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I recommend it. It is actually a fun read, Kondo has a delightful narrative style. You can probably find out the gist of the book by searching online, but at the heart of the method is to gather all items of a certain type in your home (e.g. if you have winter coats in your bedroom closet and also an entryway closet, bring them all together). Hold each item in your hand and if it "sparks joy" keep it. Otherwise, it goes.
Spoiler: "Tidying Up" is code for getting rid of all your junk.
I have not followed the method faithfully but I have certainly cleared out a ton of clutter in recent months. As someone who's ridden the weight-loss/weight-gain roller coaster, I have my fair share of clothes that don't fit at the moment. I truly hope I will fit into most of the clothes at some point, but I still managed to get rid of a lot of my aspirational sizes. It turns out that even if a lot of those clothes eventually fit me, I wouldn't want to wear them. They don't spark joy, so they don't belong in my life! Easy.
There are so many ways I can imagine clutter impacting my health. I've been on a decluttering bender lately, and one thing I have come to enjoy very much is walking into a room after I've cleaned it out. I just stand there and marvel at the beauty of the open space. I spent so many years trying to fill empty spaces and I have no idea why. (Kind of like feeling the need to eat to fill time, to procrastinate?) Perhaps this is just a sign of maturity. I want to empty and downsize.
Now, when I look at my closet, I can get a peek at the smaller sizes and I like everything that I see. That is so motivating! I'm no longer looking at some dress in a smaller size that I wore once and didn't really like, but didn't get rid of because it cost money. Now I'm looking at that outfit that I wore all the time and felt so great in--that's what I want to feel again. That's why it's worth it to track everything I eat and go to the gym.
I also have spent a lot of time decluttering the kitchen. This is important for health because when the kitchen is clean, I want to spend more time in there. When I'm willing to spend time in my kitchen I end up eating healthier food. I take the time to wash fruit, cut up vegetables, and marinade chicken breast to grill. When I don't want to spend time in my kitchen, I am more likely to eat out. And when I eat out I rarely make healthy choices.
But there's an indirect impact on my health as well. When I have clutter, what I have is something that made its way into my life, either because I purchased it or someone gave it to me. For example, when I saw a bread machine in the corner of my kitchen, I saw this big thing that took up space and that I used a few times years ago. I regretted making this purchase, but I felt if I kept it perhaps I would start using it again, and my purchase decision will be redeemed.
But. I don't really go out of my way to eat bread. Bread is one of those staples you can purchase at the store for not a lot of money, even the fancy stuff. So when I want to have good bread with cheese and wine on a Saturday night, I can still have it. Or, if I want the house to smell like baking bread, I can just find a recipe and bake it in the oven. And to be honest, I didn't like the bread from the machine all that much.
We had a yard sale (my first ever!) about a month ago and I sold the bread machine, a bread cookbook, and a homemade bread loaf keeper, all for $10. I would have given it to Goodwill to be honest, but it's nice to have gotten something for it. I sold a bunch of other kitchen gadgets, uni-taskers, as well. I have that extra space in my kitchen now and that's great. But I also have that extra space in my mind because I don't see all these purchases I made that I regret. That lightens up my mood, and a good mood signifies health to me.
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