Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Inevitable Five Pound Gain

I believe my metabolism takes a short break during the winter months. There is no other way to explain it. Unfortunately, it seems that no matter how hard I try for this not to happen, I always gain around 5 pounds somewhere between Christmas and New Years and then I have to wait until late spring/early summer before I start shedding the pounds, getting back to what I consider to be my ideal weight.

I've come to the conclusion that my body thinks it's a bear or some other type of animal that hibernates during the winter months and needs to store-up fat for the winter. Fat that I don't want. Fat that I don't particularly care for. Fat that always lands in places I don't want it to, like my stomach and butt. Why couldn't it store itself a little higher in an area that I could use the extra fat stores (i.e. my bust line)?

I know I shouldn't obsess about this. But I do. For some people, a five-pound gain doesn't seem like much, but to me it does. Especially since I just found out from a colleague that every 8 pounds you gain, you also gain a pant size. And that would mean buying new pants. And I don't want to buy new pants. I like the ones I've got. But I would have to agree with this theory about going up a pant size every 8 pounds, simply because I can feel the difference in my pants since the beginning of January. They feel more snug. They're not as comfortable. It's driving me crazy.

And since I'm on the topic of body woes, here's another one for you; uneven muscle tone. Where I work with my student we are involved almost daily in throwing cardboard boxes into a baler. This repetitive motion can go on for four or more hours a day, depending on what the recycling centre has as priority on any given day. And since I'm right-handed, this constant throwing of cardboard has provided some pretty nice biceps . . . on my right arm. My left arm is lacking the same tone and development, and therefore I look lop sided and I really don't like that. I've tried using my left arm more for hucking the cardboard, but because I'm not left-handed, my aim isn't as good and therefore more cardboard ends up on the floor than in the baler when I use my left arm.

I have decided that in order to increase the size of the biceps in my left arm, I'm going to lift weights at home using only my left arm, hoping to balance out the size of my arms. I got these really cool weight balls in the box of Special K cereal a few years ago. You fill them with either water, salt or sand and they turn into instant weights, especially designed for arm muscle development.

Having said all that I have thus far, I think I should reveal something to you. I don't diet. I hate diets. When it comes to food, my motto is, eat anything in moderation. I don't exercise. I hate exercising. But I wish I loved it. I'd much prefer to burn calories and gain muscle through my regular day-to-day activities, like hucking cardboard into a baler; or sweeping the floor for 30 minutes a day using a huge broom that requires power to push; or making myself walk up our staircase of 17 stairs a zillion times day just for the exercise; or going skating with my boys at the local skating rink. I'm not into regular exercise routines, although I must admit that if I had a Wii Fit, I would feel compelled to use it. That sort of regular routine sounds like it would be fun.

Before I end this post, I should also reveal that despite my complaints above, I really do appreciate the body I have and the simple fact that my metabolism is pretty good for someone my age. My BMI (Body Mass Index) is bordering on the "too low" level, which is why I know that deep down I don't need to fret about this 5 pound gain. It's just annoying to watch this happen and not have any control over it, year after year.

Let's just say I'm looking forward to late spring/early summer. That's when the inevitable Five Pound Loss will finally take effect.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i wish we had the wii fit. my friend has one and it's really fun. They're really hard to find though.

~Rain``` said...

*sigh* I can relate to the 5 pound weight gain... though I WISH I had your metabolism. I have to watch what I eat all the time and I have to get exercise, otherwise I would become a blimp!