“You had a bad day…” or two…or three…

As you may have noted in my previous posts, a lot of preparation went into the celebration of the Passover holiday (today is day 3 of 8). There is, of course, all the cooking and cleaning, but when you are concerned about your diet and fitness this holiday provides extra challenges.

First, many of the foods we typically eat during the year are off-limits because they have some kind of leavening in them. Most of them do not, but the marketing of foods for Passover often causes us to stock up on less healthy options that we would not think to purchase during the rest of the year. Second, the first two nights of Passover are marked with the Seder feasts; traditionally, there are certain foods we eat as part of the meal and the accompanying story that goes with it. Like Thanksgiving, however, there is an emphasis on large quantities of food.

I had the added complication this year of not being able to track my calorie intake or activity; this is because I do not use electronics on the Sabbath or the Holy Days of the Festival (last 2 and first 2 days). Since the holiday began on Saturday night, I went three days without recording as I usually do (Friday sunset through Monday sunset). Yes, meals were planned in advance, but it was difficult to control the serving sizes. Tracking has been an important tool for me as I work to keep myself at a healthy weight.

The news was not so good when I got on the scale after the Holy Days. So, I had a bad day. One of the lessons from Noom–which I have long shared as a personal trainer–is that a bad day (or two or three) is not a cause for feeling defeated. It sounds corny, but every day is a new day. This morning I got back on the program and started tracking everything again; it was not that hard. I did not lay any guilt on myself; on the contrary, I was kind to myself and reminded myself that I should not begrudge a little extra “celebration” on a festive holiday. A couple of days is okay; a week or a month would be a different story.

Here I am, back on track. This is a healthy approach to setbacks. As they say, “hop back on that horse.” Not bad advice as Passover continues for five more days and as many approach the Easter holiday with all its peeps, chocolate eggs, and family dinners.