I dare anyone trying to lose weight to deny that after recovering in bed from a few days of illness that they’re a teensy bit excited for their next weigh-in.
Nausea, fatigue, bowel issues, they all contribute to the body’s loss of mass (unless of course, mid-hallucination you eat your blanket). Whether the body sweats out water or we’re too exhausted to make it to the fridge, we suffer with the hope that at least we might go down a few pounds this week. Am I right? You know I am.
I will honestly declare that after two days of nausea and severe diarrhea I am down 1.2 pounds this week! It’s not exactly my preferred method of weight loss, but since I couldn’t change the situation I’m grabbing the positive so the suffering wasn’t completely in vain.
I mentioned my loss to my DH, who happens to work in the medical field. He was happy for me of course. However, in an effort to be supportive yet ground me in reality, he gave me a little lesson on body mass.
It was a delightfully informative lecture about water and colon absorption, with a little trip to Wikipedia to look up “Interstitial Fluid” and “Body Water” among other things. I’ll spare you the gory details, but by the end of our chat I came to understand that as far as long-term weight-loss goes, I could have just as well donated plasma and gotten the same results on the scale.
Not that it killed my glee at going down a pound this week. One pound lost—regardless of how I lost it—reminds me that another pound next week is possible. Next time I’ll just make sure most of that pound is fat.
Still, I liked the colon blast lesson. Knowledge is power, and it’s smart to learn as much as you about the body and how it works so that when you do drop some pounds after being sick, you can celebrate with your eyes wide open.