Do you feel post-festive season “yuck”? 

I feel pretty “yuck” too... Sluggish, lethargic, 'carby'.

24 hours of air travel. 24 hours of airport and airline food... (end of holiday planning and prep isn’t always what PRE-holiday planning and prep is!). 4 weeks of hotel buffets and shacking up with (very culturally different!) family…

I fared rather well, from an eating and Bariatric Mind Mastery perspective, for 85% of the time.  And I celebrate this, as Lord knows there have been plenty of positively disastrous holidays. In fact, in my pre-surgery years, I'd DREAD trips, for the food-and-eating struggles. And, true to form, by holiday's end, I'd be a hot mess of self-loathing and defeat.

So this experience was completely different. But holiday fatigue and PMS ganged up on me these past few days. Coupled with flight delays, unexpected and uncomfortable airport lounge sojourns, and a general sense of “meh-ness”. 

As I type this, I’m in the sky, halfway through a long-haul flight, and have not slept for 36 hours (we missed a connecting flight last night). It’s been grim. At this rate, we’ll arrive home after dark this evening, and my first patient arrives with the sparrows tomorrow morning. 

It’s a first world problem, FOR SURE, but my answer to that rhetoric is that yes, indeed, I do actually LIVE in the first world. And thus, many of my problems will be of a ‘first world’ nature. 

So, whilst I haven’t by any stretch burnt down the barn or fallen off the wagon, I have a distinct sense of wanting to course correct and get “back on track”. Remember, as you read this, that “fat” is often just a feeling. And I do feel fat. But it's veritably impossible to become FAT or put on real weight in a week or two. So long as you get “back on track” for a few days, everything will normalise and be well.

The trick is not to allow holiday glipses to become standard issues practices.

I thought I’d write up for you what ‘back on track’ means to me. It will likely mean similar, and different, to you. So, let’s get our mutual thinking juices flowing.

This is what my next few days will look like:

1. I’ve weighed throughout my holiday, but not on my default, trusty old bathroom scale. I think travel bumped and bruised the one I took with. We found that it could be moved and maneuvered to offer anyone standing on it 6 different weights, dependent largely on surface terrain.
   
   So, I have some sense that there’s a pound or two that I’m dealing with, but I need to stand on my own scale as soon as possible.
   
   To take stock. To hold myself to account. To get a reality check, either which way. Because tracking promotes mindful awareness, and mindful awareness promotes accountable change. 
2. I need to have a long, hot shower and hair-wash, in my own bathroom.  For more of the rationale behind this, I’d love to refer you to my “toothbrush” article - https://www.theshrinkonyourcouch.com/toothbrush  The short version is that hot water on skin, and toothpaste in mouths, are wonderful ways of ‘rebooting our systems’, and promoting a sense of fresh newness. It’s imperative. I need to stand under my own hot water, with my own creature comforts, and merge back with my space. I need to settle back at home. 
3. I need to start drinking copious amounts of water, on landing. I’ve shied away from the water at my disposal on our trip, being somewhat nervous of it. Even bottled is tricky. Actual visible floaties, I kid you not. So, for the sake of return to good habits, flushing out holiday toxins and dealing with airborne water retention, water is the order of the day. Immediately and forthwith!
4. I need to get my vitamins into me with a vengeance! I’ve been quite slack with this, thinking of them every 2 or 3 days. I’ll double up for a while and get back into a nice rhythm. Vitamins are tricky as they’re not something you can backdate at a later stage in any meaningful way; they really are the ultimate in drip-feeding for sustainable health.
5. I feel quite sluggish... 20 minutes of brisk walking on our treadmill, per day, will fix that. From a psychological perspective, 20 minutes of low-grade cardio is sufficient to boost endorphins, and thus mood, sleep and a general sense of wellness. I’ll prioritize that. (I’m also hitting the ground running, professionally and personally this week - with 2 online programs and a daughter starting “big school” on Wednesday. So, if there’s chemical assistance to he had, I must manufacture it as soon as possible).
6. I’m a natural introvert. I get easily overstimulated by excessive company, and really do recharge primarily by being absolutely alone, in quietness and serenity. And I’m emerging from nearly 4 weeks in the literal opposite of any of those images or concepts. I’ll do well to silence myself in short bursts of meditation - even 10 minutes per day - but consistently, as part of my getting back on track in all ways.
7. As much as I am at goal weight and treasure mindful eating over regimented “program” eating, it’s definitely the right time to whip out dietician Nicole’s trusty eating plan. Just to refresh my memory. Just to stabilise what’s been destabilised over the festive season. Of particular importance is the focus on prepared and satisfying meals, rather than an endless string of grazing. And, significantly, I know I have an appointment soon with Dietician Nicola, because regular and frequent accountability is everything. 
8. I am by no means a fanatical KETO-er. My surgery and my dietician reformed me of that, controversial as it is and beneficial as I know it CAN be. But the next couple of weeks will definitely feature a carbohydrate REDUCTION, along with a focus on protein and vegetables.
9. I’ll need to get my sleeping pattern (and that of my family) back into some semblance of normality. In DBT and Bariatric Mind Mastery, we speak of “vulnerability factors”; things that create a physical or emotional fragility and predispose us to compulsive behaviors. Tiredness is Prime Enemy Number 1.
10. And, when all is said and done, I need to make sure that my focus in life is on passions, people and purpose... I've spent so many decades so overcome with the limitations of eating-disordered thinking and behaviour. And it's a joy and a victory to mostly be free of that, and to know how to stay free. Having removed this tremendous stumbling block, it's imperative for me to honour the sacrifices made to get here, and to truly be living my best life, even within the limitations of my human frailties and shortcomings.

So these are a few of mine..? What are yours? What fundamentals, when in place, make you feel centred, whole and grounded?

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