Trust Me, Stress Is Loaded With Calories

Day 63, Oct. 19, 2012

Today I'm 195.4 pounds of rolling thunder.

It's good to see that my two month of yo-yo dieting mixed with daily exercise has given me enough string to lose 7 pounds but then bounce right back up to my starting weight.

Where did it all go wrong?

Perhaps being a charter member of the Carbohydrate of the Day Club was my biggest undoing. As a practicing non-vegetarian carbohydrates are my constant companion. Breads, cereals, pancakes and worst of all cookies.

And perhaps the biggest poison of the past week were the chocolatey peanut pretzel bars I found a recipe for at work. Now I consider it a professional obligation to try anything that looks this good.

And let me tell you folks, glasses of milk were lining up to be the ones to wash these babies down. And while my version of these tasty treats weren't nearly as pretty, I guarantee you they were every bit as tasty.

Chocolatey peanut pretzel bars

There isn't a 12-step program out there that could have derailed chocolatey peanutty goodies from being ingested. 

I swear vegans would starve if I was put in charge of their menu. Although carnivores might flourish as never before. 

And mark it down that you heard it heard it here first. Stress is loaded with calories. The more you worry, the more weight you gain regardless of how much food you consume. Although there's no firm science to support this discovery, I'm telling you it's a fact.

Give yourself a weeks' worth of worry about kids, jobs or relationship and you'll pack on the pounds like a college freshman dining on dorm food and beer every night.

I even had my worst run/walk/run I've had in weeks yesterday. There were many moments when I folded the tent and just walked. I honestly thought I was past this stage of my training, but apparently this is not the case.

So the yo-yo will continue as will my efforts to get some form of exercise every day. Someday when you see the world's slowest person out there running, you won't be waving at me. Until then, give me a wave.