‘On the couch’ with Jasminda

DEAR Jasminda,

I HAVE been going really well with my eating and exercise plan, but over Easter it went out the window. I’m feeling very guilty and disillusioned.

Fiona W.

Dear Fiona,

This is completely relatable, and I’m sure many of our readers will be feeling post-Easter remorse.

In a 24-hour period, I somehow managed to eat Lindt chocolate eggs, Easter buns, Cadbury eggs, chocolate bunnies, Easter buns with lashings of butter, a baked dinner, and, just to top it off, a chocolate-hazelnut meringue dessert.

I could have declined the dessert, but at that stage of the proceedings, what was the point?

Now that we are back to a working week, I’m seriously regretting my life choices.

Then again, we can’t be disciplined all the time. Sometimes we just have to break out.

The fact is, Fiona, there is nothing we can do about yesterday.

Decision were made.

They may have been the wrong ones.

To keep going blindly down the same path would be foolish.

The only thing we can deal with is the repercussions, in this case an expanded waistline and regret. There are ways to shift both, so let’s go through some options.

1. Drink lots of water. Water will fill you up, it’s good for you, and it will help to move your sluggish metabolism and flush out all that sugar.
2. Go for a walk. Walk a dog, if you have one, or just walk on your own or with an equally guilt-ridden friend. Moving is a great way to improve your mindset and it may burn off a couple of those eggs too.
3. Have a healthy lunch full of salad ingredients. This will help reset your Easter binge in a positive way.
4. Remove temptations. If you still have some chocolate treats left over, give them to friends with young kids, neighbours or other family members. You won’t be able to move on while there are still Easter eggs on every surface of your house.
5. Don’t be hard on yourself. It is challenging in the post-sugar-high stage to stay positive, but you have survived many overindulging experiences in your past, and you’ll survive this one too.

Perhaps now is the time to plan for the future.

Next Easter you could set limits.

Have a three-egg rule, put in a ‘no chocolate after 10am’ clause, premake a healthy dinner so there is no temptation to just keep making poor choices.

If it makes you feel any better, I just put my Easter Sunday eating total into an app, and it told me I would need to walk for 11 hours to break even.

I guess with the price of fuel at the moment, it’s an option worth considering.

Carpe diem,
Jasminda.