You always go up before you go down

Today I weigh 206.2. I think I am going the wrong way here. Now granted, yesterday was not a particularly good day when it comes to exercise or eating. Still, here are what I think are the real causes of my weight gain are:

Deprivation accumulation
Obviously, the radical changes in my eating habits along with demanding exercise regimen are causing my body to hold on to the fat it has. This is a well known phenomenon which is really my body’s way of adapting to potential food shortages. In fact, what it seems to be doing is rather than burning carbohydrates, it is turning them into fat because it senses that lean times are coming. This is called deprivation accumulation—wiki it. As I continue to embrace healthy eating as a lifestyle and push my body to its physical limits through freeze tag, the weight will start to come off. It is only a matter of time.

The paradox of exercise
It is also apparent that my weight gain is caused the by the fact that my body is converting fat into muscle. Being denser, muscle is naturally heavier. Clearly the freeze tag exercise plan is converting my body fat into muscle on a large scale. The result is that I am actually getting heavier. This is sometimes called the paradox of exercise. As long as I continue to work hard and eat right, this trend eventually will reverse itself. I may need to play two games of freeze tag each day.

Survival of the fattest
My body understands that winters are cold in South Carolina and it needs to pack on a bit of extra fat to increase my chances of survival. This is a corollary to Darwin’s idea of the survival of the fittest—survival of the fattest. This is what will help the most--getting a warm coat and dressing in layers when I brave the elements walking from my house to the car and the car to my office and my office to my classroom. As long as I can counteract this innate survival reflex the weight should start to drop right off.

So I’ve concluded that not only am I battling my own behaviors and habits, but I am also fighting against protective measures my body is taking that were developed over millions of years. I am fighting the very thing that has made humanity such a successful species. This is a bigger challenge that I originally considered.