Let Her Eat Clean

I’m yet to meet a woman that hasn’t had a ‘fat day’ in her life. The day I do meet one, I’ll be sure to tell her just how lucky she is. Equally I know guys who are plagued with guilt after a big weekend and convinced all of a sudden their back squat PR just dropped by 20kg whilst their middle gained the equivalent.

We’ve all been there

As an obscenely overweight teenager and a young woman that went from nearly 15 st to under 9 st in 6 months, with a decade of yo-yo dieting that followed, it’s safe to say I’ve had my fair share of body image issues.

So much has changed since I stopped hopping on and off the scales, starving myself, counting calories, weighing, measuring and generally obsessing.

The way I live my life now is so different. I feel incredible – most of the time.

But we all have our wobbles and there is the occasional not so great day. So here’s how I try and drag myself, kicking and screaming through a fat day:

• Talk to someone, anyone – I have the sister that tells me to stop being so annoying, the really good friend that’s had an eating disorder that more than understands and a husband that seriously can’t get his head around it but simply wishes it passes ASAP and will do all he can to support me through it. Going around feeling like a frump, in a grump isn’t helping anyone – least of all yourself

When I tell my sister I’m having a fat day…

• Get out. of the house – walk, run, jump, hop, skip, swim. Move. Don’t mope. Fresh air clears the head a bit and also if you’re burning up some energy you’re going to release some of those much loved happy hormones in the process

• Save the skinny jeans or the tight t-shirt for another day – today’s not the one for the gun (or bum) show. You’ll obsess over every single lump and bump you’re seeing and it’s simply not worth it. Wear something you’re comfortable in. Do not, whatever you do, go shopping for new jeans. That’s a suicide mission, right there

• That person you pass in the street isn’t looking at you like you gained half a stone over night – I promise. A fat day is usually brought on by guilt associated with over indulgence which then results in a paranoia that the whole world is thinking you’ve gained a ton of weight from that family sized bag of whatever you ate all to yourself. Nope, no one’s noticed

You 100% don’t look like this under that slightly baggier t-shirt

• Eat the cleanest you’ve ever eaten in your life – draw yourself up a ‘getting back on track’ meal plan. Vow to eat greens with anything that passes your lips, fish, chicken at main meals and snack on raw veggies. It’ll only need to be a day of such purity but it’ll leave you feeling virtuous and the washboard stomach (cos we all have one of those, right…?) will have returned by the morning

• Try not to let yourself get into this pickle again – if you’re gonna have a blow out, go for gold. But don’t wallow in it and kill yourself with the guilt that may follow. We totally are what we eat and if it’s cheap, fast and or dirty chances are you’re going to feel just like that. Perhaps epic cheats aren’t right for you and you’re actually better off with a big block of dark chocolate and a decent bottle of red

It’s my cheat day and I’ll eat what I want to, eat what I want to…

Do you dread fat days? How do you pull through them?