My mom makes to-die-for potato salad. She starts with potatoes that have been baked in foil and then diced, adds chopped radishes, green onions, olives and sweet pickles, and then stirs in a sauce of mayonnaise, mustard, and reserved sweet pickle juice. The crowning touch – bacon bits. This salad has been made for every special occasion during my whole lifetime, but because it’s labor intensive, it’s only made maybe twice a year, if that.
Two weeks ago, I’d had a great week. I was making wise food choices, I’d been exercising, I’d taken off another pound (and got to update my weight loss ticker) – it was fabulous.
That Saturday, my niece had a bridal shower. As requested, my mom made “the salad.” I had some at the shower and enjoyed it immensely, and then had some later at home (I got some of the leftovers.) When I got on the scale the next morning, my weight had gone up two pounds. Now, let me just insert right here that I did not eat two pounds of salad. I need to get that straightened out before I proceed with my story.
I had forgotten that I have a hard time digesting potatoes. When one is faced with potato salad of such magnitude, such virtue, such extreme tastiness, one forgets that one can’t digest potatoes. Well, those potatoes sat in my stomach like a brick for nearly the entire week, and it was only this very last Saturday (fully seven days since consumption) that I was able to get on the scale and see that the two pounds had finally reduced themselves to a half pound, which I’m still trying to get worked off.
The point in this long drawn-out story is this: when you know you can’t digest something, for gracious sakes, don’t eat it! It’s really not worth it in the end. It may taste good, but if it’s going to make you miserable for days on end, and throw your weight loss off for a week, is it really your friend?
Now, I don’t know why I gained two pounds. It’s possible that my body did some weird water-retention thing too. All I do know is this – I love stepping on the scale and seeing the results of my hard work. If I have to give up the potato salad forever, that’s just what I’ll have to do. Success tastes better than any salad.
And, just so you know, I’ve now been chocolate-free for three whole weeks. Go me!
Tristi Pinkston is a full-time blogger in Media Reviews and LDS. To read more of her blogs, click here.
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