Quick Fix

March is an important month for me. Both of my boys have March birthdays (though one was due in April and the other February) and my dad’s birthday was the 19th. March 2003 was a year after I had Myles. In my head was always that when the baby turns 1, I would feel myself again. It was that year, at Myles’ check-up, that my excellent pediatrician said to me “please tell me you’re not going to have one of those huge 1 year old bday parties” and though we realized he was right with son #2, the first time the party was big. I had run the NYC marathon that November, spent my days at Foodtrainers dolling out sound, realistic nutrition advice and then, in March, something happened. Logic went out the window and I decided I wanted to up the ante with my food and exercise, feeling “myself” was not enough. For a couple of weeks, I pulled out all the stops, implemented my “tricks”. Now I’m a person whose weight is generally stable. The result  of all of this was probably a 3 to 4 pound loss some body fat, some water weight. I will not lie, at Myles' silly first birthday party I felt skinny; I felt good.

Myles will be turning 8 this month (gulp) and I can sense myself transitioning from February blah to my usual motivated-in-March self. We went to our school benefit last night and I’ll admit my eating was in a higher gear this week. I was drinking my trusted dandelion tea and making smoothies with hemp detox powder. Whether it was running, hot yoga or core fusion  I did something physical every day this week. I cut out the bit of dark chocolate or dried fruit I often have after dinner and kept my Foodtrainers’ journal.

I know there is a difference between how we eat (and how I advise others to eat) week in and week out and short-term eating before a wedding or party or beach vacation. I call it Event Eating. However, I can’t help thinking perhaps losing these few pounds that, let’s be honest, only I notice may be as silly as the big first birthday party... but I still want to do it.

Is it superficial to diet before an event? Should we just follow our routines, if they are healthy, and let that be good enough? Any tricks that you use pre-party?