Matzah Cliff by Avital Pinnick, on Flickr

Passover has been and gone. It’s always been one of my favourite holidays, largely because of the amount of baking I do with my kids. But this year it’s taken a twist that made it considerably harder than usual, and I’m still recovering.

I’ve had at least one person say to me in the past, “But if I go off the nutritional system, I’ll gain back all the weight I lost!”. I don’t know whether that is the case – clearly there’s more to maintaining weight loss than shakes and cleanses – we cut back on those considerably in the maintenance phase, so it’s important to have improved eating habits as well.

But I definitely noticed a difference when I went off it for eight days. I don’t think I gained back much weight, but my energy levels plummeted. I was tired all the time. I continued exercising as usual, and I found it much harder. My sleep was more disturbed, too, and I felt puffy, bloated and soft. All that from eight days of matzah and no Isagenix.

It’s now been a week since I’ve gone back on my system, I’m feeling much better and my energy levels are back where they belong. I don’t know what my weight is doing since I don’t weigh myself often, and it really doesn’t matter much anyway. What matters is how I feel.

My conclusion? I am NEVER going off this system, except yearly for Passover. I’ll just have to be prepared to take a step back in how I feel, that’s all.

The Festival of Freedom will still be one of my favourite holidays.