Monday, December 20, 2010

A New Beginning and a New Goal

Entry #36

Dec. 6 weight 204.5 loss of 2 1/2 pounds since Dec. 1st post
Dec. 13 weight 204.5
Dec. 20 weight 210 gain of 5 1/2 pounds

Well, I've learned my lesson when it comes to baking at Christmas time. It won't happen again. I baked up a storm this year for the first time in many years. In earlier posts I mentioned that I had a lot of mom helpers in my classroom this year and decided the cheapest thing to do for Christmas gifts was to bake. I baked two kinds of cookies, pumpkin bread and one candy. I did very well in terms of not eating what I'd made. That is, until last Wednesday when I was bagging everything up for the individual gifts. I had some leftover cookies and instead of putting them down the disposal I ate "just a few". That's what I told myself I would do. And "just a few" turned into many more and that led to four days of abandon where I ate anything my little 'ole heart desired.

Today I go back to the gym where I plan to add new machines to my weight training regimen. Last week I began jogging at 3.8 mph for most of the 45 minutes I was on the treadmill and plan to do that again today. I will also go back to counting calories every day and keeping them at or under 1200. Christmas Eve our family is gathering at my sister's for dinner and opening of gifts. I am planning to bring my own food, probably a Weight Watcher's dinner. The food table will be off limits as I know it will be loaded down with goodies. I may come late and leave early depending on how strong I'm feeling and how successful I am at resisting the foods set out. Being afraid of food is definitely a step back for me, but right now I need to listen to and respect that fear.

There is some good news to report though. My clothes are so loose I will definitely need to do some shopping over this Christmas break. A couple of weeks ago I put on a pair of jeans I haven't been able to wear in a couple of years and they were so loose I couldn't wear them! These are the little victories I will keep in mind this week as I get back on track with diet and exercise.

I've also set a long term goal. By this time next year I will be at my goal weight of 120 pounds. Before this latest setback I had set a goal of being under 200 pounds by Dec. 31st. That most likely will not be the case. But I now have a new long term goal to shoot for and I'm determined that next year at this time I will be celebrating my new body. Now, off to the gym!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A Holiday Slip

Entry #35
Weight 207 pounds, gain of 1/2 pound

I guess gaining a half pound over the Thanksgiving holiday isn't too bad. I'm thankful that it was a small gain after the way I ate on Thanksgiving. I was determined not to snack my way through the day and did very well until I went to my sister's house to help her get the dinner prepared.

She had all kinds of great snacks put out. For awhile I avoided them, but eventually gave in and had a few which led to more and more and more. By the time dinner rolled around I wasn't even really hungry, but I ate anyway. For the first time in months I walked away from the table feeling stuffed. I'd forgotten how awful that feels.

My mistake, I think, is that I didn't really have a plan for how to deal with all the good food that would be set out. I'm not exactly looking forward to Christmas, but will definitely have to have a battle plan to deal with the food on that holiday.

Another challenge at this time of year is Christmas baking. I have six mother helpers in my classroom to give gifts to this year and I always set out a spread of various foods (both healthy and not so healthy) as my Christmas gift to the school staff. So that means lots of baking in the next three weeks. As baking is the least expensive of gift options, that is what I choose to do. I also love to bake and it's something I don't do much of during the school year because I don't have the time. The one ray of light in all of this is that I baked chocolate covered carrot cake bites and after sampling a few of them, put them in the freezer and haven't touched any in days. I'm hoping I can keep this up as I finish my baking.