I’ve struggled with my weight for years. I’ve gone on diets and exercise binges and lost the weight only to put it back through emotional ups and downs, plain ole laziness or just pure, raw everlasting love for the carbs and sweets.
I’ve made bad relationship decisions in the past but none more evident than in my lascivious adoration for the baddest boy of all…Rice. And what can I tell you about pasta? I simply can’t resist it. Then there are cookies, cakes, and chocolate products. Oh my!
This year I went on a diet that I started with a nutritionist years ago. For a month, you’re detoxing of sugars and most carbs. You eat one slice of bread in the morning, a raw salad and all the cooked veggies you can eat on weeks one and three. On two and four you get to add chicken, beef, or turkey.
I will admit I cheated by drinking wine. There was no way I could make it without a glass from time to time. I also ate rice at the end of the second week. Other than that I almost followed verbatim. Since April 28, I’ve lost 24 pounds and while I feel great, it’s not easy to live without the bad choices from my past. So what’s a girl to do? Because, there’s no way I can go on eating such little carbs. I am not built like that.
I try to balance with the complete opposite end.
Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Zucchini. No, they don’t have the appeal or taste of a carb married in oil and spices but if I just think about these veggies as the great equalizers. I’ve upped the green intake and watch my carbs carefully. Most of all, I try not to eat rice on consecutive days.
And then came the holidays with their cheerful ways and loaded with the most delicious foods, drinks, and desserts!
I’ve been to like a million luncheons, Christmas parties, work events where I got cookies and cakes. Most of the time I am just sitting at work or home minding my business, and holiday sweets make their way to me. Like today, I am at work and I get a message to come get Red Velvet cake from Sugar Bakers. I mean really! My favorite cake. Not to mention the Nutella Pecan pie friends brought to me last week. I still have sugar cookies in a box while still haunted by the cheesecake from last week.
When I wake up in the morning I am still 24 pounds less than I used to be. My goal through this holiday season is simply seeing that number. Today my doctor told me I was 28 pounds heavier 5 years ago. That made my day until she reminded me I have 10 more to go.
I can smell the New Year’s Resolutions already! I definitely need to go back to the gym. For now though, I am concentrating on the number 144. As long as I can stay there through the holidays, everything will be OK. So there will be pounds of steamed, boiled veggies to begin the mornings for the foreseeable future.
Because maintaining, in this season? It’s easier said than done.