Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now

Hey y’all.  If you are one of the few that reads this post every week, you know that I have been majorly struggling with my weight lately.  Over the past two or so years, I have managed to slowly gain 15-20 pounds back from my 115 pound weight loss.  Sure, this means for the most part, I’ve managed to keep 95-100 pounds off.  I’m certainly not going to demean that as an achievement.  However, even though the weight creeps back on slowly, it’s still coming back.  I simply cannot have this.  I never reached my goal weight and even though I’ve never given up, there are still weight milestones that I want to achieve.  In addition to that, I want to learn to live my life the way that I should.  I want to eat healthily most of the time while still allowing myself certain treats.  I’ve been yoyo-ing quite a bit lately.  I’ve tried new things, new diets, new methods to find the right one.  Over the past few weeks I’ve tried not to cheat at all.  The problem is, I’ve fallen back into the mindset that if I mess up once, I mess up the whole weekend.  I’ve done this several weeks in a row which is why I’ve gained a few pounds.  I’m still exercising almost every day. In fact, I brought running back and managed to run a mile without stopping yesterday for the first time in a while.  So, exercise isn’t the problem.  The problem is with me.  I’m obsessed with food.  I have been since I was a child.  The thing is, when you diet, you become 10 times more obsessed with food which makes curbing your appetite that much more difficult.  I am always wondering when I’m going to eat again.  I looked into the Slow Carb diet heavily.  While I would like to start eating less processed foods and focusing on more green vegetables and black beans as a source of energy, I decided not to do it.  Fad diets have never stuck with me.  I knew that I needed something though.  I’ve decided to stick with the Lose It app because it works when I use it correctly and it’s free.  Also, I work better with structure.  On the Slow Carb diet, you are allowed things like bacon and eggs.  The problem is, unless someone tells me to stop, I won’t.  I will eat too much with this type of allowance.  Calorie or point counting is essential to my success.  I know myself well enough now that I have to count my food intake for the day in some way.  I also know that I have to have something to look forward to so telling myself to never cheat tends to backfire.  One thing I noticed about the Slow Carb diet was that it allowed a cheat day.  I thought back to when I first started Weight Watchers.  I never used my weekly “flex” points because I gave myself one day to eat what I wanted.  I lost over 100 pounds that way.  Now granted, cheat days can be dangerous so I never intend to hurt myself but I decided to bring it back.  This gives me something to look forward to each week and it confines it to one day.  Well, I am proud to say that I had a pretty much perfect week last week because I brought back cheat day! I was tempted Thursday and Friday because I went to a Mexican place for dinner Friday and had a concert both days but the prospect of a cheat day on Saturday pulled me through and I didn’t cheat at all!  That’s the first time in a long time that I was perfect on a Thursday and a Friday.  I was back to counting calories on Sunday and while I probably over served myself a bit when it came to my mother’s delicious pasta salad Sunday night, I only ate one piece of bread and did much better than I usually do.  Even though there’s still room for improvement when it comes to Sunday dinner, I counted everything and plan on working towards that.  I ended up losing about 3 pounds last week.  I will have a tough time this weekend.  I’m leaving for Chicago for a weekend trip to celebrate my friend Jodi’s birthday! I’m so excited! I am hoping to still only have one cheat day.  I will be tempted but I have to learn to travel without cheating so it will be a test.  I will definitely let you know how I did next week.

When I was a kid, I loved guacamole but in my teenage years, I decided it wasn’t a food I liked anymore.  I’m not sure what happened.  Over the past couple of years, thanks to a couple people I know who make amazing guacamole recipes, I have developed a renewed love for this nutritious food.  Even though food that comes packed in single servings is more expensive, it definitely helps me not to over-indulge.  I find these cups of guacamole to be convenient and the perfect amount.  Today, I plan on having it as a snack.  I’m going to dip cucumber slices into the guacamole. The cucumbers came from my grandparent’s garden which means they are fresh and pesticide free.  This is a snack that I can feel good about.  Avocados are an awesome natural treat and I’m glad I have rekindled my appreciation for them.

As I said earlier, I went to a couple concerts last week and had a great time.  I saw the band moe. with Ian and his friends on Thursday and had a great time with them.  I was also able to have a girl’s night on Friday night when we saw Neal McCoy and Miranda Lambert at the Amp in Tuscaloosa.  I love the summertime because it means lots of fun concerts!  I’m pretty excited to go to Chicago this weekend because I’ve never been and I’ll be with some of my favorite people.  I will have lots to report I’m sure.

I hope everyone has a lovely week! Bye!

“And we can build this dream together

Standing strong forever

Nothing’s gonna stop us now

And if this world runs out of lovers

We’ll still have each other

Nothing’s gonna stop us

Nothing’s gonna stop us now…” Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now-Jefferson Starship