18 Months and Counting!

Happy Monday!  After a few days away, it's good to be back to blogging :-).

Yesterday was an anniversary of sorts for me, marking 18 months since I reached my goal.  The good news is that I am still in my goal range and in my goal size 6.  This is finally feeling like "normal" for me.  Settling into maintenance has taken some time, and I am admittedly still fine-tuning things, but I'm feeling comfortable with both my body and my food choices.  Let me give you an example.

Last week my husband and I got away for a couple of days and enjoyed staying at a bed and breakfast a couple hours north of where we live (courtesy of a gift certificate we were given).  We packed a lot of Medifast meals - crunch bars, pretzels and puffs - and used those for most of our meals.  We had planned to have dinner that first night at a favorite restaurant of ours and thought we'd get grilled meat, salad and vegetable (pretty much a lean & green).  However, the bed and breakfast owner told us about a small Italian restaurant that was run by someone who emigrated from Sicily.  We quickly decided to go there instead.  We walked several blocks from the bed and breakfast to the restaurant, enjoyed a great meal, then took advantage of the mild weather and walked several more blocks to Lake Michigan.  We then walked to a local coffee shop for coffee and dessert (I didn't finish mine) before walking back to the bed and breakfast.  It was a great combination of good food and some exercise (over two miles of walking).  The next morning we enjoyed the hot breakfast served at the B&B, then drove another couple hours north to spend the day and night in another town.  We ate three Medifast meals over the course of the day, then met friends for dinner, which was pretty much a lean and green followed by dessert.  We also walked a couple of miles that day.  Friday was another 2-1/2 miles of walking, Medifast meals, and an early dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant.

Following our time away, we've picked up a couple of additional Medifast meals for a few days to help off-set the extra calories we ate while we were gone.  It's certainly not a "feast or famine" type of thing, but we try to balance occasional splurges so that they stay "occasional."  When we do splurge, as we did for a couple of meals last week, we thoroughly enjoy ourselves and don't feel guilty about what we eat.  I will tell you that I don't eat until I'm stuffed anymore, as I don't like that feeling at all.  No matter how good the food is, I try to pay attention and stop when I'm satisfied.

What was wonderful about our time away was that we both enjoyed doing a lot of walking and weren't looking for the nearest place to sit.  Before losing weight, we would have driven from the B&B to the restaurant, overeaten and then driven back and crashed.  We would have taken in a lot more calories and burned very little.  Life this side of goal is very different indeed!

Maintaining for me is about making choices every day.  I plan my day and usually know at the beginning of each day what I'm going to eat for each meal.  When I have the opportunity to enjoy a great meal, I do so without guilt and plan meals preceding and following the meal that will balance the calories.  Everybody has to find their own balance in maintenance, but this is what works for me.  Most of all, I remind myself every day that what I REALLY want is to stay healthy and to keep feeling great in my size 6's, and that makes the other choices a lot easier.

No matter if you are just getting started on your journey, if you're at or near your goal, or someplace in between - today is filled with choices for you, too.  Focus on what you really want, then choose wisely :-)