Twenty-One Months!

Twenty-one months . . . I'm shaking my head as I write this, humbled and amazed.  Thinking about where I was three years ago right now, 260 pounds, diabetic and feeling pretty hopeless, it's hard to believe that it was twenty-one months ago today that I reached my weight loss goal.  Losing 120 pounds in just under 11 months was amazing, dropping 6 more pounds in Transition was wonderful, but the best part of all is knowing that I'm still in my goal range and in my goal size 6's.

I certainly have not done Maintenance perfectly and am still fine-tuning things.  While staying in my goal range and in my goal size, there have been times when I've been at the very top of my range and found my 6's getting pretty snug.  I still have what I wryly call my "fully developed set of fat girl taste buds" and can't really identify with individuals who tell me that certain things no longer sound or taste good to them now that they've lost weight.  Sigh . . . everything still sounds and tastes as good to me as it ever did and I know that it would be all too easy to start down a food path that could bring me right back to 260 or even higher.

However, knowing that most people gain all of their weight back - and often add additional pounds - within two years, I am thrilled to mark off yet one more month at a healthy BMI.  While my long-term goal is to get to the point where I never need to go back to a strict 5&1 again, I don't apologize for using the resources available on occasion to make sure that things don't spiral out of control.  In the meantime, the fact that my "fat girl tastebuds" are still alive and kicking really forces to make the same choices every day that all of you have to make.

Every day I have to choose between immediate gratification and long-term goals.  My long-term goal isn't getting to my goal weight, but it IS all about continuing to move towards optimal health.  Every day I face food choices and have to ask myself, "will this or won't this move me in the direction I want to go?"  To be sure, I try to keep stuff out of my house, but with a 23 year old son living at home, I'm not always successful.  Sometimes I open my freezer and find a couple cartons of ice cream staring at me, or I find other old trigger foods lurking in a cabinet.  It would be easy to rationalize that since I'm at a healthy weight, I can have a little bit of whatever, and that's true.  My problem is that it's hard for me to have just a "little bit" of that kind of food - my brain tends to disengage when I start eating it.  Having tried and failed a couple of times of having the stuff in the house and eating it within reason, I've made the decision that it can't be a regular part of my life any more.

Instead of having a dozen cookies in the house, if I want a chocolate chip cookie, I'd rather pick up one at the bakery.  That way, it's only one - I can't rationalize a second, third, fourth . . . My husband and I will occasionally split a dessert at a restaurant, allowing each of us to have a little bit of something without having half a pie sitting on the counter.  Sweets are definitely my downfall, so I'm finding a nightly Medifast brownie a wonderful and healthy alternative.

Writing a daily blog helps me to refocus every day, reminding me to make my own good choices.  I can't encourage everyone else to make wise choices unless I'm doing the same thing!  It's not always easy, and it's not always what I want to do, but the more I do it, the more new and healthier habits are becoming a part of my life. 

So today I'm committed to making choices that will keep me moving in the direction I want to go, and I hope you'll make the same decision.  Let's ALL choose wisely :-)