Tasty Tips & Talk on Healthy Diet, Fitness & Nutrition

Well this weight loss maven took an extended vacation from her efforts.  I've moved, I have a new stress-filled, long hours position in a new office in my company...I've been a busy chick.

One would think I'd take my own advice and hop back up on the point-counting horse after I fell off, but it was so much more comforting to stay down.  Cake, cookies, chips, fast food, restaurant food have all been my companions.  I'm in a new city where I only know the people I work with and I rediscovered a dark mistress--Chik-fil-a. 

I used to live in the north, where this temptress was nowhere to be found.  But here the Chik is everywhere, beckoning with her chicken sangwiches (su-fi Dane!), milkshakes and of course the breakfast minis which we have termed Nuggets of Joy.

Well, since my last post, things have been downhill.  I finally weighed in last night for the first time in three weeks and I'd lost .5 pounds.  Not so bad considering I have also not tracked what I've been eating for the last three weeks, and I've been making some bad choices.

Stress.  I read somewhere that biologically speaking, when you get stressed, your brain comandeers every ounce of extra effort and tries to force your body into its habits so that it can be prepared for fight or flight. 

Whenever I'm stressed, I find myself making more trips to the cupboards, rummaging around for sweets or fats.  Salty crunchy and cakey sweetness are my comforts.  Well and ice cream.  And cheesecake.  And bread.  I think in a lot of ways, fat is something to hide in.  I've always been a little socially awkward and dealing with people sometimes scares me.  I like my alone time.  So put two and two together, and the fat becomes this insulation from the "normal" world and when I'm nervous or anxious, I fortify that barrier.

I've outgrown the need for the barrier.  I am not that painfully shy girl anymore (most of the time).  I like being with people, and it's long past the time that I want to hide from relationships.  But the barrier remains.  I'm chipping away at it, but the daily struggle is a little wearing. 

Wouldn't it be easier to just crawl into my hermit shell and enjoy cake after cheesecake after donut after bag of chips?  Would it be so bad to just become this crazy cat lady...well crazy dog lady who's 90 and alone?  Yeah, a little.  Not to say that if I stay this size I'm always going to be alone, nor am I now.  I have family and friends who love me.  But it's a bit of a challenge to attract the kind of guy I want at my current size.  Not impossible, but also not likely.

What is this rambling all about?  I think I'm just brain dumping here so that I don't run off to the kitchen for another sugary snack.  If I don't go get that cookie or those chips, I probably have a better shot at not becoming the crazy dog lady, but actually living to 90.  It's a long, long road, but hey I'm not a quitter.  

Stumbling on the path is one thing, but giving up is quite another.  Even if I lose a half pound a week, I'll get there sooner or later. 

If you're on this road, what keeps you going? 

Confessions of a former sweet-o-holic

I'm Angie, and I'm a sweet-o-holic.  At my lowest point, I would chow down on probably half a pound of sugar a day in muffins, in cakes, in brownies, sugar-coated cereal, chocolate, chocolate, ice cream, did I mention chocolate?  But the less obvious sweets in my diet?  Soda.  I probably drank about 36 oz or more a day of caffeinated, fizzy full sweet stuff.  I guzzled calories and sugar all day long.

When I decided to do this whole diet thing, I decided to go cold turkey.  I hated the taste of diet soda, so I didn't see much alternative than to just cut myself off.  It's not the caffeine I needed, I just really enjoyed the sweetened goodness of a tall glass of fountain Pepsi with ice.