Now That It's Safe to Tell You...

I am down almost 8 pounds. I wasn't sure this weekend because I was a little dehydrated (yes, I'd been drinking water but also margaritas), but this morning I stepped on the scales after my shower (ooh, it was 8 lbs when I was "dripping wet!") and it looks like it's true.

This is miraculous because since joining you guys I have been very intent on the "it's a lifestyle, not a diet" mindset. I have lost weight before - even considerable weight - being what I call "in training." 7 days a week at the gym, running 4-6 miles per day, eating a specific diet - it works, the pounds fall off you, but it's not sustainable. I am not willing to do that forever, and inevitably I have the sad "I don't think I will ever be allowed to eat another piece of chocolate again" moment (usually while standing in my kitchen) and I just want to cry.

The training approach works to take the pounds off, but you may have noticed that it doesn't work to keep them off. That's why I'm here.

I'm rolling with the lifestyle portion of this. If I want chocolate, I have chocolate. If it's not taboo, it's not so much of a treat that I feel like I need it. In fact, last night I had one of those small Cadbury chocolate bunnies - you know, the ones about the length of your finger - and I only ate the ears. I didn't want the rest, so it got wrapped up and put in the fridge. If I know I can have it later, I'm less likely to eat it all now. So despite several encounters with enchiladas, a croissant debauchery, a few too many margaritas last weekend which left me in a "must have tacos" state, I have lost weight. I watch what I eat most of the time, but nothing is off limits. I schedule activities into my day to get exercise, but it's no longer "I have to run X miles today otherwise I'll be mad at myself." It's regular tennis games, dancing with friends, yoga classes.

This is the easiest (albeit kind of slow) it has ever been for me to lose weight, but it would have been twice as hard if ya'll weren't so wonderful.