Balance

That one word defines the key to success when it comes to weight loss. At least for me. But I am pretty sure if you went and surveyed a bunch of people who lost weight and been successful at keeping it off you would notice that the word balance would show up a lot. For me balance is more important than "dieting" or spending hours on end in the gym. Without it I WILL fail.

When we lived in Boston and I was walking dogs I never gained any weight because of how much I was walking. But I never lost any weight because I didn't have balance. I was getting plenty of exercise but was eating way too many calories so in the end all I was doing was staying the same. Which I suppose is great once I get to a maintaining weight but I am nowhere near that. I need to be eating right AND working out.

Now the other part of it for me is not obsessing. I see too many people so wrapped up in their "diet" or the 8 billion hours a week they spend in the gym. Obsession to me is just going to set you up for a big fat failure. Pun intended. Obsessing is one reason I have never believed in diets. Especially all the fad diets out there. Atkins, South Beach and so on. They work when you are on them but the minute you go back to being a normal person you are going to gain the weight back. When I first decided a few years back I was going to get my butt in gear and lose weight (back then I lost close to 50 pounds) I knew "diet" was not a word i was willing to live by and I knew I would be unsuccessful if I went that route. So, instead I decided to set a calorie limit for myself  and stick to it. If I wanted cheesecake, I had it. If I wanted pizza, I had it. If I wanted cookies, I had them.  I just made them fit into my calories for that day. I adjusted so I could have them. Having them made me feel like I wasn't being denied and made it more likely that I wouldn't sit down and eat 4 cheesecakes all at once. It worked for me and it is working for me again now. What is the point in dieting?A diet you will eventually stop and if that is what is making you succeed then eventually you ARE going to fail. Make a life change. Make the choice to eat fruit sometimes instead of chocolate. CHOOSE to eat more veggies and drink more water. CHOOSE to eat what you need and not over stuff yourself. CHOOSE CHOOSE CHOOSE. Every day I need to wake up and CHOOSE to eat better. But I also need to choose not to deny myself the things I love. Having a treat isn't going to make you fail if you can control how much and how often. For example, last night I had a Sonic Blast from Sonic. This morning I am 3 pounds down since my last weigh in and I still have 3 more days to go before my next. It doesn't mean i am going to have that every day but it is just proof you can have treats and it is OKAY.

By balancing my food intake and working out I KNOW I will succeed at this. I have before and I will this time. The trick for me will be too maintain it once I am at where I want to be. But for now I will just worry about getting to the point I need to maintain. One day and one pound at a time.

Almost 20 pounds down! YAY!!