Surviving the 4th!

The 4th of July was extremely tricky for me.  I have been on my new eating plan with Shape Magazine for over 3 weeks now.  The 4th was opening day to my last week on the program.  Although I will now incorporate this program in my daily life, I will have the opportunity to go off for a day to enjoy the little pleasures of life.




One thing I have learned through the last 5 months, the road to success is paved with many detours.  If you look at your life that way, and your lifestyle, you can expect to have days where you decide to take another road temporarily.  I have been doing that for the past 5 months and it has kept me in check.  You can NOT expect to deprive yourself of life's little pleasures everyday for the rest of your life.  Making a lifestyle change does NOT make you forget what you liked in the past.  A good example of this would be my 4th of July party.  When I have a large group of people, I offer foods that I know are not the best for me or my guest.  One of my favorite finger snacks come from Costco.  They sell large tubs of chips that offer a mix of BBQ Fritos, Doritos, Cheetos and pretzels.  I had these on all the tables so my guest could munch on these throughout the day.  Now, in the past I would reach for the bowl and start by finding all the BBQ Fritos enjoying each and everyone.  When there was no more to be found in the bowl I would work my way to the Cheetos, followed by the Doritos and always passing on the pretzels.  This is something I really enjoy.  I love the salty crunchy snacks.  If I had not committed myself to staying 100% faithful to the program, yesterday would have been allotted to include my treats.  I would have enjoyed them and not allowed myself to feel guilty.  It is ONE day, and the following day I would be right back on track.

I guess what I am saying is, to really have success with weight loss you have to allow yourself indulgences.  Now that I am on the final countdown I am finding it hard to want to be 100% faithful.  I have spent the last 21 days eating every meal either at home, or prepackaged by me and brought wherever I go.  I celebrated my wedding anniversary not with fine dining, but instead celebrating the 4th with friends.  I found it so difficult to want to stick with the plan, there were times during the day I struggled with cheating. But my commitment kept me in check.

The important thing to remember is there has to be a limit when it comes to exercising your right to eat or drink whatever you want.  In the past I would go off an eating plan thinking it was for a day, then it turned in to two, then three, etc.  I no longer live with that mindset.  If I say its a day, I mean it!

To truly succeed with having a healthy lifestyle you must come to terms with unhealthy eating.  You can have your day, but you must get back on track right away.  We can all be in harmony with our eating, as long as we remember there is a fine line between indulging and abuse.