Reality Check {or that Post I Didn’t Want to Write}

Since I began writing here at No Thanks to Cake, I’ve always committed to being honest with you guys.

I share what’s really going on.  I post what I really eat.  I only review products that I really love.

The other thing I do… is that I use this blog as an outlet for what I’m feeling.  Rather than turning to food to smother what’s going on, I try to write about it.  In most cases, a blog post for me can be very freeing.  I’m hopeful that what I share with you today will do exactly that.

Three years ago, I began a journey to lose 91 lbs, and I’m not there yet.

And, in the past few months, my weight has been slowly creeping up on me… which has inspired this post.

Here’s my confession:  I’m up 15 lbs.  Yes, I just typed that.  On the computer.  On my “weight loss” blog.  I’m up 15 lbs.

In light of this weight gain, I desperately needed the holidays.

I needed to be eating biscuits and gravy for breakfast with a side of monkey bread, a big buttery Thanksgiving dinner, and a carb-loaded Italian feast on Christmas Eve.  I needed to eat every bit of it, so that’s exactly what I did.

I ate it without restraint, and without really worrying too much about the calories that were going in.  It’s rare for me to do this, but I’m glad I did.

WHY???

A wise friend told me today that some times the holidays are the best inspiration for healthy living, and I couldn’t agree more.

So… Cheers to the decadent, indulgent, wine-drenched holidays for making it blatantly obvious that I needed a plan.

My weight fluctuates a little bit every day, so I don’t get concerned with 2 lbs, 5 lbs, but when I started to see 10… I got nervous.  Not nervous enough to take action, but still nervous.  When my pants started to feel a little tighter, I knew that it was getting worse, but I still didn’t take action.

What did make me take action was eating holiday indulgences and physically missing the gym over the past week.  The way I feel when I eat unhealthy foods is ridiculous.  I feel sluggish, less motivated, and just lethargic.  Multiply the average unhealthy snack times five days…. I don’t want to feel like that anymore.

I’m desperate for vegetables, and I’m craving time on my yoga mat.

For the first time in 3 years, I will be planning to lose weight in the new year.  I don’t have 91 to lose this year, but I do have a solid 15 that I’d like to lose and never find again.

Also, for the first time, I am working with a life coach who specializes in helping women to adopt healthier relationships with food… I find it to be no coincidence that I have a support team on hand to help me move forward in 2014.

Bottom Line:  It’s time to address it, and that’s exactly what I plan to do in upcoming weeks.  And so the journey continues…

How do you recharge post-holidays?