LOST AGAIN!

I'm down another 2.8 lbs! I'm so happy that every week I'm seeing the scales get lower and lower.

I've lost a total of 16 lbs now. I think I may have finally gotten through to myself about this being a life long way of eating for me.

I can't tell you how many different diets I've been on. I've been on just about every kind of crazy diet out there. I even went 6 months without having one bite of real food. Just liquids. It was called Optifast. Do you remember that?

Sure I lost weight but as soon as I started to eat real food again I gained it all back, plus some.

But now, I know that I can really eat anything I want. It's just the amount of what I eat and also how much exercise I get in.

When I was on vacation for two weeks I ate a lot of stuff I would have thought would have made me gained. Things like 3 pieces of cheesecake, 7 cookies, 5 candy bars, two bags of chips, popcorn four times, bread with butter, waffles with whipped cream, pizza and two pieces of chocolate that was left on bed every night.

So when I got on the scale last week I just knew the numbers would have gone up. So I was really surprised to see not only did the numbers not go up but they went down.

This week I thought maybe the gain would show up. Sometimes it takes awhile for weight gain to show up.

Yet, again there was a lower number. I know it's all about the amount of exercise I got. Well, I should say movement. I never once felt like I was exercising. In fact, I hate that word.

I much prefer to say I'm walking or moving rather then exercising.

My sister, Maureen, has lost 19 lbs! I'm so happy for her. At first we were side by side on our weight loss. Then I went on vacation and she continued to follow the plan as she should have. So she lost more.

I can't help but think "I wish I would have been better on vacation" but I know that isn't true. I'm happy with my loss. I'm happy that I didn't once feel deprived while I was gone.

I'm really happy I learned first hand that moving more lets you have a few meals you would normally think you couldn't have.

I'm also learning to be aware more. I'm aware of my portions now. Before I thought I was doing good when I had a bowl of cereal. Now I know I was eating almost enough for 3. So now, I measure.

I'm also trying to be more aware of why I eat. Am I really hungry or am I bored, sad, depressed or even happy.

I know I'm going to make it this time. I just know it. It feels different this time. Not like just another diet. This is for life. A new way of eating and looking at things like never before.

I hope you guys are still on track with your healthy living too. Let me know.

I have so much to share with you guys but things are crazy here. We are getting our hard wood floors in so things are nuts. Plus, I leave tomorrow for four days. I'm dog sitting for a friend of mine.

So things may be slow around here. I'm hoping by next week to get back on track.

I'll pop in as often as I can until then. When I do get back on track things I wanted to share with you will include things like...the rest of my vacation, Halloween things, another Party that is in the planning and the final look at all the work on the house that got done.