Katie: Week 57 Confessions and A Re-Start

Ok, so I'm posting a little late this week.  And--oh my...

Current weight (Week 55): 138 pounds
Last week's weight (Week 51): 135 pounds
Total weight loss: 32 pounds

Part 1: The Confession:

Hello.  My name is Katie.  And I am addicted to food.  Especially sweets.

I know, I know, we all joke about using a line like that.  But, for the most part here, I'm being serious.  

Some of you may already know this, but my husband and I are also addicted to West Wing.  It's a TV show from the 90's about the inter workings of the west wing of the White House.  Neither of us watched an episode when it aired on television, but we now own the first four seasons on DVD.  And it's actually kind of funny that Bryan and I are so into this show because it's super political and neither of us are really all that into politics.  But it also happens to be very well written and--most of the time--pretty funny.  So anyway, we watch a lot of West Wing.


And there's this one episode where one of the characters is talking about his addiction to alcohol.  And he says something like, "I don't understand people who can just have one drink.  I can't understand why anyone wouldn't want to keep feeling this way.  It's not a matter of smart and stupid.  I'm addicted."  (And for those of us with morals out there, I'll just add that he doesn't say this to justify continuing his habit.  He just says it when he's trying to explain how he used to be.)  

Anyway, back to what he said.  When I watched this episode for the first time I couldn't help but think, "That's how I feel about brownies!"  And then, the moment after I'd had that thought, I recoiled.  Really?  That's how I feel about brownies?  It startled me, but it's true.  I really can't understand people who just want one brownie.  Or one cookie.  Or one helping of a dinner that tastes so good.  Even if I know my body doesn't need anymore, I just want to keep tasting that good food.

Then, when I was at my in-laws' house for Christmas I was reading a copy of Prevention magazine and it was talking about a study that somebody had done recently to prove that people really can be addicted to sugar the same way that people can be addicted to other things.  And, reading this, my initial thoughts from that episode of West Wing came back to me.  Is it true?  Am I really addicted to food, especially sugary foods?  Yes, I think so.




Part 2: The Re-Start


I had let myself relax on my health goals over the holidays.  And I guess I just kept thinking that I would automatically feel motivated to jump right back into my goals again the moment we got back home.  But I didn't.  And I kept waiting to feel motivated.  And I haven't.  

Even my sad attempt at doing something (making homemade meals) last week didn't really pan out to be all that helpful.  Mainly because I kept making sweets and meals with a lot of meat.  No good, no good.


So, last night as I was getting ready for bed and thinking about how my tummy just keeps getting bigger and how I do not want to completely regress, I decided it was time to get back into the swing of things even thought I still don't really feel all that motivated.  So, last night, I wrote down some things on the old goals chart again.  And I wrote down some goals.  And this morning I started entering everything into MyFitnessPal.com again.  Sigh.


I know that these are good things, but I think I've been having a harder time getting super motivated this time around because it's beginning to set in more and more (especially with my recent weight gain just in the past week) that if I'm really going to reach and maintain my goal weight, I'm going to have to make permanent life changes, and not just stick with things for a few months.  


Anyway,  my goals are super exciting, but one other thing I wanted to mention was that in the article I was reading in that Prevention magazine it talked about ways to combat sugar addiction.  And one thing it said is that, when we eat something sugary, our bodies want more of that.  But if we hold off on sugar for a few days, it gets out of our blood stream and then we don't want it so badly.  And I know that entering everything into MyFitnessPal is always a sure way to get me to majorly cut down on treats, so I'm going to be cutting way back on the sweets.  


And I had a friend mention to me the other day that she's made a lot of progress in her fitness goals simply by cutting out dairy (she's lactose intolerant anyway, she says) and red meat.  I don't think I'm ready to fully cut out either, but I have been thinking a lot since my conversation with  my friend about not eating so much red meat.  And, to help with that, I bought some chicken breasts on a great sale the other day.  

But... uhh... here's the thing.  I don't really have any great (and healthy) chicken recipes up my sleeve.  Any great ideas?  (Easy ones, please?  Especially crock pot meals?)


Anyway, I'm still feeling pretty blah, but I do want to move forward rather than backward.  Any encouragement you have to offer would be much appreciated.  Thanks everyone.