Finding Out Old Things In The New Me

I was sitting here thinking about how I can become more successful in my weight loss. What have I done in the past that has made me fail and how can I prevent it from happening again?

There are a few people on various weight loss forums I frequently visit that have been very successful at losing weight and maintaining it who have a blog. Now, I know that blogging didn't cause them to lose weight but maybe blogging helped them to take an honest look at themselves on a daily basis. Being honest with myself is something necessary for me to do. When I'm not honest I will shove food in my mouth and pretend it didn't happen, no one else saw me do it right? But I don't want to be about that anymore.

In my past attempts at weight loss I tend to be able to "diet" for up to a month and then I start to backslide into not doing the "diet" thing at all. Once last year I "dieted" for 3 months and I lost like 25 lbs. That's more than I have ever lost at one time. I have quoted the word diet because of the negative image it receives, you know the old "I'm on a diet to lose a few lbs but once I get off my diet then I'm probably going to gain it all back". I tried to make myself believe what I was doing was not dieting but a lifestyle change, but really... I was dieting because once I stopped doing what I was doing, it wasn't long before I gained all the weight back.

What I need to do is something that I can live with on a daily basis. I cant live with counting calories or carbs or fat grams at every meal, every day. It's miserable to me. I cant tolerate eating like a bird. I need to eat real food that actually tastes good and has flavor. I need to find a way of eating that allows me freedom to live with out worrying about food all day. I have learned that when I keep up with every single calorie or (carb if that's the diet flavor of the month) I eat it is just as bad an obsession as if I were planning my next binge. I'm still obsessing about the food regardless.

As I sit here, I wonder if this new plan I have in mind will work. Is it possible to lose weight just eating healthier foods and make better decisions like choosing low calorie options instead of high calorie things and upping my exercise.  Like today, I had a cheeseburger and onion rings at this new restaurant in town with my hubby and little girl. Now I could have had the grilled chicken salad with the low cal dressing but I thought about it and I decided I wanted the burger. I consciously made a decision to eat the high calorie/high fat food that is essentially bad for me and I decided when I had supper tonight that I will eat something low cal like a big salad with some red wine vinegar & Italian herbs. Now that is not something I would do everyday. I like food obviously so I would normally want to have more bang for my buck but today I chose to eat the burger, and I'm completely satisfied with my decision.

I've been eating like this for the past week and it's worked so far. You know how they say if it ain't broke, don't fix it! I pray that I can continue. My ultimate goal is just to be free from food obsession.