SMALL THINGS...

... really can keep you on the wagon. Yep, the weight is falling off. A little more every morning I step on the scale. But also, I tightened my belt a notch. My rings are loose. My collarbones are a little more visible. I ran a comfortable 2 miles today for the first time in a long time. I am less tired. And probably a dozen other things I can't think of right now.

These are the things I can think about and see throughout the day when I am tempted by something. I'm really feeling great about this. It feels permanent.

FOOD AND CHILDREN

I have some major fears about passing along my food issues to my daughter. I don't want her to grow up believing that you eat to celebrate, that you eat to medicate or that you eat for entertainment. I truly believe that the most effective way to do this is to model appropriate eating habits for her. Above all else, this is the reason I want to change my lifestyle. And I think I am doing a good job thus far.

She is not forced to "clean her plate". Food is not used as a reward. Meals are laidback, but taken as a family. We offer her a variety of different foods and she chooses how much and what she eats from those choices. From what I can see, children are hard wired to make healthy choices, when those choices are available to them. Her favorite foods: grapes, yogurt, and bread. Bread?, you say. Yes, the right breads are healthy and positive choices. We DO NOT give her white bread. She started on whole wheat and this week is eating Flax bread. She loves it. Which brings me to my next point.

Children are much more adventurous with food than we are led to believe. DD will try pretty much anything we offer her. She definitely has her preferences and there have been foods that she took one bite of and said no more. But she is always willing to try and I am always willing to let her.

Don't get me wrong. She has "treats". Wendy's frosties are a favorite with her. She love crackers and ice cream. But these are treats. We don't use them as rewards for eating her veggies. She eats her veggies because she is hungry and they taste good to her. Treats are for no reason other than we feel like offering. Sometimes she gobbles them up. Other times she takes a bite and then returns to her grapes. What could be healthier than listening to your body?

FRUIT=SWEET

I can remember a time that this statement was true for me. Before I could devour a liter of ice cream without feeling sick to my stomach. Before I required 3 family sized chocolate bars to satisfy my sweet tooth. It was only a little more than 2 years ago that I frequently craved fruit. In fact, throughout the first trimester of my pregnancy, it was the only food guaranteed not to make me feel horrible. Then refined sugar slowly began taking hold of my diet. The more refined sugar I ate, the less sweet fruit tasted to me. Until I got to a point where if I ate 2 pieces of fruit in a week, I was doing well.

I truly missed the sweet juicy flavor of different fruits when I wasn't eating them. I just didn't seem to enjoy them as much with refined sugar making my palate cloudy. The longer I go without refined sugar snacks, the sweeter fruit tastes. Now I can see the possibility of fruit once again playing a large role in my diet. And I look forward to it.

WEEKEND AWAY

I spent the past weekend with my inlaws out of town for a wedding. I felt pretty confident about my ability to keep my eating in check. I was pretty good. I may not have made all the best choices but I definitely made better choices. For example, at the dinner I had dessert and cake but didn't touch the potatoes or dark meat. At the rehearsal dinner, I had a BBQd chicken breast and two small servings of salad (potato and broccoli) and then indulged in sweets for dessert. I took an hour long walk on Friday morning but had beer at the dance. Overall i was happy with my choices for the weekend so I was a little disappointed to find the scale back to my starting weight.

I'm not letting myself give up. I'm back on track today with healthy eating choices and went to the gym before anything else this morning. I want to be below my weigh-in weight from last Thursday by this Thursday.

OFFICIAL THURSDAY WEIGH IN

I am an everyday weigher. Actually I am a several times a day weigher. But I always choose one day a week as my "Official" day. Since I have joined the naked dieters over at Clubmom and was originally inspired to do this by the amazing shrinking mom (see post below) I will use their/her weigh in day of Thursday.

This morning I weighed in at 187.4. Down 3.2 pounds from Saturday. Woohoo. I am excited but reserved. Several times over the last couple of months I was down to 187 and never seemed to fall below this. But I am staying the course and feeling somewhat confident that this could be the time it sticks.

ON TRACK???

I have had a mixture of feelings toward this venture over the last 24 hours. Last night my mother and I went for a walk after dinner (keeping up with my daily exercise) and she had planned on getting us ice cream. I told her no thanks without even pausing but that she was more than willing to have one herself. It really was a no brainer for me. Like I told her, having ice cream now is not worth growing out of my jeans. When I got home I had my "treat" of sugar free pudding doled out in a small dish so I could control my serving size.

This morning I weighed myself and the scale has not moved in a few days. So I found myself thinking those old thoughts of "Why bother?". Then the sensible me slapped me around a few times until I remembered that it has only been 4 days and I've lost 3 pounds. DUH!! An hour later, I'm sure my jeans were not quite as snug when I pulled them on.

Tomorrow I head out of town for 3 days for a wedding. I am planning on bringing along some healthy snacks to keep in the cottage. Going to eat what I can at the dinner and indulge in 1 slice of wedding cake OR dessert. Depends on what the dessert is LOL. SIL will be staying with us and she is working at losing weight as well. I plan on recruiting her for some exercise Friday morning and possibly Saturday morning as well.

WHY I HATE BMI...

Two years ago I weighed between 157 and 160 pounds. I wore a size 10-12. I was eating healthy (avg 1500 cals per day) and exercising regularly. I was satisfied with my weight and body. I truly believe if I had lost any more weight, I would have started to look sick. According to BMI, I was severely overweight. According to BMI I should weigh in at 130 (for a high weight). I don't think I have weighed 130 since I was in the 6th grade, before I developed womanly curves. And I don't think it is even possible for me to reach this weight without starving myself.

That is why I hate BMI.