Check in- Becky Leger. June 7, 2012

Well, it's now been almost a month since I returned from my girl's get-away where I started to get off track from my goals. I knew that I was going to cheat a bit on my "eating lifestyle" and I wasn't going to have access to my gym, so I took off a few extra pounds before we went. That seemed to work pretty well, only gaining those few pounds I had lost with the food and drink we treated ourselves with while away. Then when I got back home, the departure that I had made was difficult to come back from. MOTHER's DAY was the following weekend...and then a Memorial Day picnic and next thing I knew, despite working out, I had gained about 6 pounds!

The problem with taking "cheat days", or getting off track a little, it that it can be hard to get back on track and eating the right foods. The reason for this is that the wrong foods contain additives that intentionally have addictive properties. It's funny how we are all over the cigarette companies for adding nicotine to cigarettes to make us addicted to and crave cancer sticks, but we don't think twice about the same companies, who also make food, using the same techniques for enslaving us to their food but in the form of MSG (carefully cloaked as "natural flavoring) and artificial sweeteners, just to name a few. My problem was that once I got the taste of corn Chips and salsa, ice cream, and Margaritas, it was very hard to not eat and drink more, especially since leftovers were in my fridge for a bit. It requires a "detox" of sorts every time we get off track.

So, I still advocate cheat meals or days because it is important to give in to a desire once in a while and because you deserve to treat yourself. They key is making sure it is only one meal or one day and to get the crap out of your house after that! If it is in your home, you will eat it! Get rid of it and get back to your healthy lifestyle the very next day. You might even want to find other ways to treat yourself, like buying that new smaller sized skirt you were eyeing or a new trinket.

A month later, I am finally back down to 134 pounds. It only took ten days of religiously sticking to my healthy lifestyle. That's the cool thing about clean eating...it really is effortless weight loss just by making better decisions about what you eat and the weight comes off pretty steadily.

I have another vacation coming up and am really looking forward to it. This time I am not going to let myself get too far off track. The truth is that I feel better when I am on track. My energy levels, stress levels, and just about everything else is better when I am eating well. When I go off track, I always end up feeling like crap. Junk food feels good on the tongue and then immediately bloats me and makes me feel like a load. I just have to remember that next time!

So, I continue on my path to healthy living. I am still striving for 125 lbs, but am not too worried about making it. I am starting to suspect, my ideal weight is more like 130 lbs because even when I eat right and work out for months at a time, I cannot seem to break that plane. I know I am doing things right, so weight isn't really a good measure of my success... My ability is. If I am feeling good and am able to do what I need to physically, then I am a success!

Thanks for letting me check in and be accountable to you, blogger cyber-land! You really are a big help!