Cuting the Yo-Yo String

I don't know the exact numbers but I would guess that since my 21st birthday I have lost over 250 pounds. During that same timeframe, however, I have gained something like 215 pounds! In 1975 I arrived in Thailand weighing around 230 pounds. Five months later I was down to 170. In 1983 I stepped off the plane in Korea at 227. By the time I came home on leave midway through my one-year tour, I was down to 180. About five years ago I started "doing Atkins" at around 240 and managed to get down to 210. But I again found myself over 240 last July when I embarked on my present lifestyle change. So my history shows that I can figure out ways to get the weight off; however, keeping it off is a different story.

For the last few months, I've pretty much stayed between 200 and 205 pounds. I haven't been as strict about the diet as I was when I was losing the weight consistently. I've allowed my meat portions to gain in size. I eat a lot of almonds and macadamia nuts as snacks. Those are both healthy things to eat, but they are also calorie dense and it's hard to lose weight if I don't control portions. But my real problem has been that I've allowed myself to eat more and more things that I had completely shunned for a year. Example: my 17 year old granddaughter lives with me and every week she bakes cookies for her boyfriend. Well, grandpa has volunteered to try a couple to make sure they taste good. Sometimes I'm still not sure after two so I eat a couple more! :-) AS I TYPE THIS, an email notice just popped up announcing that there is lemon coffee cake available in the conference room! This goes on at work all the time and I've been great at avoiding it--until recently. I've had a few "what the hell" moments. I don't think that indulging in these type of snacks on occasion is that bad, but I've been doing it far too often.

IT STOPS TODAY!

I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm back up to 211. I refuse to allow myself to slip back into old habits. So I'm jumping back on the wagon with both feet today. No more cookies, no cake at the office, NO HALOWEEN CANDY (that's gonna be hard since I'm the one in charge of providing a sugar rush to the neighborhood kids Friday night). I'll have my daily apple but skip the mango, eat smaller portions of meat, and snack on a few baby carrots instead of macadamia nuts. It's time to make a big push and get below the Mendoza line once and for all!!! KILL THE YO-YO!!

A side commuting note: I woke up this morning to the sound of a howling wind out of the north due to a passing front. It took me 40 minutes to ride into work against the wind that included 25mph gusts. The ride home should be fun!!