I've gained back somewhere between 5-7 pounds, and I can feel it, especially around my midsection.
I am trying, really hard, to focus on the "still gets you ahead" part of this picture.
Good points about where I am:
- Food thoughts do not consume my day any more. I'm not thinking about how much protein I still need to eat, or how many calories worth of butter I just slathered on my raisin bread toast.
- I'm eating the same meals, most of the time, as the rest of my family. No more special meals!
- I really enjoy about 90% of the food I eat. True, I overdo it sometimes still, or there are times when I'm not really hungry for what I'm eating, but mostly, I do really like the food I eat.
- I've noticed that, if I am paying attention, I feel satisfied with less.
Some things to keep working on:
- At least one a day, I still have the thought "I really should go on a diet" pop into my head.
- I'm definitely not drinking enough water. I think in part this is in rebellion to drinking a gallon a day for so long.
- I'm not exercising enough. I felt better, and do feel better, when I exercise regularly, and that's really been falling by the wayside lately with all my job craziness, etc.
Do I feel like a failure? No. I feel like I am learning more about myself. I feel like I am working on personal love and acceptance. I'd like to move toward not just enjoying things, but treating my body well. I guess I feel a little dissatisfied. And like maybe I am focusing too much on enjoyment, and not enough on how I feel. A friend of mine put it this way:
You have to eat stuff that makes you feel good, and you have to be honest about what “feels good” means.
...
You have to exercise, and that has to feel good too.
