The Morning After

Hello everyone! I am here to see you through to your goals, not only through the good, but also the bad! There are set backs – it happens to everyone – and I am here to talk about it.

I have been tracking my food choices but not actually weighing them out, for the past couple of weeks now. I have been a little bit busier then usual and lets face it, I got lazy. Then I had to clear out my food in the house/fridge to get ready for my daughter’s 3rd birthday party. That means eating all of the interesting finds that I have collected from the grocery store over the last several months. We all know “interesting” does not equal “healthy“. Interesting bean noodles. Interesting sauces and dips. Interesting frozen foods. Interesting soups. Interesting oatmeal and granola…you get it. The days leading up to the party were the worst because I had to clean the house, ready the yard – I was busy and tired and I did not want to cook. So easy prep food it was! Also, family was in town, so there was a cook out and a wedding and an impromptu night-into-morning drinking soiree…

2 days later it was my daughter’s birthday party. It was supposed to be held outside but at noon – party start – Thor gave us his RSVP and we got hammered with wind and rain. Great. My list of attendees shrunk to nearly half, but no matter, I had no place for people to go, as my house is small. So with my daughter’s Great Great Aunt sitting in a folding chair at the foot of the slide of my indoor playground – procured perfectly for moments like this – I looked around at all of my guests and did my best to host a semi-decent party. One where I didn’t ask my Great Aunt to go sit in the bathroom with the dogs – the only other seat available at the time, but instead ask the kids to color. The kids were happy with coloring. We had a dinosaur themed, 3 year old, birthday party. Complete with dinosaur facts, dinosaur games, a dinosaur dig, dinosaur egg break, dinosaur pinata and of course, a dinosaur cake. I even tried to make the party more of a social event with things to do, even for the adults – with a Yahtzee and Bocce Ball tournament – with prizes! – so that people would have other things to do then just sit and eat, but alas, my small house would not support such things, especially the bocce ball tournament. ; ] The rain did lighten, and I was able to get the kids outside to go beat on an ankylosaurus (the armored dinosaur with the club on the tail) pinata until candy and toys spilled out of it. I feel like the wait was worth it – I build notoriously strong pinatas. A parent usually has to break it.

The meat I served, brontosaurus ribs and raptor legs, would not cook. The salads, fruits and vegetables were haphazardly thrown about and I am guilty of almost always making too much food. I had a lot of food left over. The left overs kept us sustained for the week.

And then there is the 4th of July. More food, more drinks, a parade with candy…

So what happens when you fallen off the diet? When you have lost sight of the goal? Maybe stumbled a little and need to get it together? Well first off, get it together. Don’t lose your head over this. Days and weeks like this set me back for a week or two. I know this. Take a deep breath and accept it or it will be even worse. I do not waste food so all of those left overs were either going to be given away or eaten. My family ended up eating most of them. So I decided to eat the stuff that would go bad first – like all of the produce and the avocado deviled eggs. I weighed out and kept track of these days, knowing full well that because my taste and cravings were off, and my stomach was stretched out from all of the junk I had been eating, that my caloric intake would be over 2,000 for a bit as I got myself back on track. The other thing I did was drink plenty of water. The first couple of pounds I gained was probably from water weight – replacing my daily water intake with salt and alcohol. The water filled part of my stomach with no calories and the produce filled the rest of it with with low calories. It also helped get me regular again. These two things helped my lose 6 pounds in a 24 hour period.

Now that I am back in an acceptable weight bracket, I need to confront my horrible food cravings and lower my caloric intake back down. I know how to do it, but accomplishing it will be another story. I need to ignore the urge to live off of ice cream and instead replace the need for ice cream with pureed frozen fruit, yogurt and flavored water. I need to live with being hungry in between meals while I wait for my stomach to shrink back down. It is uncomfortable and annoying, but possible. I have done it many times before this time will be no different.

And most importantly, I need to learn to not make so much food! I need to make better choices while attending parties and throwing them! We all need a reminder and we all get these set backs. Some times it is nice to know you are not the only one making these unfortunate mistakes. Getting back to “normal” is hard, but you will make it through! I am hoping by next week I will be back to a better “normal”. Except I am camping all next week…

So I will let you all know how I have done after my week of camping! Hopefully I make wise decisions and enjoy hiking more then I enjoy feasting!

What was your favorite 4th of July/holiday/party dish? I especially liked the brownies that were being served during the 4th of July cookout! And the ice cream cake was worth it! Let me know!