Crisis Or Opportunity?

Good evening dear readers, and apologies for another long absence due to preparations and traveling to Massachusetts for a family reunion over the Labor Day weekend. If there's one thing I will try very hard to do, it's keep going with this blog, as many Optifast blogs just stop and I don't want to have one of those. So know that recently days may pass between my entries, but I am not abandoning my blog. It keeps me sane and focused and hopefully continues to relay information that will help you "survive" Optifasting and maintenance.

Where to start tonight. Well, I'm tempted to tell you I'm in a "crisis" as my weight has swung up again after a long weekend of eating and imbibing alcohol (which I normally do not do). I left Columbus with a plan but ditched that as soon as our plane hit the runway. I didn't want to be "constrained," I wanted to let loose, sort of a "last hurrah" of the summer, and I was so, so nervous about gathering with 23 of my husband's relatives. The end result was a gain on top of the extra 8 lbs. over goal I was carrying before I left. When I stepped on the scale upon my return I was of course upset. Berating myself. All that bad stuff.

But -- and this is a big but -- I have been thinking all day today that I can either be paralyzed with fear and keep eating away OR I can take this "opportunity" to take stock of my behavior when I am out of town on vacations and change it; resume my high fiber/high protein diet (following The iDiet book); get my butt moving again; and bring my weight back down. It goes without saying that I'm taking the latter option.

I was not able to get to the clinic yesterday for my "official" weigh in, but I am going to try, try, try to not step on the scale until next Wednesday. You know me and the scale. I can't tolerate fluctuations right now. I am just going to stick with my eating regime of eating the same breakfast, lunch and two snacks, then an iDiet dinner. It's "boundary setting" and that works for me at this juncture. Some may not like this -- find it too repetitive, too boring, but for someone like me who has never been on a diet before, someone who has always eaten whatever they want, this plan of mine gives me the structure I need.

I have noticed that I had a great deal of water today and my appetite just plummeted. I don't view this as a good thing, because it will just lead to waking up at night starving, and creeping down to the kitchen to reach for whatever I can find to make the hunger pains go away. I overdid it, and I need to ease back a bit. I guess I got a little fanatical about the gain, got a little obsessed about carving the 10 lbs. off. I forgot my belief that "slow but steady" wins the race. But as we know this is a journey, and it's "imperfect progress." I will try to remember that.

So onward I go, with the support of my clinic and Facebook friends. I can do this! Just watch me!