My last blog post may have seemed a bit negative, but I think from time to time we all struggle with doubts about our ability to succeed. Maybe voicing those doubts gives them more power -- I'm not sure -- but I can report a victory this morning as I have a string of "healthy habit" days now (after getting a bit lax during the holidays) and I feel far more confident of hitting my goal for my final Transformer (well, final for now!) weigh in.

I'm joining a Maintainer this year. I like the idea of settling into my new lower weight without the pressure of continually losing more. My mission for several years has been to learn to eat "like a normal person." In my mind, normal people do not endlessly track calories, have rigid rules about foods they can and cannot eat, live through endless binge-and-starve cycles -- they enjoy their food, but recognize that it is just one of a myriad list of things to enjoy about life. 

I'm slowly, slowly, slowly adopting that "normal" approach to food as a lifestyle. It has taken me years of experimenting and practice -- but this last year, as my DietBet goals encouraged me to consistently focus on how I dealt with food; I have had great success. When my coworkers or friends ask me how I did it, I tell them I used two approaches:

If I really want a food, I choose between:

  1. How to eat a portion of that food as part of my "normal" diet. Want ______? What do you need to cut back on today or tomorrow so that "treat" doesn't tip the scales? Or can you save it for a day when you will be on a long hike, or finishing a half marathon -- when calories expended will make up for the calories consumed?
  2. Finding an equally satisfying (or nearly equally satisfying) substitute. I hate naming names, but there are some very good ice cream substitutes out there that I can eat weekly (if I choose -- or I suppose even daily, although I can't imagine that!) rather than the high-fat stuff. And instead of my favorite name-brand coffee shop, I can make perfectly wonderful coffee at home with flavored coffees and/or SF syrups. I can custom-blend flavors that appeal to me -- Mexican Spice Chocolate ground coffee, with a diet hot chocolate packet (25 calories!), SF chocolate coffee syrup, and SF German Chocolate Cake coffee syrup is my current favorite. And there are dozens of flavor varieties so I'm never bored. The visits to the coffee shop, then, are saved for social times or special occasions -- and honestly, many times I find myself thinking I actually like my own homemade coffee better.

I never feel deprived that way. I feel normal! In fact, now I make those choices pretty much without thinking about them.

And that's the way I've always wanted it to be!