Days 87-109 - A little break, but I'M BACK!!!!!

Diet is a dirty word.   (It's also 4 letters, which is usually not good.)  To say that I'd been on a "diet" for 86 days would be an interesting way to say it, and an inaccurate way also.  The word diet implies limitations, sacrifice, avoidance, torture!  A better way to describe a long term diet would be "Lifestyle Change."  This includes making better choices, creating, trying new things and improving habits.  For the first 86 days of my daughter's life, I started the trend toward lifestyle changes.  I did GREAT for about 30-40 days.  Then I did fairly well for a few weeks.  Then Vacation and the end of summer came and I did OK.  All the way through, I never slipped back completely into the old lifestyle.  Instead of eating healthy once in awhile and falling back on bad foods, I made bad choices once in awhile and fell back on better choices.  I would say that this was a successful run. I lost 21 pounds and felt great.

For the past 23 days, I needed a break from the blogging.  It is a lot of work and  I like to do a good job of it, make it entertaining for you to read.  Did you know I was averaging about 375 views per day?  That really helped keep me on track.  The past few weeks, I have fallen back on SOME bad habits.  My breakfast is one that I have not been able to shake since school started up again.  BUT my crazy awesome wife has been cooking a lot, meaning lots of healthy dinner and lunch leftovers.  I have tried to keep up on the water drinking instead of lots of diet soda - keeps me hydrated in a good way - when i drink more water, I feel more refreshed and usually make better food choices.  Part of why I stopped writing was the amount of time it takes and I've been overwhelmed at work.  The other part is that I was making at least 1 bad choice almost every day and I didn't think the purpose of the blog was to make excuses every single day about what I was eating.  I didn't need to justify it every day.  AND I didn't think that was what you were all trying to read about.  What I will say is that 23 days went by since my last write-up and I have lingered in the same weight zone - going up or down 2-3 pounds at max at any given time.  But it's not about the weight.  Sure I have kept it off by not going off the reservation at all with my eating, but I definitely don't feel as good as when I was making better choices more often.  SOOOOO, I'm ready to get back on the train. 

I'm not starting over at day 1, because I don't feel like I have failed the last 23 days.  I just haven't done AS WELL and I have not written about it.  When I think about the long term journey, my intentions are to lose 50 pounds.  I am currently down 19.8 and it has happened over the course of 109 days.  Sure, I was there 30+ days ago, but the days that have passed since then still exist.  They are part of the long term project.  I slipped up and have not been doing great, but I did not fall off the wagon.  So here we are.  I've actually had some requests to get back to it (the blog, anyway.)  People have told me they miss it and others have just inquired as to how I've been doing.  It's motivating to share it with people and I guess when it's going well, people enjoy reading about positive stories. 

I'm going to do my best to keep it up daily, keep it entertaining, and make as many good choices as I can. 

THE BREAK MATH

While I was on my break, I kind of came up with an informal math theory of food choices.  80/20.  80% good choices + 20% other options will lead to long term positive results.  Now due to allowing the 20% of imperfections, that may bring my productivity to 60% BUT it is a better formula for long term results.  It may take me 6 months to lose 20 pounds  this way instead of 4 months (random numbers I just made up) but the post-weight-loss-fall-out will be much easier to deal with because I will not have starved my brain of pizza, ice cream, cookies or other things I love . . . . . . 20% of the time is the key.  If I cut everything out cold turkey, then when I reach my goal and reintroduce everything back, it will all just pile back on.  

So J-DOC is back! (I think.)  Back on track.  Day 110 coming up.  Wish me luck and happy reading!

80/20.  Here we go!