The Party's Over

Friday is Weigh In Day. It has been for me for many years. Sometimes I skip it, when I know I haven't been "good" lately. Lately I've been skipping it a whole lot. 

This morning I decided to face the music, even though I knew I wouldn't be happy with the results. 

And I wasn't. 

Most people would lose weight when they move to a new house, right? I truly thought that would be the case, that I would certainly drop a few pounds lugging all those boxes and working my butt off to get the house organized. 

Nope. I gained 3 lbs. On top of the weight I already wanted to lose. Which I hadn't lost yet. 

And I know why, too. 

I love good food. Love. Like, truly love. LOVE. Did I say love? 

I get excited at the thought of making a great meal for my peeps. I've been photographing my food for years, long before I ever thought about creating a blog. (FYI: Many of these photos are from the archives, from past homes, taken with my iPhone. Excuse the quality!)

This one is from my new home. A recent meal. Black angus cheese burgers made with the most amazing ground beef from a local farm. Garden fresh salad with all sorts of yumminess tossed in. Yumzers. 

And I also love cocktails. Many types, but especially my infusions. Like raspberry gin with a slice of lime. Pure heaven, right there. 

And sometimes I make food with cocktails. Like this bourbon vanilla cranberry sauce that I made the past two Thanksgivings. Best cranberry sauce EVER! Made with cherry bourbon to make it even more amazing!
http://www.eatliverun.com/bourbon-vanilla-cranberry-sauce/

And let's not forget a nice glass of wine paired with a great meal. More love. 

And sweet stuff like chocolate. Especially when made with....you guessed it, COCKTAILS! Like this Black Forest Cake made with cherry liqueur. Yup. Amazeballs. 

Did I mention cheese? I put it in/on almost everything. Cheese might just be my greatest weakness. 



Cheese is a big problem for me. Huge. Ginormous. 

And we can't forget my weakness for nuts. And nut butters. Which are actually good, in small quantities. However, not great if you are trying to drop some pounds. Or if you inhale them. 

Can you tell? I love food. Good food. And occasionally food that's not good for me. Like chips. And candy. And cookies. 

And lately I've been eating more of that "bad" food than I usually do, which does not make me happy at all. It's a vicious cycle. Once you have it, your body craves it. And I need to break the cycle. 

And eat more of this food.

Which I also love. But, let's be honest -  it doesn't quite satisfy the same way cheese does when your body is craving cheese. Or craving crunchy salty snacks. Or sweets like candy and chocolate and ice cream.  A pea pod out of the garden just isn't going to have the same satisfying effect, not immediately. 

But there's hope - because......the beauty of the whole thing is that the more you eat this type of food, the more your body craves this type of food - that's the magic!

Aren't our bodies wonderful? We can retrain them, and break the craving cycle. You just have to be ready. And now I'm ready. It took me a while, I had to "nest" in my new house for a few months and be ready to get back to taking care of me, not just the house, house, house. Well, I'm ready. It's time to break the cycle. It doesn't mean eliminating all the stuff I love, it just means reining it in and following the 80/20 rule again, where 80% of the time I make the healthy food choices, and 20% of the time I loosen up a little. 

Fortunately I love to cook. And I have a fantastic vegetable garden right outside my door. And it's the heart of the summer, when the farmers markets are in full swing. 

So, here we go again. For reals. I'm ready. 

Who's in?

xo