Day 169 - For the Rest of My Life... REALLY?

Somedays this maintenance thing seems really easy... eat my regular foods (that I love)... avoid splurges. NO PROBLEM. Although, sometimes when I get to thinking that I have to be careful of my eating for the rest of my life in order to stay slim... I start to get down on myself. But then I realize, there are CERTAIN things that YES, I will have to do for the rest of my life. But there are other things I can stop doing... (not yet though, I really want my body to become used to being 125-130lbs for a while first)...

THINGS I HAVE TO DO FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE:

1. Weight myself every morning. Really, this isn't too onerous, it takes 3 seconds, and it will help me to notice and correct any upward trends early.

2. Eat healthy *most* of the time.

3. Exercise.

4. Avoid Binging. Overeating once in a while (OK), mindless binging when I'm not even hungry (WAY NOT OK).

THINGS THAT I CHOOSE TO DO NOW, THAT I DON'T HAVE TO DO FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE:

1. Counting Calories. Right now this gives me comfort, and I will continue... but as long as I weigh myself everyday, I don't think I also have to count calories - if I decide to stop, I will do so without guilt. Besides, I can always go BACK to counting calories at any time I want.

2. Tracking. My daily ritual of tracking everything I eat, and my weight etc in an excel spreadsheet is fun... but time consuming (and possibly a little obsessive). I could stop that, if I chose to. I think I can remember what weight I'm suppose to be, from day to day without logging and charting it...

3. Blogging. Also time consuming. It helps with the motivation and accountability, but will I do it forever and ever? Probably not.

4. Weighing everything I eat. Similar to counting calories, if my weight stays fairly constant do I really need to keep weighing everything? This one would be hard to stop, because I know it is easy to let those portion sizes slowly creep up. But I could also opt for a mixed approach... e.g. weigh calorie dense items (meat, pasta, rice, cheese, peanut butter), stop weighing vegetables and fruits, stop weighing things that are already portioned out (e.g. a slice of bread, a bagel).

There is probably more that I could add to these lists. But one thing that I don't know if I will ever be able to change, is the way my food intake and my weight is ALWAYS at the forefront of my mind. I can never truly forget about it. It's on my mind, it's always there and it plays into everything I do... sometimes that bothers me... why can't I just go about my life without worrying about what I'm eating, and how much I'm exercising?? Sadly, though, in my experience, if I stop thinking about it and planning everything, it means my guard is down and I've gotten lazy and I will probably start gaining weight...

Here is what I ate yesterday. I have a big weekend coming up (Dinner Event Saturday, Breakfast Out Sunday, Bookclub Sunday, Business Trip Mon-Tues)... so I am trying to bank a few calories this week... (see how I'm THINKING ABOUT IT... GRRR).