Is it Christmas Yet!?

a.k.a. can I "legally cheat" on my diet yet? ;-)

I can tell I'm soooooo ready for a break from dieting right now, because I am barely hanging on by a thread all week and then falling on the weekends because I cannot wait to be able to eat some cheese, some ham, whatever!

I am anxious to just take a little break from the counting calories, worrying about every little thing that goes in my mouth, etc.

The problem is, I don't want to sabotage myself and gain back too much weight. I totally fell off the wagon last weekend, and now today we just had Culver's for lunch. And this week, I don't even have being snowed in by 17" of snow to blame...

I did weigh in this morning and my final tally for the week was 4 lbs, bringing me to a total of 54 lbs in my first 16 weeks.

Here's my concern: I'm way ahead of schedule (they told me today that I only needed to lose .9 lbs/week from here on out to finish before I'm out of weight loss weeks) and I was hoping to ring in the new year down 50 lbs, which I hit last week. Why is that a concern? Because I'm losing determination too early!

Tomorrow night I am taking my dad to the Vikings 50th Season Celebration and I was planning on eating whatever they served there. Friday is Christmas and we're making a traditional and yummy meal. The week after I have breakfast at Key's with my department at work for our Christmas celebration AND our small group is having a little party that week too. What does all this mean besides yummy?

It means that I have to be careful eating pizza and Culver's and all that just because!

So in the end, yes, I clearly need a little break. I am so beyond thrilled with my results so far, but it's really getting to me psychologically. Obviously, 4 months of strict deprivation is taking it's toll on my brain! Ha!

One thing that I have going for me is SlimGenics, though. Seriously. If I were still doing Weight Watchers, I would have stayed off my diet after last weekend until the end of the year. I would have probably gained back 15 lbs before the end of the month. But the support and accountability of knowing that I have to get on a scale in just a couple days and show the center what I've eaten (and step on the scale 3 times a week so I can't fib!) helps keep me focused on getting back on plan after going off for a meal, etc.

I just have to hang in there a little while longer... only a week or so until I can relax for a few days and stop worrying about it and feeling guilty when I do give in. Then I will have that "New Year's Resolve" to hit it hard again after the first of the year and finish the second half of my journey.

I just pray to the good Lord that I manage to maintain the 50 lbs of weight loss by then, because there is nothing worse than having to lose the same weight TWICE and prolonging the diet phase!