Well, I said I would be real, so here goes...

My first planned cheat day turned into closer to a cheat week.

Yeah, it's Christmas time and its not easy to turn down all of the goodies around me. Motivation is a hard fish to catch sometimes, but it is really the key. I wish I know the magic formula to get and maintain motivation. We all know what works in weight loss--exercise and eating a reduced calorie diet with the proper nutrition. But actually doing those things unless you naturally crave celery 90% of the time (which I do NOT!) or have a job that keeps you moving all day (again which I do not...) takes a little something extra. When it hits, its great! Especially when it actually sticks around for longer than a day, but I'm never totally sure how I get there.

I remember being really angry with my ex when our relationship went south, and I looked at me losing weight as a means to get back at him and make him regret being such a skeeze. That worked like magic. And I know at least a dozen other girls that lost their excess fat on the break-up diet. So yeah...that is a very effective trigger for motivation. But it's really not the most emotionally healthy way to go either.

Now I want to get in shape for myself, so that I can feel confident enough on the outside to let Me show through. I'm a singer, and I love to perform, but it is diminishing to me to look in the mirror and see all of my flaws before I get on stage and then worry if that is what people are seeing, rather than hearing my voice.

Not that I would mind hearing a "Wow you look amazing!" from the boyfriend, either...

With that said, I have been back on track for about a week now. I have stuck between 1200 and 1600 calories every day and worked out for 1 to 1 1/2 hours everyday as well. Last time I weighed in, which was about 2 days ago, the scale showed 144. Since it had crept up to 150 during my previous week of debauchery, that means 6 pounds down! I'm sure a lot of it is water weight, but if I keep this up I will get past that and see that number begin to drop consistently.

I have not yet followed through on my promise of pictures and measurments...sorry. I'll dig my tri pod out soon, wherever it is :)