Splurges, Plateaus, and Set Backs

Life is hard. Living healthy is hard. And living unhealthy is hard. No matter what, you need to work for everything you have and everything you want.

I’m going with the theme that Bariatric Surgery is not “Taking the Easy Way Out”. No matter what diet you decide to pursue, it’s going to be hard. And a whole new lifestyle is really hard, because at the end of the day, losing weight (and keeping it off) is hard.

Every day, I pour over nutrition facts. Specifically protein. How can I make my protein goals for the day? It’s exhausting, to be honest. There’s nothing easy about this lifestyle.

Old Habits Die Hard

The hardest part is when old habits start to come back and you have to fight them. When you walk through the market, and you think, why shouldn’t I buy this dark chocolate almond bark? And then you manage to eat 3 servings over the course of an hour and a half, you remember, that’s exactly why I shouldn’t buy it.

Lately, my downfall is goldfish. My husband has taken to buying the super box of goldfish from BJ’s because my kids devour them. But that makes it easy for me to splurge every night on a bowlful of them. Now I will admit, I weigh the bowl and make sure I’m having only one serving. But sometimes I go back for a second serving. The willpower it takes to just ignore that huge bag of fishies is hard.

I won’t lie. Chocolate almond bark and goldfish make life difficult when you’re trying to lose weight. I’ve continued to steadily lose (at least 1 lb per week), but I know that if I ignored those temptations, I could lose more.

Protein Power

Every morning, I get 8-9 grams of protein off of 1 cup of milk. This is just from my coffee. Yes, I use an entire cup of skim milk in my coffee. I make an “Italian coffee” every morning – think latte from Starbucks…

Lunch is often leftovers from the night before.

Dinner is usually a recipe of my own making, most likely updated over time to reduce carbs and fat and amp up the protein.

Snacks are usually cheese sticks. Or hard boiled eggs.

And then there’s the cocktail of vitamins that I take on a daily basis.

And the never ending question: Can I add protein powder to this? How will it react? Will it taste OK?

Losing Weight is Hard

I don’t care what anyone says. Keeping up with good habits to maintain a good diet is difficult. And maintaining a good exercise routing is difficult too. Those damn goldfish are my downfall and they lead to plateaus, so I know that I need to devise a plan to stay away from them. Willpower must previal!