One of the 35 ghost lollis that Abby and I made 
I started thinking about my holiday baking plan the other day. With all the craziness of the past few weeks, I completely forgot to bake goodies for Abby’s class today. We did make ghost lollipops, so I didn’t totally flake out! But her birthday is in 8 days, so there must be cupcakes for that.
And then of course there is the typical holiday season of baking. Pumpkin bread, apple cake, pumpkin-apple cake (recent recipe – very yummy), possibly another attempt at pumpkin pie, butterscotch brownies, sugar cookies, butter cookies, oatmeal raison cookies, peanut butter cookies . . . you get the point.
So, I’ve been thinking about all of these yummy baked goods (most of which I will make with Splenda, but still) and wondering where that will leave me with my not-a-diet.
One day's worth of baking from last Christmas
In past years when I’ve dieted and the holiday season came up, I basically abandoned all hope and gave up until mid-January. But this year is different. I’m not dieting this year.
The difference between the 5 million diets I’ve attempted and my current not-a-diet is that I do not have to deprive myself of all goodies on a not-a-diet. What I have to do is enjoy them in moderation. I’m quite certain that I will be stealing a Reese’s Cup (or two) from my daughter’s trick-or-treat bag tonight . . . but I will not be stealing 5 or 6 or 12. I will enjoy ONE slice of cake at her birthday party. On Thanksgiving . . . ok, Thanksgiving is going to be tough . . . but this Thanksgiving I’ll be meeting my boyfriend’s family for the first time (yeah, after 4 years it’s about freaking time!), so I might just be too nervous to overeat . . . good plan, good plan.
And so on and so forth.
I may not lose massive amounts of weight over the next two months, but I will continue to move in a positive direction. Just as I did this week. No massive loss, but I am down 1 lb. from last week. And once again, it’s about progress not perfection.
People have always said not to try to rush weight loss . . . they say that it took a long time to put all that weight on, so it makes sense for it take a long time to take all that weight off. I never wanted hear that. Hell, I still don’t. I want to lose 5 lbs. a week and reach my goal weight by summer. I want to look at myself in a bathing suit this year and not cringe . . . Hell, I don’t want to have to explain to my daughter again why I’m wearing a t-shirt and capris over my bathing suit when we go swimming in the ocean.
But all those people are right. It has taken me 15 years to put all this weight on. If it takes me 2 or even 3 years to get it all off, I’m okay with that. I’ve never been okay with that before. Once again, it comes down to that shift in my mind. I think the mini-goals will help quite a bit in keeping me on track with that mindset.
Until I reach that goal, I will continue to celebrate each success – no matter how small they may seem.
