Balance

Not my strong suit. I tend to go full-steam ahead. With everything. 100% commitment to whatever it is that I decide to commit to. This is not always in my best interest. Sometimes I am so committed to being committed to my commitments that I forget to be balanced. For me, that often means self-care. Being in school for social work, spending 24 hours/week in an inner-city school counseling kids about their issues requires balance. Next year I will be working at an agency that serves children & families who've been abused. Heavy stuff. I need to continue to learn how, when other things & people are demanding my attention & energy, to take care of myself. Balance.

After taking a lengthy 'break' from my extremely restrictive diet, and gaining too many pounds to count here, I decided to go back to basics. The basics that I learned at Weight Watchers back in the day about choices and calories. The basics that helped me to lose my first, I dunno, 32 pounds. Granted, I have managed to lose 16 more on my own, but it took me a whole lot longer when I started following a bunch of different diet plans. I'm not discrediting them. My body has changed, and I definitely subscribe to the importance of protein and veggies and lifting heavy. But it's easy for me to just restrict. I have the discipline to eat a very regimented diet plan, but it's actually harder to say 'I can eat whatever I want, but I need to make good choices within a caloric budget'. Balance.

I have to confess - I am way off track for my birthday goal. Now, my goal is just to get back to my pre-Christmas goal. Bummer. But it is what it is. I'm training for a half-marathon, which will be the deadline for my final weight loss. I'm trying to stay away from the guilt and just move forward from here.

Back to basics. Let's see how it goes.