Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a most enjoyable time with your families and friends. I know I sure did. God has blessed our family with so much more than we could ever hope for and so much more than we deserve. This Christmas as we celebrated the birth of our Savior was no exception!

So here’s what’s interesting. I was SO anxious to get off plan that I went back to the office after my last weigh-in on Thursday and immediately had a cookie. Just one, but still. I was officially ready to eat whatever I wanted. I joked with people at work before I went to weigh in that I was going to stop at Taco Bell on my way back (and Dairy Queen, etc.). I didn’t do any of those things, of course, but it paints the picture to where I was psychologically on that day.

The plan was to not go crazy in portions, but to eat whatever foods I wanted in moderation until the 1st of the year, when I would go back on plan and hit it hard again.

So Thursday night, Friday and Saturday were GOOD food. I got to eat all kinds of things that I hadn’t eaten in awhile and our Christmas meal on Friday was fantastic. It was SO NICE to be able to sit at the table with my family and eat the same things they were eating!

Then an interesting thing happened. I was SO TIRED Saturday night. I didn’t feel sick at all or anything like that, but my body just didn’t feel like I’m used to it feeling. I felt sluggish and stuffed and it pretty much sucked. I didn’t eat a lot of anything, but the food was just so much heavier and richer than the foods I’m used to eating that I felt full QUICKLY.

So, I decided Saturday night to go back on plan yesterday (Sunday). What’s interesting is that I didn’t do it because I felt I had to or out of guilt because I ate off plan for 2 1/2 days. I went back on way before schedule because I simply wanted to!! O_O! This is not something I was expecting.

So I got on the scale yesterday morning, just to gauge the damage done before starting on plan again. I was up only 2 lbs from Thursday morning (maybe 2.2 or so). So I got back on plan and had raw and unfiltered apple cider vinegar 3 times yesterday to help flush out any water retention and when I got on the scale this morning, those 2 lbs were gone! I’m back to where I was on Thursday. YAY!!

In the end, I couldn’t be happier that I got to enjoy some fabulous food with my family, but that SlimGenics has clearly taught me how to do it right! This gives me great hope for my future of keeping the weight off once I finally get to my goal, which is a hope I’ve never really had before.

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!

…for getting sick, that is.

All weekend I had a terrible cold that was in both my head and chest. Finally yesterday I’m feeling better and I go to work. Get home last night and as soon as I walk upstairs this massive wave of nausea hits me like a ton of bricks and I’m down for the count for the night. It only got worse from there.

Now today I’m home from work (boo!) and trying to make healthy choices. Stomach feels better after eating breakfast this morning (a chocolate VHP = Very High Protein shake) and going back to bed until about 10:30, but now I’m actually starting to get hungry. While this is a good sign, I want to be careful, because I’m sure my stomach situation is tenuous, at best.

The good news is that despite my going COMPLETELY off plan last Saturday during Snowmageddon 2010 (I think we got about 17″ of snow and the pizza I blogged about was just the beginning… oops), I weighed in yesterday down 1.75 lbs since last Friday. No clue how that’s even possible, but I’m now at a total of 51.75 lbs!!

Of course, I got on the scale this morning and I was down almost a full 2 lbs since yesterday morning, but since that loss is from being sick, I’m sure it won’t stay. But it’s one small victory in a day of feeling like poo.

Hope everyone is having a better day than me!!