Lisa in Louisville, KY : 14 Days In

Well, we are 14 days into the new year and I have not even come close to my refocus goal until this week and even still I'm letting my "schedule" get in the way of exercise. Being a single mom and pretty reliant on my exercise classes instead of doing things on my own, I have not made exercise a priority in these last couple of weeks. I find myself making excuses that I did not make in the last year -- I have felt myself slipping back into old habits. Even with food - eating when I'm not hungry; eating garbage foods - and, lots of it. I felt things slipping away and found myself feeling so tired and grouchy.

After stepping on the scale Monday night, I saw that I've regained eight (8!!!!) pounds in the last month. I nearly cried. Instead, I pulled my hair into my ponytail and went on to my workout. I think that was the kick in my pants I needed to realize how easy it is to slip back to old habits -- I gave that aqua Zumba workout everything I had. Since Monday, I have tracked everything I've eaten in MyFitnessPal and exercised both Monday and Wednesday. I am realizing that I was once again eating to try to cover up feelings - my anxiety had ramped back up. I can't say that is 100% food related but I am curious about the correlation.

I have found myself feeling guilty about foods and exercise (or, lack thereof) and I am trying to work through those feelings. I don't want to feel guilty about anything - especially food. I find that if I tell myself I "can't" have something it just makes me want it even more. I have gotten this far with just moderation/counting calories and not totally cutting certain foods out. With that comes elimination of a lot of garbage but most days, I ate really well. This week, I'm back on that thought process.

On Saturday morning, I hope the scales will reflect the refocusing from this week. If not, I will reevaluate and continue to tweak things to find what works. I am trying to remember how far I've come since this time last year but keeping my eye on my ultimate goal of being at a healthy weight.