What have I accomplished- Where to go now

Thinking about all my failings over the past few days hasn't helped my mood much.  I've been thinking that I need to do better eating, need to eat less, and in general obsessing over how I was sabotaging myself by eating too much sugar.   So I decided that since this month is about not obsessing over the numbers on the scale, I would concentrate on things other than a number, like things I have been able to accomplish and what I still want to do.

One thing I have learned is the importance of making small changes, and once you have made a change and it starts to become easy, you can move onto the next thing.  Some things that I have accomplished and changed over the past year are below.

I have learned about portion sizes and now I make sure to only eat one serving at breakfast/lunch/dinner instead of several servings or just not measuring at all. 

I have implemented a workout regime and so now I exercise five days a week.  I have even added in weight lifting, something I never thought I would do.

I have taught myself about healthy eating habits

I have changed what I eat for breakfast, something I have wanted to do for a long time but have not been able to get a hold of. 

I have changed what I eat for snacks- I eat fruit and yogurt and veggies now instead of pretzels, cheese-its, teddy grahams, or chips

I eat 3-4 servings of fruit/veggies on most days (still a work in progress)

I cook healthier meals for dinner- no more cream cheese based meals.  I also try not to cook with canned cream of chicken/mushroom soup

That is a lot of changes to have successfully implemented into my life!  So what next?  Where do I go from here?  One thing keeps coming back to mind: sugar.  Sweet, sweet sugar.  My nemesis.  Sugar is what is killing me right now.  I will do very good for most of the week and as soon as the weekend hits, I tend to gorge myself on tons of sugar.  I eat everything I can get.  I will make cookies, brownies, and cake if we don't have anything in the house.  Today as I am writing this, I am in a sugar coma from the weekend.  I have had no energy today, been in a pretty lousy mood, fatigued, and tired.  Sugar does not make me feel good, and yet I crave it, and it is everywhere.  So easy to get, so hard to resist.  A while back I did a 30 day no desserts and candy challenge.  I think that it is time to make a change for good.   I remember that while it was hard not to eat desserts and candy on a daily basis, I felt better, had more energy, I didn't get sick to my stomach, and I lost a ton of weight really fast.  Although I hope that cutting back on sugar will help spur my weight loss, this time I am doing it for me instead of the numbers on the scale.  I don't like feeling lethargic.   I don't like feeling cranky and short tempered.  I don't like feeling weak and tired and fatigued.  I feel this way every time I load up on sugar and it always takes a few days to get the effects out of my system.  When I don't eat sugar and I make sure to eat my healthy snacks I don't crash in the afternoon. 

So from here on out I am making a new lifestyle change:  No desserts or candy except on special occasions (such as holidays and birthdays).  I don't want to cut it out completely, I am not sure I could live that way.  But there is no need to load up on it every weekend and ruin all the hard work I put in throughout the first part of the week.  What I did to help me make the transition a little easier is get some fiber one brownies (about 90 calories per brownie, plus it has the extra fiber) which help me feel like I was able to get a treat.  I also picked up a few weight watchers desserts that are 90 calories per serving.  Since they are in single serving packs I think it will be much easier to stay on track with them.  Remember, small changes first.  We will start here and see where it takes me.  If I feel like I am doing well and I have this down I might decide to go off all desserts and candy, even the weight watchers stuff except for special occasions.  It's not important right now.  Right now, it is important to focus on this new change I want to make in my eating habits. 

My motivation is mostly for getting my energy back, and not feeling so sick.