Let's try this again . . .

It's been a long, long time, but I'm going to try to do this blog again. I am trying to get back on a diet and I'm hoping this will help my accountability.

What's happened in the meantime? Well, a lot of nice things, actually. I lost about 50 pounds on HMR in the fall '06 and spring '07. I did the decision-free product-only program, and I was "in the box" (no straying) from late October '06 until mid-March '07. I took HMR entrees to banquets and even a few restaurants. A sad thing that happened during that period was my grandmother passing away, but my decision-free discipline on my diet gave me some amount of control during a difficult time, and I took comfort in that.

By February '07, I was turning heads, and I met a wonderful man who turned out to be my soulmate, and we married earlier this year. As I went into maintenance last summer, he encouraged me to eat more indulgent things. He meant well -- he didn't want me to be deprived. He has also dealt with the pain of weight issues before, and I think he bent over backwards to make me feel comfortable no matter what I ate.

But of course, I gained my weight back as I kept on eating. I gained about twenty-five pounds by the time I got married, but I still looked pretty in the wedding dress. (My husband says I was the "most beautiful thing he'd ever seen", and I believe him.) In the six months since the wedding, however, I went nuts and gained another thirty pounds, and am now about nine pounds heavier than when I started HMR in October 2006. It was a combination of "yea, no more dress to try to fit into anymore!" and some mild depression over losing my job not long afterward. I kept going to maintenance classes (I had already paid for a year) and sometimes met the maintenance minimums, but I wasn't really into it. However, I didn't feel I could afford to restart HMR's weight loss program, so I was happy to hear that they were doing a summer "Blitz", where you do short weight-loss classes but don't pay anything extra except for a minimum food purchase.

So, I go back in the box tomorrow, though I had a good "transition" day today -- I had salads with chicken and salmon on them, but I didn't have any bread, alcohol, or junk food, and I had a double HMR shake. I've got my wonderful husband's support, too, so that will help me a lot. I feel like I'm just in the right mind set to take this on, at least for the next four weeks of Blitz.

Wish me luck!!!!!