Man, I gotta tell you, this clean living thing has been tough. I just can't seem to get back up on the horse.
For those that don't know, last summer I dove into a pretty hard core diet. I basically dropped down to 600 calories a day of nothing but protein shakes. And it worked. I kept at it for something like 8 or 10 weeks, and I lost about 47 lbs., and about 4 inches off my waist.
Then Thanksgiving came. I had planned to take a break around this time, what with a vacation and the holidays coming up. And that too worked. I went back on food, and managed to maintain my weight for a couple of months. But then I decided to start back in early this year. Well, I've tried twice, and having nothing to show for it, except actually having gained back about 15 lbs, and 1 inch. ARGH!
Here are the reasons I think I've failed so far:
- Women: I started feeling more confident, and was actaully on a pretty big roll in the woman department. Problem is, women require wining and dining, not to mention drinking, and this is just not condusive to dieting.
- Work: I started a new job at the end of last year, and for the first time in a long time I work at a real company. This is good, except for the monthly birthday cakes, the weekly bagel day, assorted lunchtime meetings, and of course the obligatory happy hours. Don't get me wrong. I really like my new job a lot. But I also can't really resist happy hours, and I'm a drunk eater if there ever was one.
- Booze: For the above mentioned reasons, I started drinking again (which I had not been doing during the hard core diet). When I drink, I eat.
So, I'm hoping that the third time truly is a charm. I started back on the diet today, and I'm going to swear off drinking for a few months again. At least until I get back down to say 10 lbs below my last low point.
Anyway, we'll see what happens, but since the women have mellowed out, and work folks have more summertime things to do than just drink after work, I'm hoping that this will be a good time for me. Let's hope so.