And so the diet goes.....

I have been dieting...doing Weight Watchers...since May. Combined with all the running its produced excellent results and I am down by 20 pounds. (Smiling) But now we are entering fall....the hardest eating time of the year for me. Its been a rough couple weeks. (Not smiling) I have had 2 kids birthday parties to throw....and wanted to enjoy. I went to the Ladies Retreat at Bair Lake and gained 3 pounds there alone. Last night Sandor and I had a date night and I (naturally) wanted to splurge, and I attended a bridal shower this morning. Hmmm...so begins the slide down a slippery slope. Halloween and all its sugar are right around the corner, my Anniversary in next month, Bekah's birthday, Thanksgiving is in November, Sandor's Birthday in December and then Christmas. The entire month of December can be filled with baking. I like to give goodies to my neighbors and in fact just picked up some supplies for that today. And I like to "sample" every batch of cookies myself to ensure quality. SO what's a girl to DO? Some would say...go to a Weight Watcher meeting....its encouraging and motivating. That's an idea but unlikely for this busy girl. Keep running! No problem there. But any other suggestions for renewing my motivation? I COULD delegate some of the quality assurance responsibility to my dear hubby and kids when it comes to the baking. OR even forgo the gifts for this year. I know the neighbors like them but there seldom seems to be a shortage of treats and snacks at Christmas so likely it wouldn't even be missed and I could save myself considerable time and expense. As for the special occasions I just need to set some realistic limits for myself and try not to deviate.

So lets say...between now and the end of October...I have 4 events I will want to indulge at...the half marathon, my anniversary and halloween. I KNOW I am entitled to a small indulgence after the run...I will have burned 1300 calories. That should work out fine. And often I am not very hungry on long run days...its the day after that I feel it and find myself justifying extra indulgences. Hmm... Anniversary....well that's a special day...I think its worth a splurge. Bekah's party....obvious. But I can be careful. Halloween. Nothing special there at all its just the prevalence of the sugar that usually gets me. I can say I wont indulge but I thinks its pretty unrealistic. However I LOVE tootsie rolls and they are pretty low in points, relatively speaking. So I could have those on hand for me. AND if I make sure and do a nice long run that day I would have some extra points to utilize. That gets me through October. November actually shouldn't be too bad aside from Thanksgiving. But then comes December....well I am going to start by tackling tomorrow and then October and see what happens!