It's That Time of Year Again

The boys have headed back to school.  Our company have all headed back to their respective homes.  The house is back in some semblance of order. Our regular everyday routine is slowly rolling back onto the tracks.  And, while most of our decorations are still up and we look forward to celebrating the Epiphany on Wednesday, the feeling of the season has definitely faded away. 

This always happens when the last of the Christmas Cookies has finally been eaten -- which happened yesterday.

And I am singin' the blues.

 I think I had to have gained ten pounds since Thanksgiving.  Our scale is broken, and I don't want to buy a new one. I'd rather not know.  But, I'm trotting out the old WW books... Not because I'm really going to do a rigid, canned dieting program, but because reading through their "points guide" is an excellent way to remind myself of all the foods I need to take out of my life.  Like everything I like.  Cheese.  Butter. Bread. Chocolate.  Siiiiigh....  But, it's do-able.  And necessary.  I hate feeling like over-risen dough.  My formerly-loose skirts are fitting me these days, and I can't breathe and wear my old favorite jeans at the same time. So it needs to be done.

But I hate dieting.  Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.  (I'm not having a coniption fit, friends, really... I'm just emphasizing that.  I. hate. dieting.)

So, I'm writing this post to try and rev my engine.  Or maybe even just turn it on.

I'm giving myself a talking to.
Self:

 It's already the fourth day of a new year, and you've succeeded in denying yourself absolutely nothing since the annual health-and-weight-related New Year's Resolution.  Seriously.  You really could have done without that French Silk Pie on Saturday, and the cookie pops on Sunday, and the tub of butter popcorn at the movies this afternoon.  The cream and sugar  in your morning coffee and the glass of wine at bedtime really are not morale boosters, and you know it.  They are excuse-laden, addictive, and just no good for you.   You know better, girl!  You know you feel better when you're not carrying around this extra weight.  You know you want to be more energized, more disciplined, more on your game!  But nobody's going to do it for you, and making excuses only makes everything worse.  Get to it!  You can do it! 

Camera pans across the room to a three cow chorus singing: 

Put the butter down, girl,

Put the butter down!

Lay off the cheese, if you please,

And put that butter down.

Lay off the cream and sugar, girl,

Lay off the sugar and cream!

The coffee pot, it loves you not,

Lay off that sugar and cream.

Ain't no love in a cookie, girl

No cookie loves you true.

Caramel Caribou just laughs at you

And kicks you when it's through.

Here are a list of things for me to go through that have helped get the diet rolling before:

* Reading through the Faith-inspired healthful eating lifestyle plan I find over at Conversion Diaries.  Jennifer has an excellent take on the true incentive we should have for eating properly -- and living in a disciplined manner. 

* Having available lists of NYRSes (New Years' Resolution Salads) and other healthful eating sites:  All Recipe's Salads, Real Restaurant Recipes, Taste of Home Salads,  Weight Watchers, Epicurious

*Preparing an emergency stash of healthful, low-cal snacks to nibble on: raw almonds, low fat popcorn, fresh vegges and fruit...  And Skinny Cow in the freezer!

*Giving myself a "break day" every week where I don't go off the reservation, but eat a little bit of the things that I crave.

* Getting outside.  Breathing fresh air.  It's so easy in the winter to stagnate indoors!

*  Asking you for your tips. What works for you?