Despite a low weight of 150.4 mid-week, I am up 3.4 pounds from last week's weigh-in to rest at 157 lbs. 
BUT, no more events for the rest of the holiday season! Yay! 
I just have a box of Mom's christmas cookies and I'm home free! 
I would say 1 star for me this week, as I didn't hold entirely to my eating regimen but feel okay with my actions.
@cblasz, it most certainly is an addiction. The brain reacts to sugar the same way as hard drugs! I read something recently that said quitting food is harder than quitting drugs, but it's not just because we still have to eat (if you compare to alcoholics, for example, they still have to drink just not alcohol). Rather, it's more difficult because they don't sell heroine at every gas station and your mother doesn't give you cocaine to express her love. Unlike drugs, food is everywhere, and we are often hassled for rejecting it. And unlike drugs, we risk alienating and ostracizing ourselves by not joining in (one of the many reasons it's so difficult during the holidays). There's also an underlying belief (both individually and culturally) that if we don't partake we are somehow missing out on something that makes our lives somehow better. Imagine NEVER eating another bite of non-healthy food. NEVER eating another gram of sugar, cake, ice cream, cookies, chips, fries, or whatever the item you have a hard time resisting. For the REST OF YOUR LIFE. My first thought is, "What a sad life I will have." But would it be? I don't know.
I think the tough part is moderation. I don't know how to wrap my brain (or my habits) around the mostly-not-good-for-me-but-brings-me-some-measure-of-pleasure-and-is-okay-sometimes. NEVER seems too harsh, but ALWAYS or OFTEN is detrimental to other areas of my life. And SOMETIMES seems far too elusive, ambiguous, and difficult. This way of eating is definitely helping me find that sweet spot. I mean, there's only so much chocolate I can consume within my calorie limits.
But I don't see myself ever being able to do without a supporting eating system like 5:2 or measuring/weighing my food. There has never be a time in my life where it wasn't a massive internal struggle to stop at one slice of cake, so it's hard to imagine there ever being a time in the future where that becomes a non-issue. So, like you were saying, cblasz, it's all well and good until something happens that throws off the system/routine (sickness, special event, vacation, car breaks down, etc) and instantaneously you find yourself reaching for the nearest package of unhealthy food without hesitation. Because it's easy, because it's soothing, because we're bored, because we've been wanting it for the past three months and haven't let ourselves. Because it's exhausting to have to think about it all the time, sometimes we just want a break to not have to think about food at all.
I'm thankful you are all here, to listen to me blab and to share in my success and failures! Good luck to everyone this coming week!
P.S. If people are okay with it, and @Sassy1 would like a break, I'd be okay with moderating the January challenge when this one is finished. I tend to check the boards daily anyway, and it would give me extra reason to keep my eating habits in line.
BUT, no more events for the rest of the holiday season! Yay! I just have a box of Mom's christmas cookies and I'm home free! I would say 1 star for me this week, as I didn't hold entirely to my eating regimen but feel okay with my actions.@cblasz, it most certainly is an addiction. The brain reacts to sugar the same way as hard drugs! I read something recently that said quitting food is harder than quitting drugs, but it's not just because we still have to eat (if you compare to alcoholics, for example, they still have to drink just not alcohol). Rather, it's more difficult because they don't sell heroine at every gas station and your mother doesn't give you cocaine to express her love. Unlike drugs, food is everywhere, and we are often hassled for rejecting it. And unlike drugs, we risk alienating and ostracizing ourselves by not joining in (one of the many reasons it's so difficult during the holidays). There's also an underlying belief (both individually and culturally) that if we don't partake we are somehow missing out on something that makes our lives somehow better. Imagine NEVER eating another bite of non-healthy food. NEVER eating another gram of sugar, cake, ice cream, cookies, chips, fries, or whatever the item you have a hard time resisting. For the REST OF YOUR LIFE. My first thought is, "What a sad life I will have." But would it be? I don't know.
I think the tough part is moderation. I don't know how to wrap my brain (or my habits) around the mostly-not-good-for-me-but-brings-me-some-measure-of-pleasure-and-is-okay-sometimes. NEVER seems too harsh, but ALWAYS or OFTEN is detrimental to other areas of my life. And SOMETIMES seems far too elusive, ambiguous, and difficult. This way of eating is definitely helping me find that sweet spot. I mean, there's only so much chocolate I can consume within my calorie limits.
But I don't see myself ever being able to do without a supporting eating system like 5:2 or measuring/weighing my food. There has never be a time in my life where it wasn't a massive internal struggle to stop at one slice of cake, so it's hard to imagine there ever being a time in the future where that becomes a non-issue. So, like you were saying, cblasz, it's all well and good until something happens that throws off the system/routine (sickness, special event, vacation, car breaks down, etc) and instantaneously you find yourself reaching for the nearest package of unhealthy food without hesitation. Because it's easy, because it's soothing, because we're bored, because we've been wanting it for the past three months and haven't let ourselves. Because it's exhausting to have to think about it all the time, sometimes we just want a break to not have to think about food at all. I'm thankful you are all here, to listen to me blab and to share in my success and failures! Good luck to everyone this coming week!
P.S. If people are okay with it, and @Sassy1 would like a break, I'd be okay with moderating the January challenge when this one is finished. I tend to check the boards daily anyway, and it would give me extra reason to keep my eating habits in line.
this weekend!!!) And of course the scale is creeping up. I kept telling myself that I'll just deal with it after the holidays, which I will. But I decided today that I'm going to try to be a little bit better and not go completely off the deep end. I looked back at last year and I was pretty good last year until the week before and of Christmas. My weight is extremely close to 170 and I really don't want to get back to the 170s. So I'm going to try hard not to eat any extra sweets and stick to my plan as much as I can. I don't expect to LOSE weight, but if I can keep it below 170, that will be good!!
2018 Goals 
. That is 134lbs, and my BMI is 23.83. I so wanted to get down to a BMI of 22 before Christmas, but I do not think that is going to happen. Sassy, you can well give me a couple of more stars, if you like 
.
. Maybe that will be my Christmas weight. I am getting a bit tired of fasting when there are no results 
(I certainly haven't had a successful time of late...) But well done everyone for giving the challenge a go.
