The Unraveling

Hello?  Is anyone still reading this blog?  I have been avoiding it because I have been avoiding dieting and coming to a diet blog when you're not dieting is masochistic.  But I gotta get back on that horse because I'm only ten pounds down and I have 16 more to go before I start the long, steady process of gaining it all back plus ten extra pounds reach my goal.

The unraveling started when I went on vacation to Washington D.C. with my kids.  I figured that my sister was also eating healthy so the eating wouldn't be a problem, and we would be walking miles and miles every day, so the exercise wouldn't be too terribly interrupted.  We did walk miles and miles and miles; to the point that my butt-sides hurt and my feet would actually swell, but I ate like a little piggy.  Pizza, ice cream, fried food, pasta, hot dogs, more hot dogs etc. etc.  I've been back for over two weeks and have yet to get back to the good, healthy eating/exercise regimen.

This past weekend I ate HORRIBLY and I think I'm paying for it with pain and agony right now.  My knees and hips are inflamed and hurt in the extreme.  I think that may have something to do with my diet consisting mostly of fatty meat (is chicken skin considered "meat"?), potato salad, ice cream, and donuts the past few days.  No fruit, no vegetables (except potato salad) and an excess of sodium and sugar; and about as much activity as a 50 year old sloth.  Could that cause inflamed joints?  I bet it could.  I literally poisoned myself.  Either that or I have some other disease. So now I'm sitting on my couch with a heating pad on my knees, feeling sick and bloated and sorry for myself, and longing for the days (a few weeks ago) when I was eating well, exercising regularly and feeling like a teenager.

Why do I ever go off the diet?  That is the eternal and frustrating question, isn't it?  It's like I'm constantly sabotaging myself.  Just this afternoon I was driving home from work and told myself that when I got home I would exercise right away (mostly to get it out of the way, but partially to see if that relieves some of the joint pain), and not eat anything except roasted vegetables for dinner, and fruit for snacks.  Good plan, right?  Well, I got home and I ate the remainder of a bag of pita chips (there wasn't that much left), and now I'm sitting on the couch, decidedly NOT exercising, and seriously considering having tater-tot hotdish for dinner.  I don't even really like tater-tot hotdish, but I feel like I should have something made with a "cream-of" soup because it's cold and clammy outside.  What is wrong with me?