My birthday next week

TGIF! It is going to be my birthday next week Wednesday and I will be 33. I have to say the last year has been a good year for me. It was hard but a good year of growing and learning more about myself. Is it ever easy to see all the things you were doing wrong? My co-worker always told me the 30's were really good, but I never believed her. I think I do now. Anyway, I am really excited to see what my boyfriend gets me for a gift. He won't tell me of course and I haven't given him any ideas...I wonder?

It is the time of year that my sweets eating starts to get out of control. Yesterday we had a November/December b-day celebration at my office. My co-worker brought in a variety of cookies, brownies and ice cream..my favorites! I had a brownie w/ ice cream and a cookie and decided to stop there. I had flexpoints to cover it plus some but I kind of realized as I watched people eat and eat that it was not worth it to have more. I am so happy with where I am at, that I didn't want to overindulge. I love that my pants are loose and I like feeling healthy and not bloated. I don't think my other weight loss attempts where ever so insightful or conscious.

Past weight lost history: My first large weight loss attempt involved Herbalife. My co-worker's wife had lost 30 pds and I asked her how she did it and she said she sold Herbalife. So I bought some and started losing weight. I drank 2 shakes a day and they were quite good at the time....but lost their appeal a year into it. Had a meat and 2 veggies for dinner and that was it. I did not give into sweet cravings but I did take some form of ephredra that was in their green tea pills. I think that really suppressed my appetite. Anyway, I think I did that for over 2 years...even though it was really boring and I wanted sweets the whole time. I did not excercise at all. I started at 216 and got to 165. When I quit doing it I gained up to 185 for a while then gained up to 207. I think I did this solely by eating peanut butter cup flurries and mini candy bars at work. Oh, and I didn't know this at the time, but I lost all my muscle. I was fatter after this diet bigtime! I also think it may of been responsible for my hypothyroid..but I don't know for sure.

I got back up to over 200 again. I then started weight watchers (at work) and lost 25 pds in a year. I also quit doing that and gained back up to 206 after reading a book a nutritionist told me to read....what was it? It was a book about eating what you want when you crave it and you will naturally be at a weight that is healthy for you. That is not true, at least not for me. I started eating pop-tarts excessively. I also during this time had developed ganglian cysts on both of my feet pads and they made it painful for me to excercise. And of course I met my boyfriend and I gained the "love ten" or "fifteen".

Last February I got a good foot doctor and he gave me cortisone shots, my foot problem is gone. Now I am doing weight watchers on my own and have lost a little over 10 pounds. I excercise on the treadmill and lift weights 3x a week. If I have cravings for something I have it. If I go over in points I say I will do better tommorow. I stopped being strict and hard on myself and I feel this is a better way to go.