I have a wicked sweet tooth

I was just in Southern California from Feb. 23rd-28th. I had a lot of time to reflect on my life, where it's been, where I'm at, and where I want to go.

I was in California for a wedding. Lots of family and childhood friends were there. I went to Disneyland, a rehearsal dinner, a wedding, a wedding reception, a dinner after the reception, a hotel with Keith, and then flew home. There were lots of opportunities to eat and there were lots of sweets.

I worked out three times while I was there and two of my favorite times were swimming outside in February. When I swim I think about a lot of things and my weight loss was one of those. I have been very frustrated with my current weight gain. For those of you that follow my journey know that I lost 106 pounds and know that I gained 40 of it back after getting sick and diagnosed with Chron's disease. I was told by doctors and numerous people that the weight would just fall off after I went off the steroids. Well, I have been off steroids for awhile now and the weight still isn't coming off.

With all the working out that I do, the weight should be coming off, and it's not really. Yes, here and there I am having some weight loss success, but really not what I should be, so on the plane ride home I really revaluated what is going on in my life as far as my eating and my weight loss efforts.

I came to this main conclusion. I HAVE A WICKED SWEET TOOTH. I got into some really bad, old habits when I was sick and couldn't really eat anything healthy. Sweets were ok for me to eat, according to the doctor, and I took advantage of that. I have been having sweets everyday basically and the thing is, is that I can't just have one or one serving. I have to have the whole package or a lot of whatever it is. I saw this happen more than once in California.

I have also noticed that I have let my portions get big again, so I have committed to these three things and need your help holding me accountable:

1. I am having no sweets except for gum and the occasional Latte (which is only 4 points on WW) until I go on a trip at the beginning of April. The reason I say until that trip is because my best friend, Darlene, and I are going on our 25 year Friendiversary trip to Hershey Pennsylvania. I have to have a little bit of chocolate while I am there. I will not be going crazy there, but will be having some.

After that I will have no sweets until May 15th, my 1/2 marathon and then after that I will allow myself one sweet thing per week on Saturday or Sunday One thing that I love about Weight Watchers is that you can eat whatever you want on the program as long as you figure out the points. However, sweets have become a problem for me, so I will be taking a break for a month and see how it goes after that.

2. As I looked back over my eating journal I noticed that I have not been paying close attention to my portion sizes. So, I am committing to measuring and weighing everything that goes into my mouth. I don't know how long I will do this, but I will do it until I get my portions under control.

3. I have also committed to eating lower carbs in my diet. I feel like the more carbs I eat the more I want them. Most of my carbs will be coming from fruits and veggies and that I will eat higher protein. I know that some of you may have a problem with this, but I need to do what is best for me and this is it. I know my body and know what I need to do.

This journey is not an easy one. The day it gets easy is the day I need to worry. There is always something that I can adjust and make better. There is always something to learn. If I want to be an Ironman, I need to tweek these areas now, so I can make my dreams become reality. No amount of sweets that I eat will taste as sweet as crossing the finish line at Ironman 2012.