Cheat days, detours, and self-respect

I've posted before about my weight loss journey. And like all journeys, sometimes there are detours. And by detours I mean periods of time where a cheat meal turns into a cheat week -- or month.

Granted, I am a firm believer in not depriving yourself. So I believe that having a "cheat meal" here and there is a good thing. Personally, it keeps me sane. Sometimes I just really want a cupcake -- like REALLY want a cupcake -- and it ends up being better for me to just eat it. Otherwise I lose my mind and end up bingeing for an entire weekend. Regardless, I haven't exactly been living a "healthy" lifestyle since sometime around late May. Between getting a puppy, gigs, packing/moving, and spending as much time with friends and family as possible........I got off track. But then it was all about getting settled, finding a job, and a number of other excuses. To be honest, I just didn't want to put in the effort. 

DIET TIP: Your pants will never get too tight if you don't wear any. 
Don't listen to me -- that's terrible advice. I just thought it was funny. But I apparently followed that mantra for the past several months. My pants got tight​. Ugh.

So my little detour resulted in gaining some of the weight back that I had fought so hard to lose. Fortunately the amount pales in comparison to the total that had been lost, so it's not the end of the world. BUT.......I will never let myself go the way that I did before. I won't go back to that place. That place sucked. So I'm back on track, but I'm paying for my little detour. It's super easy to break good habits, but really hard to form them. So here we are again.

Enter Advocare. This gem of a product line was what kickstarted my weight loss in the very beginning -- more specifically their 24-day challenge. It helps to zap the water weight you're carrying around then goes on to help you lose a little more to jump start your weight loss. It involves various supplements and such, but mostly focuses on clean eating. You're not supposed to have coffee, which I generally have every day, so that sucks..........and you're not really supposed to drink, especially in the first 10 days, which really blows. It's all water weight I'm sure, but I'm already down 5 1/2 pounds and today is only day 5. So that's cool. 

Why am I telling you about Advocare? Because I'm selling it!!!
I'm totally kidding -- I'm not selling anything. Advocare just happens to be my catalyst of choice for getting back on track. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fries, pizza, greasy chinese food, pasta, ice cream, cupcakes, and many more things that are not waistline-friendly......but eating that way all the time makes me feel terrible. As I'm re-learning, it's all about moderation. But more importantly, it's about loving myself enough to take care of myself. 

When you think about it, unless you have some sort of medical condition that makes it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle, isn't not taking care of yourself a form of abuse? I know it is for me. Before I decided to make a change back in 2014, I didn't have enough respect for myself to treat my physical self well, which bled into other parts of my life. I didn't like who I was then. The detour I've been on these past several months, while temporary, was a glimpse into the past -- and I didn't like it.

So like I did in the beginning, I'm making a change and committing to loving myself again. A tea bag inspired me to write this post, believe it or not. I'm a big fan of Yogi teas, and I love that each tea bag has a positive message on it. This is what yesterday's morning tea said to me:

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​So whatever it is that you need to do to live with self-respect, don't make excuses, just do it. Love yourself. Only then can you truly love others.