I’ve been generous in sharing with y’all the success of my journey in trying to lose a few pounds, but I feel like I’m not giving you the full picture. I likely would have lost even more weight by now except that there are plenty of things still holding me back.

Situations that still prompt a big ol’ fat FAIL.

• Free food. I used to tell myself that free food was as good as healthy food … doesn’t everyone think that? Unfortunately, the free food that crosses my path is almost always calorie-laden and high in Weight Watchers points. In the past week, I’ve had a piece of cake at work (probably in the vicinity of 8 points), a 13-point chocolate chip cookie from Bruegger’s Bagels and bags of Cheetos and Fritos all given to me. And I ate them all.
• Foods in bags. When I’m at home, I must resist the urge to open a bag of food like a bag of potato chips. Because when I open them, I can’t stop eating them. When I take stuff like this to work, I measure out my portions into a baggie and then there’s no threat of overeating. You think this method would work at home, but you’d be wrong. I can measure out a portion, put away the bag and sit down to eat my food. But as soon as I’m done consuming that perfectly measured portion it’s like an alien force enters my body, walks me to the pantry and forces my hand back into the bag for more, more, MORE.
• Dessert. My taste buds expect and demand something sweet to cleanse my palette after lunch and dinner. I tried so very, very hard one night this week to fight the desire for some chocolate after a dinner which left me feeling very full, but it consumed my thoughts. I tried brushing my teeth — a trick that works for many, but for me it did not. I gave in to the chocolate. Fortunately I’ve been able to keep myself satisfied on 1-point pieces of dark chocolate (one at a time) and little 1-point Weight Watchers brand chocolate cakes (small but devine). But I can’t seem to ween myself from them.
• Exercise. I like being active, but when it comes down to it I’m still pretty lazy. I still have a hard time making myself go to the gym/go for a run/get in the pool/break out the Dance, Dance Revolution. I was never like this as a kid — I was always on my bike or in the pool or running around at color guard practice. (Yes, color guard. Go ahead, make fun of me. I’ll wait.) As I’ve gotten older, Newton’s first law has had greater bearing on my life. I’m pretty sure BravoTV and my bloglife plays a huge role in this.

I’m sure being able to identify my weaknesses is half the battle, but as far as figuring out the other half? I have yet to do that.