Looks Like I Need Help to Stay Fit, After All

In an earlier blog post, I asked the question, “Can I Stay Fit on My Own? I wondered if I needed to become a life member of the weight-loss program that I have been own. I reached my goal weight, and because the date to renew was imminent, I decided to cancel the subscription. I believed that having learned the basics of what to eat and how to maintain my weight, that I didn’t need my hands held, but I was wrong.

Within two weeks, I had gained back three pounds! I stopped writing down what I ate and when. I didn’t know or seem to care about how many points I may have consumed in a day. Then, I read one of the blogs I follow, and in it was pictures of one of my childhood favorite foods: Moon pies. I am, after all, from Tennessee where moon pies were created.

I ordered four boxes of the mini size moon pies from Amazon, in chocolate, vanilla, and banana flavors. I believed that I could handle the smaller size and still maintain my weight loss. Well, that didn’t work so well, mainly because, as I have written before, I don’t understand the word moderation.

I found that I needed to eat three of the minis at a time to feel sated. I didn’t even look up how many points each mini moon pie represented, assured that they were at least half of the larger ones. So, when I stepped on the scales and saw the results of eating them, I did my homework and was appalled at the number of points I was consuming at one sitting!

Admittedly, I was happy and contented, as eating the moon pies brought back memories of some of the few good times I remember as a child. Sweets were few and far between in the homes where I was raised, and possessing a moon pie was close to achieving nirvana for me when I was a little girl.

Recently, eating that sweet, gooey, marshmellow taste transported me back to days of playing outside with my cousins, back when we were not allowed to return into the house until just before dark descended. We would play jump rope, hide and seek, and house, wherein the boys would pretend to go to work and the girls would mimic cleaning and cooking, utilizing leaves from the trees as food. We would laugh and make fun of our parents, somehow believing that when we were adults, we wouldn’t be like them.

So, now, I have decided to go back on the program, with a new goal of losing five more pounds than my previous goal. I have been back to counting points for three days, and the numbers on the scale is headed once again in the right direction. I have only had one moon pie in three days, and I savored it for as long as possible! I will work them into a balanced diet.

I don’t plan to remain on the program for the rest of my life, but I can have the courage to know that, for now, I need the help. In these days of COVID-19, it is so important to be healthy and fit, and that is more so for me because of my medical issues. Goodbye, my sweet Moon Pie, and hello, sardines, vegetables, and salads. It just ain’t the same!