The Best French Fries Ever!

My friend has been visiting and the summer vibe that leads to beer and ice cream (not together, but often in the same meal) has really intensified.  I've had more beer in the last week than in the previous six months, cruise included. And it's all been a choice, though not necessarily a wise one. I've stopped logging all my food. I'm exercising, and trying to drive up the activity level, though not necessarily being successful at that.

Here's what's ironic:  I've hit some major milestones of success. My weight on the scale dropped into a new decade of numbers, and the cumulative weight loss hit twenty pounds from my peak around Christmas.  Even more exciting - today not one but two people commented on how I was losing weight and looked great.

All this success, or else just lack of mindfulness, has led me to a state of complacency.  Tonight, we went out to dinner at a hip restaurant ("we have to go somewhere I don't go with the kids!").  Jackies  Everything there is lovely, fresh, often organic and usually local. Don't know how this stuff racks up on the locavore scale, but it was off the charts for my personal gastronomy.  Cheese fries with truffles? Thin fries, so crisp, with fontina cheese and tiny slices of truffles in the cheese. A giant basket full. It could have been dinner alone. Sadly for my diet, we went on to eat dinner, but I'm getting a couple of lunches out of the doggie bags. I figured (always thinking) that used (I mean leftover) fries would be no good tomorrow but the entrees could stand the test of time.

I guess I'm standing at a cross-roads. Do I declare victory and stop focusing? Or do I go back to first principles and stay the course? My weight is roughly where I was when my life fell apart nineteen months ago.  But with the Big Loss, I went down another twenty-five pounds from where I am now. I know I could do it. I've got the tools and the skills and I can exercise the discipline. Do I want to? Do I want to badly enough to re-commit? To go through all the hassle of tracking and counting and saying "no thanks"? To not drink beer? To skip the ice cream cones?  Can I manage the calorie count to permit the taste of beer and the coolness of ice cream a couple of times a week, or is that just too far down the slippery slope I'm sliding down now?

I truly don't know the answer to these questions. I need to focus, alone, and decide where I want to be, how I want to budget my time and energy. Time to look at all the reasons I wrote down when I started this journey. Are the reasons still compelling enough to drive me? Have I achieved enough that the reasons are satisfied?

This sounds like a meditation best undertaken with the assistance of exercise. A very long walk would be in order. The weather has just broken from its hot spell, and the next couple of days are going to be conducive to outdoor exercise. No matter what I eat, I know I'm committed on the activity side. Strong and fit and flexible is what I want, badly enough to do what I need to do to get there.