Healthy Life: Update

It's been awhile since my last health update, so I figure it's time for another. When I last updated you, it was right after the holidays, and I can tell you that since then, I've come to the conclusion that I'm a creature of habit...bad habits.

You've been a witness to my health updates over the years, and, consequently, the yo-yo-ing and the ups and downs I've had. While I can say that I've had relative success - via losing a large chunk of weight - I've struggled not to gain back weight. I've regained and re-lost 10 - 20 pounds more than a few times since my initial big loss and it's more than a little frustrating.

In order to combat this, I've tried different things:

1. Veganism, which initially helped me lose the aforementioned large chunk of weight, but once I got acclimated to eating a plant-based diet, it was easy to start eating unhealthily vegan.

2. I've counted my calories religiously for months and made a point of getting regular exercise.

3. I tried incorporating healthy snacks into my diet to combat crap.

4. I've tried resisting the junk food my co-workers bring in constantly.

5. I've even tried a plant-based Keto diet, which helped me lose the weight I gained (again!) over Winter plus a few more pounds.

While I've had some success with all of these things, nothing tends to stick overall. It's easy to tweak your calories when you're counting them constantly, it's hard to get exercise when you're down in the dumps & it's Winter (same goes for snacks and junk food), and I really missed carbs on the keto diet.

What I realized is that I have an addiction to food and that the only way I can successfully lose weight - and keep it off - is to break the addiction. I quit smoking 4.5 years ago, and I thought, "If I can break that addiction, I can surely break the other." So, I stopped counting calories, I went back to eating carbs, although I try and keep my overall carb count down and eat more healthy foods, and I started getting some kind of exercise again. Most importantly, I'm learning to break my food addiction. I eat just what I need when I need to eat it. I've stopped snacking (except for occasionally) and eat lighter meals.

So, what's the end result of all this, then? I'm down 85 pounds since I started this entire journey and am the thinnest I've been in years! While I'm excited about my progress, I'm quick to remind myself that I have a long way to go. Breaking my food addiction was hard at first, but it gets easier every day and I'm proud of the success I've had thus far. 

What have been your struggles? What have been your accomplishments? Let me know in the comments.