Lost a battle - but not the war

Last weekend I was feeling pretty smug.  So smug, in fact, that I had a blog post half-written in my head describing how I'd finally conquered my food demons and adopted a healthy lifestyle.  How I had made this lifestyle a habit, and that I couldn't picture going back to binging and watching TV every night.  How I was no longer addicted to sugar.

Yeah, right.

On Wednesday I received a package at work - a stack of documents from a coworker in the UK - and she put at least five pounds of chocolate in the package as a thank-you.  Five pounds of British chocolate - several varieties of Cadbury, to be exact.   The package came at the end of the day Wednesday and I ate about 200 calories worth.  Yum!  Then I rode my bike to Rena's and did my usual training & yoga session and rode home.  No problem, right?

Unfortunately the chocolate was still there on Thursday.  And I didn't bother packing food before work because we were having a group pizza lunch.  So off I went to work, empty stomach, nothing healthy on the horizon.  I stopped at Starbucks for my coffee and thought "oh, I need breakfast - I'll just treat myself to a package of Madeleines."  That was my first mistake - it's been months since I started my morning with a sugary breakfast and I think that has been key to my success so far!  When I got to work and saw the pile of chocolate, everything just fell apart.  The pull of the sugar was reignited within me and I couldn't stop nibbling.  Three pieces of pizza, two garlic knots and two brownies at lunch...pizza for dinner...now it is Sunday morning and I've been in a free-fall of pizza, sugar, salt & fat for three days.  And I haven't exercised once during that time. 

I'm not really worried about getting myself back on track - I feel so crappy, tired, sluggish, sick and foggy right now that I'm actually craving fruits and vegetables.  But I learned an important lesson this week - the time when you think you've conquered a problem is the precise time you need to be most vigilant!  I stopped paying attention to my fledgling healthy habits and they weren't strong enough to survive on their own.  I have been humbled yet again on this journey.

PS - On Friday I turned the chocolate over to a coworker with a much stronger constitution.  And an office with a door that locks.