Time for a change - sparkpeople.com

The past 24 hours have been a complete and utter disaster on the healthy eating and exercising front. I was prepared going into my work Christmas party - made an effort to stay on plan all day, had a small, protein-rich snack right before I went out (dinner wasn't being served, but appetizers were), brought white wine to the predrink... and then WHAM! the dessert table at the party hit and I was a lost cause. It's like when I see copious amounts of food, all control goes out the window. Why does that happen? I don't know - perhaps I get overwhelmed by the sheer number of calories and fat grams. But happened it did and now I have to pay the consequences for it.

Naturally my plan was to get back on track yesterday. However, yesterday was also my Mother's "Bake Day"- the day when she gets my three sisters and I to help her bake up a storm of shortbreads, sugar cookies, chocolate snow-ball deliciousness things, squares of all varieties, ginger cookies, ... Well, you get the picture. Anyways, being hungover and surrounded by pounds upon pounds of dough, I gave in - a lot. I know my sisters and Mother don't care about what I eat, but I still can't help feeling slightly embarrassed for eating as much as I did. They must think I'm a complete crazy, given that they know I struggle with my weight and always get so mad at myself after every binge.

But today is a new day, and I've already started off on a good foot - I signed up sparkpeople.com. That's right - I'm going to temporarily leave Weight Watchers to try something new and different. I followed a very similar plan to Spark People when I first successfully lost weight (the summer after first year university), and I think going back to basics is a good idea for me right now. I find that with Weight Watchers I sometimes get so focused on making my points stretch, that I loose sight of what's really important: getting the nutrition I need to live a more healthy and active lifestyle. Hence the switch. The other cool thing about Spark People is that it makes it very easy for me to post my daily eating and exercising. I already feel better for taking some control.

That being said, I really wish I had gotten up and weighed myself this morning. I hate weighing myself anytime after first thing, so it's a lost cause now. I just guestimated my weight for Spark People, putting it 2 pounds higher than when I last weighed myself, about a week and a half ago (then, I was 147 pounds, and I'm pretty sure I've gone up since then - in fact, if I haven't gone up, then Jesus himself has been reborn and my metabolism has skyrocketed - one can only hope...) I really need to get back into the habit of weighing myself regularly - it keeps me accountable. When I fall off track I avoid the scale at all costs, which just snowballs the problem.

Speaking of snowballs, it's snowing in Toronto again today. Ay carumba - this is ridiculous! Makes leaving the house to go to the gym, Christmas shopping, whatever seem like mission impossible.

Oh, and on a personal note, decided to stay in last night. At the Holiday Party I got slightly drunk (although I was by no means the drunkest person there), and was hungover as all hell yesterday (ever since I've started working, I can't seem to party like I used to back in university - probably a good thing, actually). Hopefully seeing friends and going shopping today (hence the above rant about the snow), but we'll see how that goes - I fear this could be a city crippling snowstorm!