There’s No Way In Hell I’m Giving Up

2010 was a year of trying and falling down for me, again and again and again. Sometimes I took longer than others to get back up. Sometimes I was tired for weeks on end with no motivation and took way too long to get back on track. But as I look back at the year I see the positive: I tried. I know didn’t try as hard as I could have, or for as long as I could have, but I did try. And I will continue to try. I truly believe I can beat this weight thing. This is a process, and if I am successful at it then I have a lifetime of maintaining a healthy weight to look forward to, and that will be work as well. So I am not going to let one measly year of false starts hold me back. There is no way in hell I am giving up.

Now, on to a summary of 2010 Shedding the Fat-Suit blog happenings. This year I…

• Learned that I blog the most when I have something to crow about. And continuing to blog helps me stay on track. So I need to blog more! 
• Was approached by companies to host giveaways, which made me feel like big stuff... And I was happy to share this good fortune with my readers.
• Was grateful to procure my first actual sponsor, therapist Julie Gibson. Not only is she advertising on my blog, she offered me Gastric Mind Band Therapy free of charge since I would be blogging about it. Awesome!
• Learned to do some repairs, replacing the keyboard on my laptop and rescreening some windows myself. Totally empowering.
• Went sugar-free and low-carb for at least six weeks. It was easier than I thought, and boy was I disappointed in myself when I quit. But I found out: 1) I can do it! and 2) that really I believe in moderation in all things. I don’t believe in restriction or in cutting huge parts of the food pyramid out of my diet.
• Started a recipes page;
• Reviewed the book Eat Fat Lose Fat;
• Lost steam in Weight Watchers and eventually quit. Too much counting, and honestly when you do the math, it's such a low-calorie program. I know there is value in it and many people are successful with WW. And I really enjoyed the meetings; the people were great. But I don’t think it’s for me.
• Posted 124 blog entries;
• Made it to 69 followers!  Thank you to each and every one of you who cruises by my little corner of the web;
• Posted seven original Liz recipes:
• MY FAVE RECIPE OF THE YEAR!  Liz’s Asian Balls o’ Meat (Low Carb Steamed Pork Dumplings)
• Crab Salad
• Low carb cream of mushroom soup
• Almond-meal Encrusted Baked Stuffed Chicken
• Thai-Inspired Peanut Butter Noodles
• Shiritaki Noodle and Winter Vegetable Extravaganza
• Baked Crab Rangoon
• Tried 11 recipes from other sources: 
• Pineapple Angelfood Cake with Strawberries
• Roasted Brussel Sprouts
• Easy Two-Ingredient Marinade
• Beet Salad with Oranges, Walnuts and Blue Cheese
• Kale Chips
• Kale and Cannelini Soup
• Black Bean Salad with Oranges, Red Onions and Cilantro
• Coconut Jasmine Rice with Green Onions and Cilantro
• Homemade Almond Milk
• Steamed Pork Dumplings
• Cabbage Stroganoff

And in 2010 I gained and gained and gained. Maybe I’ll try fewer dessert recipes in the New Year…

So now it’s 2011. I’ve found that New Year’s resolutions are bad luck for me, so I’m not making any. But I am making plans. This year I plan to blog more consistently, eat more vegetables, exercise more, and not beat myself up when I fall off-track. I’ll just do what I proved I’m good at in 2010: get up, dust myself off, and try again.

Happy New Year!