I am a spring.

Well, it happened.  I attempted too much, ill prepared, and I resorted to stopping at the golden arches for dinner.  Worse yet, I had just spent over an hour in the grocery store, it had been hours since my last snack and I was STARVING!  At 7:30 at night, standing in the store checkout, the idea of going home and preparing a meal for the whole family just seemed too daunting to take on.

Yes, I had many options available.  Looking back I could have, would have, should have made some better choices.  But, I didn't.  Is this the end for this week?  Hell no!

I am a spring.  I can bounce out of shape for a mere moment and then back to regular position the next.  Yes, I had some yummy (well, shockingly enough it wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it being, so perhaps not so yummy) high fat, high carbohydrate, low fiber, fried foods. For the first time in several weeks, I dipped into my weekly points allowance.

For those unfamiliar with Weight Watchers, basically you get daily points that you should eat all of, everyday and then you have weekly points, which are flexible.  You can choose to eat them, or not.  You also can earn activity points for workouts.

So, I did it.  You know what I say to that?  That's life!  It's not rigid.  You will not have a perfect day, every day.  Some days you will walk out of the house in a hurry, make great choices all day long despite the fact that you left your lunch bag on the counter and still fall off the wagon in a few moments of, "it's late, I'm tired, I have a lot to do" talk, while having all the right foods in the car with you.

What now?  Well, it's pretty simple.  As soon as I finished, I immediately logged on to my points tracker and inputted the entire 24 points consumed in that one sitting.  If I did it, I must hold myself accountable.  This shouldn't be confused with guilt.  Such emotions linked to food seem unhealthy to me and more than likely put me in the place I am now.  I made the choice to eat that Big Mac.  I enjoyed the heck out of those fries.  So be it, it's done. Moving on now, right this second, right this very minute.  You know what the best part is?  I'm still not "over" points.  I would only be over points if I used all my dailies, weeklies and activities.

The point of this droning on about this one single meal is this; we create our own defeat.  It is our reactions to these events that make or break our goals.  This is not a breaker.  In fact, I can honestly say, I have no desire to eat that "crap" again for a very long time!  If anything, my lazy night meal only reinforces how much I have changed.  I enjoy my fresh fruits, my veggies, my low-fat meats and my whole grains.  I'd much prefer something fresh over something processed.

Tomorrow is another day and I feel just fine.

What are some of your experiences?  How are you coping with springing back?