Once a week at work they are treating us all to lunch to thank us for our efforts on the upcoming software release.  Lunch meat sandwiches, salads, chips, all the usual suspects.  In addition every time we had lunch there would be a cookie tray involved.  Really good cookies  – big chocolate chips, oatmeal, white chocolate chips and cranberries.  When lunch is done the cookie tray makes it way to a little table in our aisle. 

This little table is between me and the bathroom.  It is between me and the water cooler.  Basically I have to pass the cookie tray 20 times in any given day.  The uncovered cookies fill the hallway with their sweet scent just calling to you.  As you pass the tray with no pesky lid the to slow you down your hand freely drops down, scoops of one of these delicate treats and delivers it unrestricted to your lips.  Mmmmmm…

Oops sorry got distracted.  Anyway I would say on any given free lunch I would manage to consume 5 or 6 cookies.  5 or 6 cookies!  I was more likely comsuming my entire daily calorie allowance in just grazing as I walked up and down the hallway.

Yesterday was lunch day, and a challenging one at that.  We were ordering from Five Guys.  Luckily I knew it was coming and I planned accordingly.  I made sure my weekly point allowance was in tact so that I could dip into it as I needed.  I ordered my usual favorites on my burger and then made plans with a coworker to split an order of fries.  Then as we were finishing up our lunch the cookie tray was revealed. 

These were some really tempting cookies.  Large chocolate cookies with huge white chocolate chips.  I would have gladly eaten half the tray.  I stuck to my guns.  Repeatedly passing the cookies with their smell calling to me.  At one point the chocolate temptation was too great, but instead of reaching for a cookie I popped a couple 3 Musketeers minis into my mouth to satisfy the craving.  At the end of the day when everyone else had left I made my peace with the cookies.  I walked up, closed the lid on the box, two lonely cookies waiting to be eaten staring back at me, and left for the day.   Take that cookies!

One of the biggest contributors to my calorie intake recently has been work.  I have been working 60+ hour weeks and eating out alot.   Additionally they have been feeding us to, they say, help keep our spirits up.  The team has discussed it and we believe they are actually trying to fatten us up so that we can’t leave our chairs, lol. 

Today I reinstated one of my old habits.  When snacks are brought in I pull up my tracker and a stack of post-its and get to work posting the point values on the snacks to help myself think twice before putting any of them in my mouth.  Today’s choices were movie style popcorn at 6 pts for 3 cups and cracker jacks at 3 pts for 1/2 a cup.  The post-its did their job and I walked out the door only eating two cracker jack kernels. 

Tomorrow we are having Five Guys brought in.  I have known this for a week so I have planned ahead and saved my weekly points allowance for tomorrow.  I also already put the cheeseburger and fries in  my point tracker so that I can plan around it. 

Since my new boss started with the company I have gained 15 lbs.  Time to put the breaks on the up swing and send that scale back in the right direction!

In 400 days and 14 hours I will be standing on an alter ready to a big step in my life as I become Mrs. Katie Riley-Schwarz.  That journey will not only include becoming a new wife but also a new Mom as I become part of a family that includes a beautiful and intelligent 9 year old girl and a handsome and vivacious 5 year old boy.  I have always told myself that I wanted to be healthy before I became a Mom so that I did not raise children with the same bad habits that have caused me to battle my weight my entire life. 

Sitting here looking over my blog I can see the amazing journey I took back in 2006 and how healthy I became.  I have struggled since then as my weight crept back up on me.  I take responsibility for the bad choices I made and I recognize that I am the one to blame for weight I have put back on.  As I look towards October 25, 2012 I know where I want to be on that day and what kind of example I want to set for my future step-kids.  That starts with the next breath I take.

So my first step is looking back at what made that original journey so successful and this blog was a HUGE part of that as well as the support of my online weightloss community.  Now is the time to set myself up for success.  Now is the time for K80K.com to be brought back to life to document the next chapter in my life.  So hello old friends!  I have missed you!