**POTENTIAL SPECIFIC FOOD TRIGGER WARNING, JUST FYI**

I'm in the middle of a mindset shift, too, Julie, though not quite the exact same direction. Mine is all about moderation. Even the whacked out things I probably shouldn't have, until I find that switch in me, and probably not even then, will I quit craving.

Somewhere yesterday I read that while you are losing, you must eat and live the way you will when you maintain. So, for example, if I want to be able to eat oreos, whenever I hit my more "maintenance" version of me, I have to figure out how to eat oreos in a helpful fashion at least part of the time while I'm losing weight, or once I get to that point of maintenance, and I go back to *gasp* **FINALLY** eating oreos again, I won't blow up again like the good year blimp.

Now I know this is just one example, but you know what I mean. I'm not a wine drinker, but if I was a wine drinker, I have to figure out how to include wine in my lifestyle while I'm losing or I will never be able to include it in the rest of my life.

Some people may be able to magically flip that switch, but as through conversations with most of you lovely ladies and gents, most of us do not have that magic switch to flip - or it is broken in some way. Therefore, we have to figure out how to incorporate these things we aren't currently willing to give up (not saying we never will be willing to, because who knows how our minds and bodies will change along the way!!) into our daily reality.

Me personally, I'm done with the treat mindset. I don't want a cheat meal, I don't want a cheat day. I have to incorporate what other people see as cheats or treats into my daily plan, because otherwise, I don't stand a chance in Hades of living a life I want to live at the end of this...whatever this is.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This journey is less about weight for me, and more about fixing my damned brain. Something is broken in my brain, and like a mirror or piece of glass, rather than a single straight crack or break, it is more like a splintered fracture I'm looking at, pressure (change) in any one area can unseat or worsen the mess elsewhere. I have to figure out the proper techniques to repair or replace the "glass" broken inside my head before I can make true progress. This is the first time I've really accepted that fact...

So for me it is healing. Once I'm able to start healing, once I allow myself to start healing fully (stop picking at the annoying craving/scab, Carly!!), I'll be fully on the way. As with any healing progress, there will be the pain and discomfort of healing, growing pains, scars and such we have to live with, and a new reality once we arrive... We shall see what the new "me" looks like when I get there, no?

I'll leave you with this thought a very determined, tenacious friend posted today - "Motivation is not a real thing. You can succeed without it." My brain shattered a little more in reading this, because I've complained A LOT lately about my lack of motivation. What I need to do is overrule my motivation, or lack thereof, with determination. Maybe in that shattering can I now find the first piece to put back in place for the healing to begin...what do you think?

I'll leave you with this thought a very determined, tenacious friend posted today - "Motivation is not a real thing. You can succeed without it." My brain shattered a little more in reading this, because I've complained A LOT lately about my lack of motivation. What I need to do is overrule my motivation, or lack thereof, with determination. Maybe in that shattering can I now find the first piece to put back in place for the healing to begin...what do you think?

I think determination is crucial and very valuable. With enough of it you will suceed

I'm glad everyone has come to this mindset, it's the one I have tired to have sense starting this journey. I called it a lifestyle change but the idea is similar. If i'm not eating and living in a way now that I can continue to do for the rest of my life then I have no hope of keeping the weight off. The weight loss is an incident of everything else I am doing. It should be the change in mindset and habits that come first. I'm not always perfect but it seems to be working. I also don't do cheat days, cheating on what? My day to day habits. I can still have things I really enjoy, just far less often. Which frankly makes them all that much better. I had a bacon cheeseburger on sunday. It was something I planed for and really wanted. Why, because I had spent all day rinding and had burned ~4500 cal. I can't do that all the time, I don't want to do it all the time (because I have in the past and I know where that got me). I was able to enjoy it knowing its an occasional thing without any sense that I am cheating, abusing or creating guilt. If I have a long term craving I will eventually let myself have it after I know its something I really want. But I will take the time, make sure its what I want and plan to have it in a way I can enjoy it.