saturday stats - the bandwagon story

Once when I was in middle school, one of the principals, in an attempt to quiet a cafeteria full of prepubescent teenagers, warned us not to "fall off the bandwagon."  Of course, few of us understood the reference and was thought she was just babbling crazy talk.

(After teaching high school, I'm pretty convinced that all teenagers are certain that their school leaders spout out crazy talk all day long.)

Anyway, we just thought it was hilarious and we laughed like a pack of hyenas in a lunchroom den.  I came home from school expecting my family to roll on the ground in stitches of laughter when I told my amazing story.

Nobody got it.

I figured that I just needed to repeat the story a few dozen times and let it sink in.  To my dismay, the more I recounted the tale, the less funny it became.  My mom tried to explain that it was a "you had to be there" kind of story and to this day in my family, whenever someone tries to tell a story that just isn't funny anymore we refer to it as "a bandwagon story."

Well, this is kind of like a bandwagon story except that it was never really funny.

I fell off the bandwagon.

I left for my week long vacation with the shaky resolve to stick to my diet completely.  I felt like I was no where near my weight loss goal so why should I take a break?  That quickly turned into, "Well, just a few treats.  It is a vacation after all."

When I passed the fudge counter at the BYU bookstore, all bets were off and I found myself flung from a diet bandwagon speeding out of control.  Luckily a big pile of soft fluffy fudge broke my fall.

It was pretty easy to justify since I was out of town and I don't go on many vacations.  However, when I got home, it was even harder to get back on.  Day after day of the past week, I ran alongside the bandwagon trying to jump back on but my feeble attempts were in vain.

It's really frustrating and disappointing especially since I have no one else to blame but myself.  I wish I could blame that BYU fudge but I'm pretty sure inanimate objects have no control over my actions.

I'm trying to use this as a learning opportunity.  There are two lessons to be learned, I think.  First of all, I think that vacations are a great time to take a little break from the diet.  It's okay to have a pound taste of delicious fudge. (Why am I so hung up on this fudge?)  That being said, I could have been way healthier on my trip.  I could have made my plan of attack ahead of time and simply chosen a few off plan treats to enjoy.

Secondly, and this is the lesson I'm still grappling with, how do you get back on that dumb diet bandwagon?  This is not the first time I have been derailed by a vacation, holiday, or special event.  It seems like nearly every month has some celebration that has to do with eating.  I truly believe that I need to find a balance in life between fasting from all indulgences forever and going absolutely crazy any special occasion that passes my calendar.

What do you do to get back on the bandwagon?