July 1: Happy Birthday, Canada!

I know, I know, I've been missing in action again.

You know why?  It's really hard to write a diet blog when you are on a diet break!  When I'm struggling to get my calories and carbs up to maintenance intake, I feel guilty writing to you that I had a piece of cake just so I got all of my calories in

However, it's true.  Over the past two weeks, I've had cake, a cheeseburger, some french fries, sweet potato fries, and bread - lots of bread!  The rules for diet breaks are simple: eat over 100 grams of carbs per day and eat calories at maintenance.  But doing it after an extreme weight loss program is tougher than it sounds.  When you have spent months training yourself to pick the lowest calorie version of everything, it just seems backwards to purposely increase your calories.  However, that is exactly what you should do.  If you've been dieting for a long time, it is very important to take at least a two week break so that your hormone levels get back to normal.  A simple diet break can help you to break through a long-standing plateau.

On Sunday, though, the diet break is over.  I am doing one more round of RFL because I am so very close to my goal.  After that, I'm submitting my story to some magazines so that I can be a success story, just like I planned all of those months ago.

My plan will be to keep this blog up and running through a few months of maintenance while starting a new blog about fitness over forty.  Once the new blog is up and running I will have a link to it on the sidebar and I hope you will all tune in!

Speaking of workouts:  I've been hitting the gym regularly and I'm feeling great.  This week I maxed out the leg press machine and on my next workout will be moving over to the "big boys' corner."  Wish me luck!

What's on the Canada Day menu here? Grilled chicken, tomatoes and feta cheese (red and white), and potato salad, with chocolate cake for dessert! I've been snacking on fresh cold watermelon all afternoon. I spent the afternoon on a leisurely hike with the pooch.

To all of my Canadian friends, Happy Canada Day!  And to my American Friends, be safe this weekend while you celebrate Independence Day!

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