mileage

It's been approximately 18 days since Easter, and last time I checked, I had gained back 4 lbs... So much for breaking my patterns of unhealthy eating! Looking back on the Daniel fast, I think the major thing I learned is that I live to eat, not vice versa. When I was eating a seriously restricted diet, eating was not all that enjoyable, so I only did it when I was hungry... you know, like we're supposed to. After Easter, I thought that maybe I could keep that going but continuing to abstain from certain food groups. But somehow the spell of the fast had been broken, and every forbidden food found its way in. I stopped tracking when I was on the fast, and I have done MFP maybe twice since it ended. I am still not sure if that app is the way to go, but I am thinking about weight watchers. I feel like the points program would be better than just calorie counting. Maybe I can get my mom to go with me. I've also found an interesting parallel between my driving and eating habits. Recently I have been using a hybrid car that gives me a running estimate of my mpg. I like to keep it above 60 mpg, but sometimes that means going slower than I want to. So often I end up choosing speed over mileage, thinking "Oh, I'll make it up later by driving more conservatively". I'm the same way with eating. I want to be healthier, but sometimes that means saying "no" to food and "yes" to exercise. Yet, I often find myself saying "I'll eat _____ now and make it up with exercise [later/tomorrow]." And I almost NEVER follow through. So I end up with too many calories in and not enough burned, and that affects my mpg. Lastly, I'm realizing that my goals are too vague. Most people have a goal weight or size, but I have a hard time with that because those numbers don't convey what I can do. I want to have a fitness goal (e.g. running a marathon) that I can train for. But I don't want to run a marathon, biking hurts my knees, and I can't swim well. So that leaves... hiking? Maybe I can train to climb a mountain...