The first week is always the hardest.

Everyone living in my household has restarted the diet cycle. The first week on the low calorie diet is always the hardest. That's when the hunger in the worst. I've done enough of these rounds now to come to the conclusion that it isn't the physical hunger that's the worst to fight. The mentality of feeling deprived or simply not satisfied with the food you are getting is a dieters worst enemy. Your mental hunger is fighting a battle with your will power and determination. Sometimes the battle seems to be lost. Then I step on the scale in the morning and see another pound or pound and a half lost and I rally again. I remember how good it feels to go to the store and buy smaller clothes. I think of how much better I feel physically and mentally after the weight loss I have already accomplished and imagine how much better I will feel when I continue to lose. I think of the things I have done, like climbing up a rocky cliff side, that I would never have been able to accomplish at my heaviest weight. I think of the long hikes that I would like to be able to go on with my sisters in Yellowstone National Park. These things beat the mental hunger back across enemy lines and force it to surrender. The battle for today has been won, but the enemy will return each day to try again. Don't give up on yourself. Fight the war one day at a time. Sometimes we lose, but don't ever surrender.