Well hello there, Healthy Happier readers! I’m Meg, a long-time friend of Ashley’s, and I blog over at The Strawberry Swing. Any friend of hers is a friend of mine, so I’m quite glad to have a chance to meet you while she’s got her toes in the white sands of Bermuda. Lucky girl. I’m jealous!

                                                     Me and Ashley, back in the day at UGA.

A little bit about me: Like Ashley, I went to the University of Georgia. She and I met our sophomore year and were fast friends. Also like Ashley (and some of you, I bet) I’ve long struggled with my weight. So much so, that when I ordered my wedding dress I ended up on Say Yes To The Dress: Atlanta paired next to a bride with similar struggles. Unfortunately while I was in a good place, she wasn’t. They filmed her trying to squeeze into a tiny couture gown against their advice, and it got stuck on her backside. I identified completely and felt horribly for unknowingly being juxtaposed as the “skinny” one. Because I’d once been in her shoes and I make the daily decision not to go back.

I’ve struggled with weight for a number of reasons. I lived in 9 houses and went to 11 schools before I was 18, so stress eating has long been a bad habit for me. My grandfather weighed almost 400 pounds at his heaviest, so it’s in my genes, too. At my heaviest, though, I weighed in at just under 200 pounds. I was 18 then. It took two years to lose the extra 50 pounds I was carrying around, but now, nearly ten years and six dress sizes later, it hasn’t come back.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in losing weight and keeping it off, it’s that completely denying yourself things is not a sustainable way to exist. It’s about finding ways to make small changes that accumulate into big results over time.

You see, when I first started dieting (and now I can’t stand that word) I cut out sweets completely. Bad move. Because you know what happened? I’d want a cookie. I love cookies. One look at my blog will show you that I love to bake and to cook. So instead of the cookie, I’d eat an apple. And still want the cookie. So then I’d eat a cheese stick. And still want the cookie. You catch my drift. The cookie won every time.

If I’d just eaten the one cookie to start with, I’d have been better off than eating multiple “healthy” alternatives and then still caving to the cookie. For me, it’s all about portion control and moderation. So now I bake a batch of what I want, eat a few, and take the rest to work for my coworkers to enjoy. All the joy of baking with far less guilt.

These little pocket pies are perfect for just that. They’ve been the dessert du jour at our house lately. Individual size servings paired with fat free whipped topping or low fat ice cream will satisfy even the sharpest sweet tooth. (Be it mine or my hungry husband’s!)

Pocket Pies

from The Strawberry Swing

 
Click here for an easy to use printable recipe!