This past weekend, I broke a major rule I had long ago learned to respect: Don’t buy anything that doesn’t look AWESOME right there in the dressing room. I made that rule to end my terrible habit of buying clothes that would look great, if only I lost five pounds. What that gets you is a closet of crap and nothing to wear on a Saturday night.

I know why I did it: I’ve gained a few pounds over the past two years and I’m not happy about it. I bought the dress hoping it would help me to commit to eating less. Bad Sara, bad!

So these past days I’ve been trying to decide whether to follow through.

I loved this particular dress, one of those short, tent-y tunic dresses that are hard to pull off if it looks like you “fill out” all that fabric. I want to wear it, darn it, and I want it to be cute. Furthermore, I want to be able to wear my favorite thing in my closet, a turquoise silk number that currently hugs my butt and thighs, operating like a big shiny sign: WIDE LOAD HERE!

I’ve decided two things: First, I’m recommitting to not buying “wish” outfits. Waste of money and promotes destructive thinking. BUT: I’ve decided to commit myself to wearing this turquoise dress again. It’s become my “skinny jeans.” I am GOING to look good in that dress, and I’m GOING to do it by New Year’s.

This doesn’t mean a major change in what I do already. It means saying no to desserts, no to that third glass of wine, and ratcheting up the exercise, which I’ve slacked on lately. I may also go back to eating according to WW Core program. Meetings? Eh… I wish there were Core-only meetings.

Coming tomorrow…a “before” photo of me in the dress. Ouch, that’s going to hurt. This is just a reminder: The journey is never over…