I've been a bad, bad girl...

Two weeks ago, I embarked on an adventure with my family to the wild and wacky festival in my hometown known as Hillbilly Days. Hillbilly Days was started 33 years ago as a fundraiser for the Shriner's Children's Hospitals. People come from all over the country to celebrate mountain heritage and embrace the stereotype and laugh at ourselves.

Oh, yeah, they also come from all over the country to eat the ungodly amount of terrible, artery clogging foods that are offered.

One of the things I always loved about Hillbilly Days as a child was the food. I would spend weeks before it actually started trying to plan out what I was going to eat during the festival. Greek food, smokehouse barbecue, funnel cakes and elephant ears--these wares were not typically offered in my hometown during any other time of year. But during Hillbilly Days it was there and in insane excess. The culinary wizardry was mine for the taking.

One of the things that people from my area of Kentucky love the best is excess. Big hair, overdone makeup, and tons of food. It sounds like my Grandma's house on Christmas Day. When done in a once a year festival, it definitely goes to the extreme.

Since moving to NC, I had not been able to return home for Hillbilly Days. It always falls pretty close to Easter, and given the choice between the two, I've always preferred to spend the holiday with my family. However, since work dictated that I stay in town during the Easter holiday, we planned to go to Hillbilly Days and let my husband and sons experience my culture in full tilt Hillbilly mode.

This is the first time I've ever come at this festival with the brain of a Weight Watcher. Before, all bets were off, and I would be lucky if I could make it through the entire festival without having to unbutton my pants. The typical attire for Hillbilly Days is bibbed overalls, and it's not because of the typical vision of the hillbilly. It's because you can have a lot of extra gut room in those things.

So being a Weight Watcher, I was scared of Hillbilly Days. I told myself that I would be as good as possible, but I was not going to let it damper my good time. I hadn't attended Hillbilly Days in 9 years. This is definitely an infrequent occasion, and I'm going to have a good time, even if it means fudging a little on my points budget for that week.

Mmmmm, fudge.

Anyway, I did really well on the first day. We ate before we left my parents' house, and while we were there that evening, I had a Greek gyro without any sauce and a Diet Coke. Nothing too terrible diet wise, and I earned some activity points by riding a mechanical bull. I left the day feeling proud of myself.

Then the next day, the bottom fell out.

My mom convinced me to leave my boys with her for the day, so that my husband and I could have a day to ourselves to have fun. We were also meeting a bunch of my old high school friends at a restaurant for dinner and drinks. We walked around the festivities, and got a little snack before heading over for the dinner. Weight Watchers definitely would not have approved of the plate of ribbon fries I chose for my "snack." We had that, then we went to meet up with my old friends.

I did well at the restaurant. Didn't order any of the appetizers. Got my salad dressing on the side. Had grilled chicken topped with steamed veggies and a baked potato. Then, things started downhill.

This restaurant has the BEST bananas foster I've ever tasted. I have been wanting one for four years. Literally for four long years. So I reasoned that I should definitely have one. And with this being a special occasion with everyone drinking, I also reasoned away the draft beer, whiskey shot, black Russian, and cosmopolitan that I also had.

After the dinner, we went back to the downtown area for more Hillbilly Festivities. I wanted a funnel cake, so I got one. I don't know if they always had that much powdered sugar on them, or if I can see it more clearly now that I'm not eating so much terrible stuff. Regardless, the mountain of calories in the powdered sugar alone did not keep me from digging in. I ate the entire funnel cake by myself, and actually stopped short of literally licking the plate clean.

The next day, we brought the boys back with us for the Hillbilly Days parade. We met up with my best friend from high school, her husband, stepkids, sister, and cousins. We had a great time watching the parade, and I munched on some ice to keep cool.

The boys were getting fussy after the parade was over due to the heat. So we took them back to my parents house, with the intention of the hubs and I going back out to meet up with another dear friend from high school and her husband, who also happens to be a dear friend from high school. We stopped at my parents store on the way back out to get a drink, and decided to get milkshakes since it was so hot.

I wish that I could say that the food depravity ended there for the day. Sadly, it does not.

We met up with my friends and had a great time walking around, laughing and joking with each other. We decided that it was time to get something to eat, so we went to a busy little area near the courthouse to get a bite.

This is where I ran headlong into what is now known as my kryptonite. Three words for you, my friends. Deep. Fried. Oreos.

At first, this really didn't sound all that appealing to me. That is, until I saw them. Basically, they're Oreo cookies, wrapped up in funnel cake batter, deep fried, and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. They come six to an order, so I got an order for me and the hubs to share, along with a blooming onion for myself.

I ate four of the deep fried Oreos and almost all of the blooming onion all by myself.

Thus the great big bang of an end to my Hillbilly Days diet massacre. I felt so incredibly guilty afterward and could only hope that all of the walking around that I did could possibly cancel out all of the food I shoved down my throat.

So all week long I worried and stressed. Why did I do that? I KNEW that I shouldn't have gone that crazy, and I definitely could have enjoyed some of those foods without going to extremes. I mean, hello, the first deep fried Oreo tasted as heavenly and decadent as the fourth one. Why couldn't I have stopped at just one?

Then I realized that this was the habit that brought me to my fat chick state to begin with. I couldn't just leave anything at one.

So I fretted and stressed over my weigh-in for days. Then, I did the one thing that I always urge other Weight Watchers not to do.

I skipped my weigh-in.

I know that it's not logical. I know that if I gained weight, that weight is on my body whether I see the number on the scale or not. I know that missing that weigh in does not keep me at the previous weight I was beforehand. But I didn't want to feel like I should punish myself for having a good time at Hillbilly Days, when my habits there are so not typical of my habits at home.

I should have punished myself.

The whole week after that missed weigh-in, I ate horribly. I tracked everything, and I went over my weekly points and my activity points on Sunday. I was still eating like there was no tomorrow. I was eating Weight Watcher friendly foods, but just eating them in insane portions.

Then, yesterday, I hit the realization that this is exactly what got me to 270 pounds. Finding a way to rationalize every splurge, every binge, every stolen moment locked in the bathroom with two boxes of Girl Scout cookies and a 20 oz root beer. Had I held myself accountable for the food decisions I made, then I probably wouldn't have ended up a fat chick. I wouldn't be locked in this constant struggle to eat with the realization that it is not my final meal, and that I will have the opportunity to eat again.

I went to my weigh-in today and I have gained 4.2 pounds. It's honestly much, much better than I thought it would be.

So starting now, today, right this moment, I am fully accountable again. I will work on getting in activity, and I will diligently count my points and not rely on activity points and my weekly point allowance. I will only eat when I'm hungry, and not when I'm bored/lonely/stressed/awake. I will eat more fruits and veggies and less potato chips and powdered doughnuts.

More importantly, I will lose that 4.2 pounds that I gained and try to ensure that I never cross paths with a deep fried Oreo again.