A Defining Moment

Wonderful family event. Wonderful family celebration.  Wonderful food. Wonderful times in life. However, these wonderful moments are major challenges for people who are emotional over eaters like me. There was stress and emotion involved with the preparation phase of this family event which also added to the mix of eating temptations.
I did not blow my new style of eating out of the water one time during this momentous occasion, but there were a few extra bites here and there that compromised my dieting standards somewhat. A few bites of cake and wonderful homemade Brazilian candy. Oh, it was delicious.
The good news is that I know I can keep my diet reasonably intact during good times, those special moments. As life goes back to normal after this, in many ways, defining occasion, I have more confidence in my ability to not completely lose control, to stay the course, and to keep on winning by losing.

25 Pounds! 25 Pounds! I’ve Lost 25 Pounds!

Yep! Another milestone reached! I’m so excited! It’s been just over a month since I reached my 20 pound loss, 36 days to be exact. About 1 pound/week. That’s ok with me  Because I am now in the senior citizen category, I don’t need this weight loss to be quick.  I want my body to have time to adjust to the changes as my weight goes down.  My blood pressure is improving already. In a few days I’ll have regular blood work done and I’ll let you know if my numbers (cholesterol, triglycerides, A1C, etc) are better.

For today, I’m going to bask in the glory of another milestone reached, and go shopping for clothes. In a smaller size, of course! I love winning when I have lost!

The Challenges and Rewards Continue.....

My husband and I went out to eat last night. We don't eat out often, so this was a real treat for us.  We went to an Italian restaurant; a place we had never been.  The food was delicious. I ordered veal toscana, which is veal with vegetables smothered in an unbelievably delicious sauce over angel hair spaghetti. The portion size was quite large.  Our meal also came with yummy, yummy, yummy garlic yeast rolls.  Oh my.  What's a girl to do? So much wonderful food. So little room in my tummy. 

I decided to eat slowly, enjoying every bite. It didn't take long. I began to feel full after having eaten only about a quarter of my meal.  Everything within me wanted to keep eating, and truthfully, I did take four or five bites too much, before I was able to 'wrestle' my desires to eat anyway to the ground and ask for a carry out container.

I had to make myself think about the fact that this succulent meal will taste just a good for lunch today as it did last night.  In fact, it will taste better because I won't be full while I'm eating it.  There is enough food left from me to have about 3 more meals. Yum!!!!

Mental gymnastics.  That's it.  It's all about how I allow things food related to be framed in my mind.  I think this is one of the major components to food control in our lives. Anyway I made it through another challenging moment and have delicious leftovers today as a reward!

Beware the Cloaked Torpedo

Today my son and I were texting. He mentioned something about losing weight then not rewarding yourself by eating a hamburger or a pizza.  Your reward, he said, is the number on the scales and how you feel.

Rewarding ourselves with “cheater” foods is nothing more than a cloaked torpedo that will destroy our momentum and best intentions within minutes and bites. Whatever good we have done for ourselves is doomed to sink to the bottom of the ocean of best intentions we sail on daily. Beware the cloaked torpedo.

Another Win Because I Have Lost

Today I wore a pair of capri  pants that I had not worn in a couple of years.  I put them on and not only did they look good, but they felt good as well.  Now that's another win!

No One. Not One Single Person Has Noticed That I Have Lost Weight!

That's right. I'm almost 23 pounds down now and no one has commented on my weight loss, well, except my wonderful husband.  He's been great.  However, you'd think that someone else might notice!  Is anyone with me on this? Are you having the same experience/frustration?

The truth is though that I'm not frustrated about it. I'm aware of it, of course, but not upset or even surprised.

First of all, people are involved in their own lives. Yes, that makes us sound very self centered and self focused, and it's true.  We're not always quickly aware of changes in the lives of our friends and even family, unless those changes are very noticeable or significant, which brings me to my second point.

Secondly, the more weight you have to lose, the more more you have to lose before it become noticeable to other people. Yes, I wrote that right.  Because I my current weight loss only lost about a third of my goal, it is not great enough right now for friends and family to notice.

Thirdly, That's really ok.  I have decided to not let it bother me, because I know that one day my weight loss will be obvious enough that everyone who knows me, because I'll look great.  You see, the truth is that every five pounds of weight loss will show more that the five pounds before it.  So I'm just weighting (waiting).  In the meantime. I'm feeling better and enjoying wearing clothes that I knew were too tight just a couple of weeks ago.

So take heart, my fellow weight loss travelers.  Our affirmation does not ultimately come from others anyway.  It comes from within ourselves, because we know, we know, we know that we are on the right path and our rewards are personal.  No one else is responsible for them.  Let's keep on traveling!

The Weight Loss Continues

Life is a series of 'ups' and 'downs' with periods of 'evenness' in between.  That's just the way it is. Nothing we can do about it, and nothing we can do to change it.  Except for the problems that arise as consequences from poor decision making on our part, the only thing we have control over is the way we react to the 'ups' and 'downs'.  It is our reactions, our responses to these 'ups' and 'downs' that can, for some of us, influence our diets and eating patterns.

I am working on separating my desire to eat from my feelings.  There have been times when I find myself walking into the kitchen to get something to eat, knowing that I'm not hungry because it's only been and 'hour' since I had a meal.  That's not hunger, that's a response to feelings. Permanent weight loss will be impossible for me as long as I'm 'eating my feelings'.

Fortunately these last few weeks.....so far....every time I'm about to get something to eat, just because I'm 'feeling' it, I have stopped myself from indulging and turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

Therefore, the weight loss continues!!!!! Yea, me!!!!!