28th Weigh In

I don't think of myself as having a busy social life. My husband and I often kid each other about coming home from somewhere at a time that once signaled the start of an evening. I've realized the past few weeks that we are busy, but as a retired couple, the busyness begins earlier in the day and often brings surprises that weren't on the calendar.

Today is December 15th. That means we've add holiday shopping and some holiday parties, lunches and dinners into the mix. I continue to do well with my weight loss, even on the occasions when I don't know what the points are in what I am consuming. I try to make good choices and then let it go. I don't berate myself if I find out after the fact that something was much higher in points than I would have guessed, nor do I fall into the "what the hell, I've already messed up for the day" mind set that leads to conscious over indulging. The big reason continues to be how good I am feeling. Not just pleased with a successful weight loss, but physically good. What has been temptations in the past (gooey desserts, creamy after dinner drinks, cookies of all sorts all day long) are simply not worth the trade off of feeling this good.

I am not saying I haven't had any of those things, but just as I have always been able to take alcohol or leave it, the foods that used to torment me are now in that category too. A small piece of something, maybe only a taste, is enough. I realize when I am full, when I am truly hungry and that most of the time I am in a happy middle.

Going back to the alcohol reference, I like beer. I like the taste of it. Same with Scotch and a few creamy drinks such as White Russians and Mudslides. I never drank any of those drinks to get a buzz. I never needed to drink (that is a separate issue that some people face and not when I am addressing here) and often chose not to have any alcohol because the situation didn't seem appropriate to me, such as driving somewhere, being in charge of children, etc.  I am plagued by sinus headaches that are beyond my control, often brought on by weather changes. Beer and wine can cause me to have histamine headaches. Some days I just know not to have beer or wine because of the likelihood of that happening.

Why people continue to do things that are detrimental to their health and well being is way too large a topic for me to tackle. I can't speak for anyone else as to the why. What I can say is that Weight Watchers works. If one leader isn't a good match for you, try another. If you really want to change habits, and this applies to changes beyond what you eat, you must commit and keep trying. The turning point for me was realizing how good I was beginning to feel. Maybe for someone else it will be getting off of medication or buying smaller clothes.

I am now down 45.9 pounds. How many years did I spend thinking "next Monday" would be the day to start a new diet? This isn't a diet. This is my life. I don't feel deprived. I can't eat garlic any longer for reasons that have nothing to do with WW. That doesn't make me feel deprived, so why should counting points and staying within a range make me feel deprived? So much of this is mind set.

Onward and downward!