It isn't the one slice of birthday cake at a family party or the once a month dinner and dessert out with friends that was hurting me the past few months. I've been losing all along with birthdays, holidays and dinners out. What was different the past few months?
An open candy dish
This isn't my dish, but if it were, I could easily avoid the Almond Joy and Snickers bars and would pride myself on avoiding the M&Ms because they easily become mindless eating. Does anyone eat only 5 of them? I recognize that about them and declared this a long time ago:
So what's with the other stuff? They are little. Without even a lid on a dish to act as a temporary barrier, one that might slow you down a nanosecond to think, it was way too easy to grab one of those little Hershey bars (yum!) or second place Crunch bars. I won't bother to list the descending order of preferences but I could.
It should have ended with Cadbury Eggs at Easter but it didn't. I pretended I was buying candy for others who come and go here, and I honestly did avoid the variety packs that heavily favored my preferences (those evil little Hershey or Milky Way bars) but if they were in the mix....guess who ate them?
I KNOW and chances are YOU (my unseen readers) know that those little candy bars have calories and WW points that count, and eating three of them triples that count. Profound, right?
What is this post REALLY about?
I'm not saying I will never eat candy again. I'm saying anyone with weight issues has to learn what their weaknesses are and figure out how to live with them. I know ice cream is one of mine and I've come to grips with that. I honestly didn't think candy was a problem. I do like chocolate but I don't think I'm ever out of control with chocolate itself. There is something about these little individually wrapped candies that gets me.
I came home from a cruise in early February with a gain of 6.4 pounds. The following week, 4.6 pounds of that was gone. Then came Valentine's day and I was up .5 but the following week that was gone again. I have been a seesaw since then. Up .5 or .6, then down the same amount. Or up twice in a row and then down by 2 pounds only to go up again and again.
GREAT BIG FACT #1:
If I didn't keep coming to WW, if I had said "oh hell" and thrown in the towel, instead of being up and down 1-2 pounds, I would probably be 10 pounds heavier by now. We all know how easy it is to slip into old habits. The love of ice cream that I'm in control of might have gotten a stronger voice and insisted on consoling me over the weight gain that those little candy bars caused.
GREAT BIG FACT #2:
Once upon a time I would have been down on myself because of this, especially in light of many wonderful WW members telling me that they think of me when they are struggling and that they view me as an inspiration. Most of of us are our worst critics and for years I was no difference. I would encourage someone else struggling in this manner but wouldn't have cut myself any slack at all. It pays to be nice to yourself. We respond to positive comments from others, we need to hear that from that voice inside too. I never stopped giving myself positive feedback, I just had to stop washing it down with a Hershey's.
GREAT BIG FACT #3:
I love that I look and feel better. I love that I can shop in the regular size departments instead of plus sizes where styles and colors are always more limited. I love that I have more energy to play tag with my grandson. I love that I have been off blood pressure medication for a year. I love that I am in comfortable in my own skin, figuratively and literally.
Figuratively, I am not bothered by someone encouraging me to have something I don't want to eat by saying "one dessert or one drink isn't going to hurt you" because I know it won't. I just don't want it, or if I do, I will eat/drink it and don't need someone wondering if I am blowing my "diet". Their concerns are theirs, not mine.
Literally, the loose skin on my arms has been a badge of honor since a busy body informed me "you know you will never get rid of that". I sometimes toy with the idea of beating her into submission with my bat wings but I'm usually too busy and that goes against my pacifist ways. Most of the time
If I were more vain, perhaps that would bother me, but if I were more vain, maybe I never would have gotten to highest weight. Perhaps being more vain would make me a less likable person and while this sounds a little boastful, I know that I am likable and that pleases me.
If I were more vain, perhaps that would bother me, but if I were more vain, maybe I never would have gotten to highest weight. Perhaps being more vain would make me a less likable person and while this sounds a little boastful, I know that I am likable and that pleases me.
If someone thinks I'm a little shinier now, it isn't that the essence of who I am has changed, but with less weight dulling the shine, I undoubted am brighter and more confident.
After a week of awareness with only two Butterfinger minis consumed and back to my regular menus, including occasional fast food meals (just being honest, not claiming they are excellent choices), I am down 2.8 pounds from last week, a new total of 86.5 pounds gone!
Onward and downward!
No comments:
Post a Comment