Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe that it will once again be Thanksgiving in just a few days! I have so much to be thankful for this year. I would of course start out with being so blessed to be a Christian woman who has the love of such a wonderful family. I am also thankful for our men and women who will be away from home this year due to their sacrifice for our country (my own nephew being one of the newest). And I am certainly thankful that this will be my first Thanksgiving at my goal weight! That still feels so good to say. My plan is to be really good all week so I can spend Thanksgiving Day NOT thinking about dieting or "being good". One day where I will just eat what I want, however, that is NOT to say that I plan to eat myself into misery. I want to eat all of the goodies but continue to listen to when my body tells me I've had enough. I think that is one of the most important lessons we need to learn on our weight loss journey, the art of listening to our body tell us when to eat and when to stop eating. The body is such a powerful tool and can be a tremendous help if we let it. On my own journey it was hard to get into that habit. I had gotten so used to finishing what was on my plate just because it tasted so good and I didn't want to leave it. I had gotten so used to getting seconds or thirds because I loved the taste of something. Or getting dessert because it sounded or looked good. In all of those instances I wasn't listening to my body. I could feel comfortably full, but I was still going to finish those last 4 or 5 bites on my plate because that was just what I was supposed to do. Where the heck I got that reasoning I am not sure. I could be to the point of really no longer being hungry, but my first helping tasted so good I still wanted more. I could be full from my meal but see the dessert menu and because the picture looked good, I still wanted that cake or pie. And once I got it, I would eat it all even if when I ate the last bite I was already saying I felt stuffed and miserable. Why in the world do we get to the point of ignoring the "full" signal and instead go right on eating more. Its not like I am a poor person who didn't know when I was going to have another meal and had to eat as much as I could. It's not like I couldn't have more of the leftoevers from a meal tomorrow rather than seconds today. It's not like I didn't know I could really and truly take home part of my entree at a restaurant rather than (gasp) let them throw it away. And its not like I couldn't order dessert and share it with my husband rather than having my own at any cost. But I never did any of those things. And in Jan. 2008 I realized the "cost" was the realization that I was on my way to a vast number or health problems and early death if I didn't change my way of thinking. Dieting for me hasn't really been difficult. The hard part was starting to listen to my body tell me I'm full, even when that means I've hardly eaten anything on my plate. As Thanksgiving approaches, let's be thankful for those "full" signals our body tries to help us with, and embrace them as we're surrounded by friends and family on Thursday. The food will be delicious....but it isn't going anywhere. We can have leftovers in the days after. Give yourself permission to splurge and eat whatever you want on that special day. But the next morning, its back on track. Still enjoy the leftovers, but do it within your diet plan. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

My Darling Nephew

This week is a bittersweet time for my family. My sweet nephew graduated from high school in May and on Sunday he will be leaving to begin the new chapter of his life as he boards a bus bound for Parris Island Marine boot camp. I am so very proud of him! He is an extremely smart kid (I should say man, but to me he'll always be a little boy) who has the ability to make all of his dreams come true. Leaving home and all the people who love you is a difficult thing to do, unfortunately it is a really bad time for him because not only is he leaving his "security", he will be doing so for the holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be very strange not having his smiling face at the table. So while I am extremely proud of him, I will of course be sad to see him go. Definitely bittersweet. But it is certainly what I want for him. I would rather endure the sadness of missing him while knowing he is out there making his dreams come true! We have lots of festivities planned in the coming days. I am making his favorite meal tomorrow for supper, Taco Soup. He said he isn't eating all day so he will have a huge appetite since he knows it will be a long time until he gets it again. lol We also have a cookout/party planned for Saturday night, and will all be going out for breakfast Sunday before accompanying him to the bus station. But thats okay, I will continue to try to make good food choices and go from there. I love you Michael...and I am so very proud of you and the sacrifice you have chosen to make for our country!

Still trudging along....

Things are much the same from my last post, I feel better, though nothing has really changed...just my reaction to it I suppose. I know and understand that I simply have to take things one day at a time. My eating has continued to be very good this week in spite of "it", so that is huge positive. As I said before, as a previously very overweight woman, it is important to me to make sure I don't resort to food at times of stress. After the weekend Halloween party and subsequent pizza/chips/cookies/candy I helped myself to, I am now comfortably back into the lower half of my maintenance range. This is good...though I want to drop another couple of pounds before I weigh in at Curves so I won't show a gain for the first time ever. Just as I had hoped, knowledge of that monthly weigh-in is a HUGE motivating tool for me to behave and maintain my weight. I may go overboard sometimes during the month, but I make sure as that weigh-in draws near I am doing what I'm supposed to do. Definitely a lifestyle I can live with for the rest of my life, because for months now I see that I can splurge and get right back on the wagon and take those few pounds off. For me, the slight up and down on the scale is well worth it because this way, I am allowing myself to eat those foods that I had stopped eating for so long. Though at times I can honestly say there have been nights that I have wanted to eat nearly everything sweet in the house and did eat much of it. Why? No clue. Thankfully those days do not happen often and when they do, I just dust myself off and climb back on the wagon. I hope this day finds you all doing well and enjoying the gorgeous fall weather. I have the Walk for Diabetes event to attend on Saturday with the family and I am looking forward to it. Not a long walk, only 3 miles, but its great to be out there with family/friends/co-workers knowing that I have helped in the fight against a disease that effects so many Americans. It is something I encourage each of you to get involved with if you aren't already. I am not a diabetic, though both my parents are and my grandfather and his mother were both taking insulin until they passed away. I see firsthand the effects of diabetes, this is one of the many things that gave me a firm kick in the pants to lose weight. I was very fortunate to weigh nearly 280 pounds and NOT have any sort of health problems. Thank GOD I got smart and took the steps needed to lose the weight and hopefully prevent health issues in the future. I know that as a 129 pound woman I am WAY less likely than I was 150 pounds ago. Enjoy your weekend....get out...get moving...enjoy the weather and enjoy your life!!!

Life is going haywire....

There is an issue in my personal life that is upsetting me quite a bit today. Something I found out last night but don't want to do an in-depth discussion for all the world to see. Suffice it to say that I feel that the rug has been pulled out from under my feet, numb, lost. I am proud to say that thoughts of food did not even enter into my mind when everything occurred and I have continued to feel that way today. Have eaten nothing different than my usual meals and snacks with no thoughts of any sort of eating to forget or to numb the hurt, no mindless snacking just because it is something I can control in a situation where I feel so out of control. That's good. That's what I want to happen at times of stress, no tendency to turn to food for consolation. I never saw myself as one who did that and this has pretty much backed up that idea. On the flip side, I HAVE had thoughts of going in the total opposite direction and NOT eating as much as I should. Why I'm not sure. Again, maybe it is something about the control issue just working in reverse. Because I had those thoughts last night, I am making sure that I do eat as I should today, right on schedule. I can honestly say that the idea of sweets or snacking is just a huge turnoff to me right now, never thought I would say that! I love sweets! On a positive note, at least the leftoever Halloween candy holds no temptation at all for me so that'll help me get back into the lower half of my acceptable range as i prefer to be but haven't stayed at for a couple of weeks. lol Thats about the ONLY positive I can find right now, but its something to hold on to. I was supposed to weigh-in at Curves this week but with all thats going on, I simply don't feel like going to the gym. Can't go tomorrow, won't go Thursday. But I have made a personal promise that I'll get up on Friday and go for a 5 mile walk, its been way too long since I did that. It'll give me some time to be alone and clear my head which is what I really need right now. Have a great day, and if you have a moment, send a prayer my way.

Those good intentions crashed and burned....

Halloween started off well, did all the last minute party shopping and bought my sweet dumpling squash for supper. But we got way too busy doing all the decorating and I waited too late to start cooking the cake and cookie cake and had no time to bake my squash. Instead, I fell into the pizza trap, and chips, and cookie cake (though I didn't go NEAR the kitty litter cake...yuck) and chocolate candy. Ugh! Oh well, doesn't happen often and we had a blast. There were about 20 kids that came to the party and the girls had a blast. Mom and dad enjoyed ourselves too! The temps weren't too horribly cold until the last 30 minutes or so before the party ended which worked out well. I did get aggravated at the end when the party was to end at 10pm and the last kid didn't get picked up until after 11pm!! What the heck are these parents thinking???!! Saturday I was bad too....all the leftover pizza and cookie cake staring at me...hubby saw me eating a piece of the cake at one point and laughed and asked what I was doing. Told him I was eating an apple. That became our weekend joke, when he cut a piece, he said it was a banana. Boy it would be nice if it really worked that way. Thankfully now it is gone, as is the pizza. Back on track today. I was up a few pounds this morning, but thats okay. Still comfortably within my acceptable range. How did ya'll do on Halloween?