Something to Celebrate

This week was my birthday. I have always loved having a birthday in August. It is the end of summer time and everyone is trying to still celebrate the warm weather and freedom before the changes of autumn come around.

This year, I decided to give myself a birthday present...I decided to give myself the gift of health, confidence, self-control, and a big thing for me right now...weight loss. I told all of my family and friends that I didn't want food to be a part of any of our celebrations. I was completely surprised at the reactions I got.

Every year I go to dinner with my parents around my birthday. This year, I told them I just wanted to go to a movie instead. My dad was so worried about it. He kept trying to find a way to work some kind of food into our night out. He told me that he knew I was trying to be more healthy, so he wondered if we could go out for a salad. I told him no. No food in our celebrations. Then he asked me if I wanted him to bring me some fruit and we could snack on it during the movie. I told him no. When we were sitting in the movie, he kept trying to talk me into a diet soda. I told him no. It was really hard for him not to want to celebrate with me with some kind of food.

I had countless friends who called me during the week who wanted to go out to dinner or lunch. I kept telling them no, that I would really like to do something that didn't involve food. At first people were at a total loss...but then we thought of a lot of other things we could do. During the week and with different friends I went for a walk, I played golf, I went shopping, I went to another movie, I started planning a vacation, I went and had my palm read, I went to a cabin with a bunch of friends and we ended up talking late into the night.

I really had a great week and learned that I am a strong person. It is really hard not to give in to the social pressures that surround us involving food. We use it to celebrate and to socialize and I learned that I don't need to use it that way. I can enjoy being with my friends and family wihtout having food being the center of the experience. That isn't to say that I am not going to enjoy food and that I am totally taking it out of my socializing, however I am saying that again I learned another lesson in control and in truly giving myself what I wanted for my own birthday. Because of this attitude and decision I lost another 3.5 pounds at my weigh in again this week! Hooray!

On Top of the World

Today was another great weigh-in...in the past two weeks I have lost another 9.2 pounds. It feels so good to be back in control of myself. I am doing everything that I know I should be doing.

In my job I eat out with wholesalers 3-4 times per week. Sometimes it is breakfasts and sometimes it is lunch. I have learned that I don't need to feel uncomfortable when I request my meal made without oils or butter, when I ask for my dressings and sauces on the side. At first all of the guys were giving me a hard time about it, but now I am seeing more and more of them trying to make healthy choices and be more aware of what they are eating.

Now that I am on a roll I am excited to keep the momentum going. I feel like my old self again. It feels so good to have my clothes start fitting better again. It was so hard the past couple of months as I could feel them getting tighter and tighter. I hated all of my clothes and didn't feel like I had anything to wear. There were some clothes that I had bought in February right before I got my kidney stones and was thrown in a weight gain tail-spin that I haven't been able to wear the past couple months. I am soooo glad that I caught myself before things got too out of control. Now I feel like I am on top of the world.

Whoo-hoo!

In my last post, I mentioned that I was looking forward for the first time in forever to weigh in on Saturday...and I wasn't disappointed...I lost 3.7 pounds this week and I am so excited! I am excited to be back on the wagon and back in the groove of things.

It's hard not to have a look at the calendar and my weight tracker and see how much time I have wasted and how far behind I am on my weight loss goals for this year, but the truth is that that line of thinking is not helpful or productive. I am where I am and there is no changing that! So, the only thing to do is to regroup and get back on it.

After my weigh in , I played in a golf tournament that turned out to be my best ever. I shot one under par and I know that part of the reason is the confidence and contentment that I am feeling with myself right now. Whoo-hoo!

Lost and Found (my mind that is)

So, after reading my last few posts, I can see that I had totally lost my mind! The good news is that I think I have finally found it again! Yippee!

This past week has been so normal, I have stayed within my points goal for Weight Watchers and have had some good exercise time. I have tracked my food intake and excercise to the letter. I am not sure why I sabotage myself, I feel so much better when I am eating right and exercising. Not only psychologically and emotionally, but I physically feel better. For the first time in a long time I am actually looking foward to my weigh in this Saturday!