So on the last post, one thing I didn’t tell you was, as I was ‘aerobically’ stacking wood, I was thinking about what I would eat when I was through, all the various options I had, whether I would stop half-way through to eat, or whether I would make it through the whole stack before I was too hungry, and I thought to myself (in regards to my incessant food thoughts,) ‘Oh, Lord, will it ever end?’ Now mind you this was more of a thought to myself than a true prayer, but it seemed that His answer came back so kindly and gently, ‘Not until this life is over, dear.’ So there you have it. That is the truth of it, and its not so bad. Valerie wrote about this in a comment on Refuse to Regain. Valerie really has a worthy blog, and some very wise insights into weight loss and especially maintenance.
And so it was on these 4 days that I spent out of town. All the way down to the hotel in the car, I talked to myself about making different choices, having a different mindset, ‘Remember, you just declared that you are going to lose 30 more pounds.’ ‘Keep in mind that you are in the losing mode now.’ ‘You can make different choices.’ Well, I will not bore you with all the poor (but delicious I must admit) choices that I made in 4 days. There were some very good choices made as well. I even went to the hotel’s fitness center and spent quite a bit of time on the treadmills. Who knew watching a tv program could be a motivating factor in keeping you on the treadmill a bit longer!
So, now I am home, making good choices again, planning my food, planning exercise for the day. But there is no way you can eat the foods I ate and as much as I ate and lose weight. Suggestions, anyone? I know all the ways you can make good choices at restaurants. I am actually very good about packing my own breakfast and lunch foods. It seems, for me, that I will just have to take a hard line, and not eat out for about 6 months or so. Its so frustrating, because I really like the healthy foods I eat. But I feel compelled to eat the ‘old’ foods that I enjoyed so much before. Some of them I still very much enjoy. But others, not so much. For example, my sister and I went to ‘Mimi’s’ for a late lunch. They have great salads. So I chose one to try, but then I thought, ‘a sandwich would be really good too.’ So I talked her into ‘sharing’ and we had 1/2 a salad and 1/2 a sandwich each. The salad was really so good, and I wished I had the whole thing. The sandwich not so much…I think its that thing I was saying about ‘old habits.’ It will take a very long time (oh, yeah, my whole life) for them to die…
debby weighs in 
thanks for the comment – it definitely is hard coming from a family split by divorce. I’m still struggling with a lot of issues from my childhood. Weight being one of them!
Your blog is awesome; I love reading about the ways you fit fitness and good diet choices into your everyday life. Taking time to go to the hotel gym, giving in to the craving for a sandwich my splitting it and having salad with it; these are simple choices that move you forward, and I look forward to reading more archives and seeing other wisdom I can “glean” from the words!! 🙂
I laughed at the 1/2 salad and 1/2 sandwich – when I used to go out more – I ordered for both my husband and I and told him that he wouldn’t know what he was eating until it came and I looked at it all and tried it all – sometimes we would split both – sometimes he got one and I ate the other. He is flexible and didn’t care.
Now I am really down to ONE restaurant that I will go to – and there are several things there that I will eat. But we VERY rarely eat out now. It was very much an ‘easiest road thing’ for me – all the eating out that we used to do. And now – it just causes way too many problems all the way around. It is not worth it to me – not the food issues – not the added expense.
my old habit was
restaurant=easy
but I think it might be very different single –
socialization = food
It is hard to find the line – in my head – on these things that I used to consider ‘normal behavior’ and I now realize that (for me) just because everyone else does it – does NOT mean that it works.
Thank you so much for the notes, Debby! I will have to look into some of the information you gave me. I love reading, but haven’t had much time to do it lately. I haven’t read “The Message”, but it might be a good idea. Sometimes when it’s in more modern terms its more understandable and relateable. It’s encouraging to hear that you are a believer; thank you for your prayers and your support. I don’t really have readers yet on my blog since it’s so new, so your comments and encouragement really lift my spirits!