Transformation Day 2012: Update for 04/16/12

It’s the first day of week 39, and I have some great news to share! I hit a new low on the scale this past week, and I made it through some serious temptation without eating off plan.  I’m really proud of myself!

I did great with my eating last week, and that translated to movement on the scale.  This morning, I weighed 245.2 pounds (which is a Transformation Day 2012 Update low for me).  Yesterday though, I was at my all-time low weight for this challenge — 244.2.  It’s nice to have the scale moving again, and it’s nice to have my eating back in order.

Saturday evening brought something that, to me, was much more exciting than the lower numbers on the scale.  We left the house to do some desperately needed grocery shopping, but it happened that we were leaving around supper time.  My husband asked what we were going to do for supper, and I said, “Since I want to get to Aldi before they close, could we just grab some meat and cheese at Wal-Mart and eat it in the car?” He thought that sounded like a good idea, and so we headed out.

We were about halfway to Sam’s Club, our first destination, when my daughter said that she was hungry.  I told her that, yeah, I knew they were probably all hungry, and Daddy and I were planning to get something at Wal-Mart.  Then all the kids started talking about what they wanted, and their ideas weren’t cheap, so finally I said, “Well, we could get you kids two pieces of pizza at Sam’s Club to share, and Daddy and I will eat meat and cheese from Wal-Mart.” The kids immediately started grumbling that they were still going to be hungry despite the fact that two pieces of Sam’s Club pizza easily equates to four pieces of pizza from any other large pizza.

Then my husband chimes in.  “Well, I’d be willing to cheat on pizza, and then we could save money by just getting a whole pizza.” (Knowing that Sam’s Club pizzas only cost $9, I knew that he was right because by the time we got meat and cheese for him and me and then pizza/drinks for the kids, we were probably going to exceed that cost pretty easily.)

I didn’t even have to ponder it for a second.  “OK… You guys can have pizza and I’ll just eat the toppings because I’m actually doing well with my food this week, and I don’t want to wreck that.” I felt really resolved, and SAYING that was easy.  DOING it turned out to be something entirely different.

So we got to Sam’s Club, we ordered the pizza, and we did our shopping.  We sat down as a family in the cafe to eat our pizza, and I started dishing out food while Fred got some drinks.  The moment I opened that box and actually TOUCHED a piece of crust, I had an immediate and intense urge to say, “Ah, to heck with it.  I’ll eat the crust too because I know there won’t be enough food for me.” I really had to talk myself out of that feeling though, and I went about serving the kids their pizza.  Then I scraped topping off some of the pizza and piled them on my plate.  Then the KIDS started piling their unwanted toppings onto my plate.  By the time we were all done, I had a huge pile of cheese, sausage, pepperoni, and veggies, and the kids were thrilled because they got “extra” by getting to eat my crust.

It was easy once I actually did what I had resolved to do, but it was hard getting over that first urge to just eat the crust.  I was so proud of myself for not caving though, and the next morning, rather than a huge gain on the scale (that I would have gotten had I eaten the grain), I had actually lost another .4 pounds leaving me at 244.2 pounds for the end of week 38.  (Yeah, I gained a pound from yesterday to today, but I’m not sweating it.  I didn’t make any bad food choices.)

We can avoid the foods that don’t support our health.  Sometimes though, we’re our own worst enemy.  This past weekend though, I really couldn’t help but be very proud of myself, and I thought about a dear friend of mine who’d recently had a similar experience.  She was faced with two of her favorite foods in one dessert, and although it was really tough for her, she didn’t eat the dessert.  And like me, she was rewarded by a drop on the scale the next morning that helped to reinforce the fact that she did a good thing the night before.  I know understand that feeling that, hey, I accomplished something wonderful, it didn’t kill me, and I even got a little payoff on the scale.

I say this all the time.  Getting healthy is one of the best things we can do NOW as preppers.  Some of us have a little further to go than others, but all of us need to view optimal health as a critical part of the “claiming liberty” puzzle! And don’t forget that if you’re not doing something today to claim your personal liberty, you’re actually losing ground because, as I told my kids the other day, time stops for nobody.

Have a great week!