Holiday Backlash

I call today's picture, "Breakfast With A View."  It was taken this past May when Mr B and I spent a couple of days at The Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains of Western North Carolina.  

I do it every time and I have no idea why!  I plan for an event, holiday, party, dinner party, luncheon, etc., successfully work the plan at the event and then have a total meltdown the day after when things are supposed to be back to normal.  Fortunately, I did not have a TOTAL meltdown, but very easily could have. This is when I am so grateful for my "weigh every day and pay attention only to the average of the previous seven days" method of tracking my weight.  But even so, I am not proud of the part of my brain that went out all on its own yesterday.  Since I turned 50, Mr. B has grown fond of saying, "who are you and what have you done with my nice, sweet, even-tempered wife?"  Well, I think it was "her" that inhabited my body yesterday and made all those poor decisions.  Thank goodness, the nice, sweet, even-tempered, Sharon is back on track and in control today.  Geez, what a way to start the Freedom Challenge.......................

In all seriousness, here is what I think went wrong.  I am having so much fun with my weight loss plan this time around.  I love writing the blog, reading and responding to comments, feeling as if I'm making lots of new friends and reading their blogs, finding new strategies, making new recipes, going to the farmer's market, trying new foods, and just flat-out approaching the whole thing differently.  The weight loss is very slow, but heaven knows, I am NOT suffering or hungry. As a result, my refrigerator is absolutely packed to the gills. I do not think one more thing will fit in it.  The pantry and the freezer in the garage are also pretty packed.  And with very few exceptions, everything is yummy, healthy, on my eating plan, fresh and any other word one might use to describe "good."  

So here is how it went yesterday...............Small soy protein bar (I make these from scratch) before walking on the riverfront with Mr. B.  After showering,  normal breakfast bowl of granola (which I also make from scratch) with milk and a grapefruit.  Nothing more until a lunch sandwich made with Arnold's 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat Bread and some deli ham, turkey or roast beef, Hellman's low fat mayo, butter lettuce and portabello mushrooms.  But wait a minute, how did that sandwich end up with two slices of bread instead of one, two slices each of all three meats and a huge scoop of chicken salad (that I also made) on the side.  Man, that chicken salad is really good even if I do say so myself.  Think I'll have just a little bit more.  Whoops, how did those two wedges of Laughing Cow cheese and all those Triscuits (think "trigger" food) get on my plate?  I need a fruit so let's just go ahead and eat an apple with a few more Triscuits.  You get the picture.  Afternoon snack and dinner was more of the same. I was still eating less than one hour before I went to bed.  Not one single thing I ate was unhealthy. It was all so good. I knew it was too much, but I just couldn't stop.  

Here are the things I'm going to try to have learned.  This is a process which will last for the rest of my life.  I do not have to try every recipe TODAY.  Every new and yummy food item that a blogger mentions isn't something I have to go out and buy TODAY.  Summer produce is here for awhile and I don't need it all TODAY.  It's o.k. to buy small quantities of items in the store - I can always go back and get more. And most important of all, will I ever, ever learn that I simply cannot have large quantities of food in the kichen no matter how healthy it is.  Finish something BEFORE buying or making something else.  And thank the good Lord, I don't have a Trader Joe's anywhere near me.  THAT, my friends, would be disastrous.  

Here's the best news of all.  I'm free today. I sent that other woman packing and I'm in control of myself, my refrigerator, my pantry and my freezer.  The weight I gained should be gone tomorrow and I'm choosing to look at it from a humorous standpoint.  One of my Freedom Challenge goals is to plan menus three days this week.  I did that first thing this morning utilizing ONLY what I have in my refrigerator and pantry even eyeballing each thing to see how many proper servings are left.  

I've sent my holiday backlash far, far away and I believe I'm gonna be all right.  Hope you are.

(I considered blaming Blogger's issues for my problems yesterday since I wasn't able to "talk" to anyone via comments, but decided that probably wouldn't fly.  Nope, nobody to blame but me and that other woman!!)