On the road again and again...........

Oh my, what a week!! I realized late last night that I had not updated you on my Thanksgiving choices. My Thanksgiving celebrations with family and friends kept me on the road more days that I had originally planned. However, it was all a good thing. I ended up taking a couple of road trips that I didn’t know about until the day before them. Fun time and sweet memories!!

A couple of days before Thanksgiving, I saw this thought posted on the WW message board: Thanksgiving is just another day. I will be surrounded by food and I will have choices to make, just like any other day. Whether or not I make good choices is completely up to me, just like any other day. Journaling my choices on/over Thanksgiving is up to me, just like any other day. The choice is, after all, completely mine.

I definitely celebrated Thanksgiving and made good choices. I squeezed off 2.4 pounds during all those celebrations!! So pleased and excited…….and VERY thankful!!! I am 69.2 pounds lighter than I was this time last year.

Things that I did Thanksgiving 2010 that I could or would NOT have done Thanksgiving 2009:
•Walked totally without my walking stick everywhere I went.
•Was on the road Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday visiting with family and friends. Back at home each night and up and out headed in a different direction the next day.
•Shopped at stores that did not have the electric scooters on Black Friday.
•Ate good, healthy choices and left second and third helpings on the table.
•Chose carefully the one dessert or taste of dessert that I wanted three of the five days.
•Tracked every bite.
•Spent three mornings in the pool.

Then went to a different Weight Watchers meeting on Monday evening to get the new program. I did NOT want to wait until today and hear the details of the new program. I couldn’t officially weigh today at my regular class since I’d already weighed once during this WW week. So, no report from the scales this week.

I am loving the new program. I’ll admit that it has been hard to wipe all the old facts and figures out of my brain this week. But, I believe that it will be well worth the effort. I’m excited!!

As I am closing in on my one year anniversary as a Weight Watcher member, I am very excited about my second year on program. I believe the new program will bring about great progress in my journey down the scales. I believe the new program will bring about more strides toward improving my health. I believe that my improved mobility and health over this past year will bring about a new level of exercise and I will not be limited to the pool for exercise.

The choice is mine and I am choosing to be excited and proud of my accomplishments this past year. I am choosing to continue down this beautiful road on my journey down the scales toward better health and mobility. To be perfectly honest, I LIKE that choice. I LIKE the “new and improved” Cynthia!!

Fast forward to Sunday, November 28th...............

Sunday, November 21st, as I was preparing my breakfast this morning (WW cream cheese with Truvia, almond flavoring and vanilla, butter, nut flavoring added on top of Thomas bagel thin, LF chocolate milk), I thought of next Sunday and me sitting here preparing the same breakfast to enjoy. I thought about how I will look back and feel about the Thanksgiving celebrations with family and friends.

On Sunday, November 28th, will I be stuffed and yucky feeling because I didn't want to feel left out or deprived, so I ate unending servings of the special Thanksgiving foods?

Or………..

On Sunday, November 28th, will I be lighter on my feet and feeling great because I decided that no food could taste better than the reality of my great "weight loss, get healthy" accomplishments this past year?

Then, it hit me.......yet again………..

How many times have I eaten something because not eating it would have left me feeling deprived and/or left out? Yet………………the very things that I enjoyed time and time again in order to feel included have left me deprived of life and very much left out of participating in life.

So, my thoughts of enjoying this or that “special” Thanksgiving food over the gatherings with family and friends MUST be wrapped in my reality of how different my life is this November as compared to last November. I have a freedom this November that I didn’t have last November. I have worked hard this past year and have improved my health and mobility tremendously.

Dear friends, if you are following my blog as a fellow journeyer on your way to a healthier lifestyle, I encourage you think along with me toward next Sunday, November 28th. What/how do you want to feel as you are preparing breakfast on Sunday, November 28th? Is eating turkey and dressing AND pumpkin pie or ______________________ (fill in the blank with your favorite Thanksgiving foods) until you can’t move is as rewarding as improving your health and gaining better mobility?

Which feeling lasts longer?
1. Satisfaction from eating a favorite food.
2. Satisfaction from being off blood pressure meds, walking without my stick, shopping at stores that don’t have electric scooters, feeling more comfortable at other people’s houses and the list goes on and on.

Or picture it this way: (heehee, pun intended)

Well DUH!!!!! Doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to figure that one out!!!

I choose option number 2. Without question, option number 2 provides long-term satisfaction. Option number 1 only provides temporary satisfaction.

Okay……..there it is.

The choice is mine and today I am choosing to predetermine my choices for the coming week. I am choosing better health and improved mobility over unending servings of turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie. Yes, I will enjoy turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie. Just not the unending servings that I have “enjoyed” in the past. I am choosing long-term satisfaction from better health and mobility rather than temporal satisfaction from the food.

I am thankful that the choice is mine. Yes, the choice IS mine and I am not going to deprive myself of the better choice!!!