Just one of those Days.........

The weekend was great. I enjoyed my time with the girls. I didn't get in as much exercise as I had planned, not formal exercise anyway, but I did a lot of running around with the girls. We saw The Lorax on Saturday and it was awesome. We all really enjoyed it, and I thought there was a lot of cute humor.  I wasn't perfect with my eating, but I wasn't terrible either and I kept my calories reasonable. This morning I weighed in and I lost 2 pounds last week. I'll take it. I'm on my way back to pre-steroid weight. I so so so want to see that scale back where I was.

Today has DEFINITELY been Monday. I overslept so I didn't work out as planned this morning. I arrived early at work, but due to situations going on at work I didn't get any work done or my blog post as planned. I brought my workout clothes to work and planned on a run at lunch, but that got blown out of the water by other situations that happened.  Now I have to finish work and likely have to do some from home.  Tonight is Open House at my daughters school.  I cooked pies for the teacher's dinner tonight as I had volunteered to help. No problem for temptation as both pies went out the door this morning. I've had a migraine today and now the loud and crowded school even........boo hiss.....but the girls are so so so excited that I will not dissapoint. That's what medicine is for and YES I took some.

SO with all that, no exercise today which I am very unhappy about, but such is life. I will tomorrow and I have TKD class as well. I will stay on track. And I'm drinking my water. I ended up with a lunch meeting and we went to McAlister's Deli where I had a small garden salad, no cheese or croutons and light ranch and some yummy roasted veggie soup.  I had pistachios for snack. Thank goodness I have them on my desk as I forgot to pack my usual snack bag today. Just one of those days for sure.

That's the thing about the whole "lifestyle change" attitude. Life is like this. You have to roll with the punches. You can't let any little change in routine derail  you. I know in the past if I'd missed the workout and forgotten my snacks, I would've said, "Well, I'll diet tomorrow." and gone off on a binder, especially with the stress of today. OR I would have said, "I'll start tomorrow. I'll be good tomorrow. If I can't exercise, what's the point."  Oh I've heard ALL those thoughts ramble around in my mind in the past. I've said it before and it is so true. I was my own worst enemy. I'm the one that kept myself from achieving my goals. I'm trying really, really hard to change that behavior and reprogram my "self-talk". 

I know it's working because when I got back from lunch there was a HUGE tray of brownies and cookies on the table in the break room. The break room is on my side of the hall which means I walk past it as I'm seeing patients about a 1,000 times a day, no joke.  I saw that tray and thought, "huh" and kept walking. I went in there 3 times to refill my water cup. Didn't want them. Even though I didn't have my usual snacks. Even though I was REALLY stressed today. Even though I didn't get to exercise this morning and my routine was all messed up. It just isn't an option. Those foods are not part of my life now. They just aren't. I'm really proud of myself for that.

What about you? What do you do when the unexpected happens or things don't go your way? Are you and "all or nothing" kind of person?  How do you handle it when your plans are disrupted?

Secret Club. Is there a handshake?

So, yesterday my Aunt and my cousin arrived for the weekend. They brought her granddaughter who is about the same age as my middle daughter. The girls always have a blast and it's always good to see family. However, isn't it funny how family can react to your new lifestyle?

My Aunt is overweight. Well, obese. She always has been. She and several other family members had the stomach stapling procedure done in the 80s. All of them lost weight. All of them gained it back. She is a Coke addict. I mean...Coca Cola addict. She drinks several a day. Today I went home for lunch and she told me, "Well, I told your son that you're fired." I was confused. "There's no Coke in this house." And I laughed. Didn't mean to, but it struck me as funny. I told her I was sorry, but it didn't even occur to me, which it didn't. I don't drink the stuff anymore. I honestly don't really crave it. That is until someone reminds me about it. Thanks.

The kids were hanging out and swimming with our Nanny, while she and her son were watching a soap opera. I fixed my yummy lunch of a sliced tomato, 1/2 cup tuna salad, carrot sticks with ranch dressing and water. It was tasty. We started to talk about what to fix for dinner. I think I have previously mentioned how much I hate this conversation. It usually goes like this.... Them: I don't care. Me: How about chicken? Them: Nah. Chicken doesn't sound good. And it goes on like this until they finally say what they wanted in the first place. Ack.

This time I asked and she actually suggested chicken or steak. I peered into the freezer and found we didn't have enough chicken for the whole crew, but I did have some lean flank steak. I don't know about you, but I have a plethora (note interesting word choice, ha ha) of cook books. Many of them from previous diet plans. I did South Beach for a long time. Never lost much, but I like the overall idea of this diet, at least from a health standpoint and for cardiovascular health.

Some of my favorite healthy recipes are South Beach, so I pulled out the book and started on the marinade for the steak. I used some of our fresh herbs from out back, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, garlic and red onion. My Aunt comes in to the kitchen and says, "Oh, so you're doing South Beach again." My first inclination was to be irritated, but I just grinned while chopping my onion and said, "No. I'm not really following any diet. I'm just eating healthy foods and working out." The look on her face was truly priceless. She really looked confused. Poor thing. Her mom was queen of WW and died weighing probably 600 pounds.

She said, "Oh well, it's good you're trying to be healthy." But I could tell she really had no idea what I meant. To her, you're on a diet or your not. You're counting points or calories or eating some weird vegetable soup and cottage cheese. The idea that you wouldn't be ON a diet is confusing to her.

Maybe it will spark her to think about what that means. She knows I've lost weight. She knows I was swimming laps in the pool at 6:20 this am. Maybe she'll make a connection. But, in that moment I felt kinda sorry for her. And at the same time kinda special. Like I'm in on some kind of secret.

Which leads me to my question? Is this what thin people feel like when they look at me? Not the naturally thin ones who "can't gain weight", but the ones who watch what they eat and work out everyday. Is this how they've felt when I see them looking at me at the next table in a restaurant and I've just been delivered a brownie fudge sundae? Do they pity me? Do I irritate them for not figuring out THEIR secret? I know some of them feel superior. You can see it on their faces. I've never had this feeling before in my personal life. I've felt irritated or sympathetic to a patient when I know they're destroying their health by smoking or eating Twinkies when they're diabetic and just won't get it. Just won't stop.

But, I've never felt this feeling of being welcomed into a secret society. Where I know all these things that others don't. I don't know if I like it, or not. I've never felt judgmental of obese people because I know what it's like. But, now that I know you CAN change, I'm struggling with those feelings. I love that I'm changing in so many ways, but it feels weird sometimes. It's something I need to sort out. Have you ever felt this way? How do your family members react to your new life?