By Laurie Marshall
As many of you are doing this week, I’m ignoring my bathroom scale. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I am stepping on the scale. Then I am looking down at the number. And then I’m choosing to ignore what it says.
It’s been a tough road for me over the last couple of months, as I’ve put on every pound that I so proudly lost before going on my cruise in October. I was so excited to be able to wear my Tight Jeans on the trip to New Orleans (and we all know that tight jeans are not 10-hour-road-trip friendly), and now even my Comfy Jeans are starting to get snug again.
My current excuse is hormones. I started taking a daily birth control pill shortly after getting back from my cruise, and it seems that the torture of trying to remember to take a daily pill is quite adequately equaled by the torture of forgetting that I don’t need to taste (i.e. inhale) every edible item that stumbles in front of my face. It’s as if that willpower that I was wielding like Saint Joan’s sword was left on the ship. I can’t say I blame it. I’d have stowed away too if I thought no one would have come looking for me.
So, I’m hovering around 196 again. And as I sit in my bed writing this, there is a paper plate on my nightstand that recently held a piece of this week’s nightly nemesis: the too-good-to-throw-away-cheesecake leftover from Christmas (curse you David & Jennie!!!).
But I’m better than that! I’m better than that cheesecake!! Okay, maybe I’m not better than the cheesecake… it is pretty outrageously delicious… but I’m better than the woman who is allowing herself to eat a gargantuan piece of it every night. I’m better than the coca-colas I’ve been drinking too often this week. And I’m certain that I can get back into the habit of thinking before I put a fork in my mouth. The question that I have to remember to ask myself is a simple one: is this cheesecake/coke/nacho/oreoball/2ndhelpingofanything more important to me than my self-image? And in case you aren’t sure, the answer is always NO.
Side note: on the drive back from dinner out with my mother-in-law this evening my 7-year-old son announced from the back seat; “Mom, I know how to spell “insane”. Now I have to wonder if he can read my mind.
Anyway, there is no t.v. show more important than getting up and getting something done that I want to get done. No bite of food that is more important than maintaining a healthy weight that I can be comfortable with. No soda that is going to make me more alert at work than a big glass of calorie-free iced tea.
I’ve done it before – and so have you! – and we can do it again.
It seems that another year has gone by and we’re staring at a new January 1st in a couple of days.
Once again, I’m vowing to Get Healthy. But this time it’s not only going to be about food and exercise. I’m also incorporating a desire for balance in my professional life, my hobbies, and my spiritual self. I’ll be writing about all of them here and
draggingtaking you along with me. I hope you stick around. And throw me some suggestions! I’d love to hear what you are going to be doing differently in 2012 – and what you’d like to read about here.
See you next year!
Look for Laurie’s fitness tips and updates on her personal health-focused journey every other Friday on nwaMotherlode in Mom Blogs. Send questions or input to her at mamas@nwaMotherlode.com. Or click on the comment button below and share your thoughts right now! To see previous installments of Getting Healthy for Good, click HERE.
