Swimming in a Sea of Temptations & Seeing Clearly

Though swimming in a sea of tasty temptations,
I'm learning to "clear my mask," so to speak,
and see my choices for what they are.

Wow, what an amazing couple of weeks!  I've been swimming in a sea of temptations, beginning with "Travel Week".

I have been a bad girl about blogging, and it all began as one of many stumbles (I'm resisting the word "failures") during my travel week.  I left home bright and early on June 13 and experienced rush-rush-rush all the live-long day.  I began by eating right, but my good choices turned to poor ones the minute we got to Dallas and I got extremely busy.  I'll skip the gory details and instead offer these few "nuggets."  The week was marked by restaurant choices that included a Spaghetti Warehouse (pasta is such a hard one for me) and a number of other deliciously tempting establishments with things like fresh-made flour tortillas and various and sundry cheese-covered Tex Mex creations.  I did make a few good choices, including a beautiful Steak Medallions and Iceberg Wedge salad.  

When I got back from travel week, I prepared for a major feeling of "fail on the scale," but was happy to find I had only gained back a pound.  I thank an incredibly active week that included being up before the sun and staying busy until late evening every night.  I was definitely on my feet more than usual each day, as we were photographing and taking video at sunup every day.  I was so grateful to see the scale only creep up by a pound.

Since travel week, I have continued to swim in this sea of temptations.  Sometimes I cave in to them, and sometimes I don't.  I'm discovering that the way to "clear my mask" and see my choices properly is just to be up front and honest about what I'm eating.  On those days when I don't eat the way I think I should, I am still tracking my food intake (my "points" on Weight Watchers).  If I don't like the number, there is always tomorrow.  I have to remember that when my eyes open each morning, it's like I've hit the "Reset" button and I get to start fresh.  A single stumble does not a failure make!

I've had a few days recently when I've eaten things I wasn't happy about later, such as the slice of garlic bread I had with an otherwise healthy pasta dish a few nights ago at an Italian restaurant, or the deep fried green bean appetizer at Louie's Bar & Grill that I shared with girlfriends from high school and washed down with a "Lemonada" (frozen lemonade with a hint of raspberry vodka).  Those were not great days in terms of points, but I still stayed on plan for the week because those just became some of the bonus points allowed within the Weight Watchers plan.

I saved the best news for last.  I haven't behaved perfectly.  I haven't eaten perfectly.  I haven't exercised perfectly.  But I have stayed committed to doing what's best and taking this one day at a time and a few short goals at a time.  Before leaving on the trip, my goal was to hit my first five pounds lost, and I have done that!  Woohoo!!!!  When I got on the scale last week for my weigh-in, I was down a little over 7 pounds since I started.  Double woohoo!!

But here's the even better part of the best part of the very best part:  I weighed in again this morning.  I had spent yesterday on the river canoeing with some dear friends and had eaten very healthy all day, but I just didn't feel I had consumed as much water as I should, and I was still feeling the effects of the poor eating at Louie's the night before (the aforementioned Lemonadas and fried green beans, you see).  But the news on the scale this morning made me dance around the bathroom in my unmentionables for a moment, because -- kids, I'm down 9.3 pounds.  Nine-point-three, baby.  I am getting a glimpse of what it's going to feel like to see double-digit weight loss for the first time since I began this challenge, and I see it in the coming days.  My first 10 pounds will be gone, and I'll be 10% of my way to meeting this challenge, and doing it on schedule.

So I'm staying on points.  And I'm drinking my water.  I wrapped this evening by walking the dogs, then walking a little while longer by myself.  In a few minutes, I'll head to bed and prepare to hit that "reset" button again tomorrow.  I have my heart set on being down 10 pounds when I weigh in officially on Wednesday!