August 27th, 2015 What I Love

August 27th, 2015 What I Love

Every now and then I'll receive a specific request. I was slightly amused by the message awaiting me this morning from a long time loyal reader:

Janie writes: "I've read your blog for years and noticed you rarely post bathroom selfies. Most of your selfies are close up. In a bathroom mirror it's better because it shows more. Anyway. Could you post one? Hope my request isn't taken in a bad way. All of my selfies are in my bathroom mirror. Alot of people do that. Thank you for writing what you do every day. It helps me."

Okay, Janie. First of all, thank you for reading my blog and secondly, is bathroom selfies a thing? I mean, yeah--I know people post a bunch of them, I just didn't know it was such a popular thing or its own style/category of selfie. I snapped a couple after washing my hands thoroughly this afternoon. Here you go--and thank you for the smile this morning!
photo Bathroom20Selfies_zpsdfemlpxn.jpg
I feel silly, really. I imagine my daughters thinking-- oh boy, there's dad doing his best to look cool, again! I am so NOT cool most of the time. This is me acting cool.

I had a really good day. It was long, but productive. And productive feels good even when productive translates to super busy. I took the time to prepare some good food today. I'm especially proud of the beef alfredo pizza for lunch. That was a delicious bunch of pizza for 550 calories!

We had a great discussion today in the exclusive private support group I co-facilitate with Life Coach Gerri Helms, about eating what we enjoy along the way and how that helps. I didn't get permission to share anyone else's responses, but I'll share mine:

I've always maintained the mantra "I eat what I love and nothing I don't," through my initial weight loss and now. Of course now, for me, there's an asterisk to that-- *as long as "what I love" doesn't contain refined sugar.

I've discovered how much I love all kinds of foods-- all without the added ingredient that triggers the addictive side of my brain. I enjoy my food immensely. The time I take in preparation is honoring my commitment in taking extraordinary care. This was one of the strong points in my book-- If we force ourselves to eat things we wouldn't normally, or just plain can't stand, as a means to lose weight, then we're not happy. It is a chore at that point. And further, it creates a temporary diversion from who we are--until whatever goal we set is achieved-- then we relent and return in full force to what we love to eat.

I could have lost weight eating salads and hated every bite along the way. Or, I can make sure what I'm eating is something I love anyway-- and make sure it fits the boundaries of my food plan-- and have an enjoyable/pleasurable experience as I redefine my relationship with food into something grounded in recovery principles-- something I can enjoy and practice for the rest of my life-- not just until I hit a certain weight or a certain jeans size.

Of course, the other side of this food relationship equation is the emotional/stress eating dynamic.

This side isn't necessarily triggered by "the drug." And it is entirely possible to eat excessively into a food coma without violating my "no refined sugar" personal rule.

So then what?

If I'm loving what I'm eating and it isn't a chore or something I dread each day--- What stops me from piling it on in times of extreme stress and emotions-- or when I'm simply tired and grumpy or having a bad day in general? 

Answer: Good support. I think we can all agree that food isn't a fixer of the stressful and emotional situations we encounter. It's merely a distraction-- taking us away from something unpleasant and replacing it for a little while with something pleasurable... It's an escape.

This escape always worked best in isolation, far away from others... Because I didn't want them to witness my gorging for comfort and often for sport, simply because it tastes so good...

Good support makes a tremendous difference. Good accountability measures can motivate us to make it through in order to maintain the integrity of our stated goals. Good support is invited into our heads where the thoughts and feelings live, where we can get another opinion--another's perspective, in an effort to really identify what's going on and figure out better, more productive alternatives.
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I had a really good body weight strength training workout tonight. I'm calling it a good Thursday.
I hope you had a wonderful Thursday, too!

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Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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