Have you ever heard a George Strait song? Of course you have, even if you are not a country music fan you know who George Strait is. All his exes are in Texas…and he sings of many, many other country towns throughout the U.S. He makes them all sound soooo romantic and exciting…well let me tell you he is full of crap…LOL On our trip from one side of the United States to the other, we travelled through many of these places….George Strait had me sooo excited. LOL Well all those romantic towns - not so much…LOL Our moving truck broke down in Laramie, Wyoming and it took Budget 2 days to figure out what to do about it…trust me - 2 days in Laramie, WY is 2 days longer than anyone needs to be in Laramie, WY (sorry Laramian’s…=). But no worries - I still love George…=)
At any rate - we made it through and are finally here in Washington State. This last week has been exhausting, stressful, boring (driving 10 hours a day…yuck) and emotional - all reasons I usually use to eat. But NOT THIS TIME!!
I avoided french fries, ate a lot of subway, salads and fish. I made a commitment to not look at any part of the menu but the lighter side - and if they didn’t have one then I looked at soup and salad. We ate breakfast at a diner and I ate egg beaters instead of eggs, fruit instead of hash browns and I made these kind of substitutions the whole way. Veggies instead of fries..etc…I will weigh myself tomorrow but I think I am ok. I feel strong and I can honestly say that I did not miss the other stuff that I usually eat.
I did allow myself some splurges a couple of times - but it was ok because of the other choices that I had made…
It was wayyyyy easier then I thought it would be. This was the ultimate test - and I think I passed!
Like I said, we are now in our new home - the Tri Cities area of Washington State. We bought a house today and construction will start in a couple of weeks. We are going home to Cali for a little vacation…but we did rent an apartment to live in while our house is being built and I made sure we picked one with a fitness center because my new life has started and it is time to reinvent myself. Nobody here knows me fat - so when I lose the weight they will only know the skinny me…=)
While driving cross country I had a lot of time to think. I did a lot of soul searching…and I discovered a couple of things. When my hubby was in Iraq I lost 40 lbs through a lot of sweat and determination. But when he came back I put it all back on and I wanted to figure out why I did that. Why would I work sooo hard to lose the weight just to put it back on again? Why would I do that to myself? What I figured out is that I did it all for the wrong reasons. I did it because I thought my husband would be really surprised and would be so proud of me. I did it for his reaction. Of course, when he came home he was surprised and he thought I looked great. But after he got used to me there wasn’t that “wow” reaction anymore. I think I figured “oh well, he doesn’t care - why should I?” I did it for HIS reaction and not for ME. When we would go out to eat I would be influenced by his choices - he would eat whatever and I would eat it with him. My husband loves to eat out so I need to figure this out FOR ME….because that is the only way that I can survive this weight loss journey and still eat out with my hubby.
The other thing that I figured out is this: I am not a slave to food or my weight. I am not defined by what I eat or what my pants size is. I realized that I focus so much on how fat I am or what horrible thing I just ate that I start to think that it controls me. That is a bunch of malarkey! I control what I eat and how I feel about myself - I am not controlled!
Anyway - I just thought I would post about my “duh” moments…LOL I am hoping that now that we are here and have the residential stuff out of the way that I will be able to get on more often and read up on everyone and the happenings in everyone’s lives. I hope everyone is doing well and thank you to everyone that has sent me notes of encouragement…as I have said before - you all rock!
Thought for the day:
LOOK UP, GET UP AND NEVER GIVE UP!