Getting the point

Oh, the learning.

A very challenging week, foodwise. Being at the ancestral palace is fine. I mostly control my food here. But then tack on a two-and-a-half-day board meeting, a little get together at my brother and sister-in-law's, dinner with friends and my niece's upcoming birthday party, and oh boy, oh mister, there's some challenge right there.

How did I do? Ummm, I get to reset my points tomorrow and I'm already overdrawn by eleven. Which is not perfect. However: There was learning. And learning is what it's all about, right? Well, learning and of course, losing. More on that later.

First, the learning. Eleven points in the hole notwithstanding, I am proud of myself. I ate like a regular person this weekend. Perhaps the choices weren't what they should have been for a person who's trying to lose, but I didn't feel that panicky gotta-try-this, gotta-have-some-of-that feeling I think I've felt my whole life around food. One small piece of lasagna at creator caucus on Thursday night, and salad, and no bread. A butter tart when the tray was being passed around, but as my colleagues sat and crammed in pieces of chocolate, I declined, and didn't feel deprived. I'd had real cheese, and pasta, and delicious salad and a lovely butter tart, and that was fine, thanks. And later, at the hotel, I looked at the Pringles in the minibar and thought, nah, don't want 'em. It was a good, and strange feeling.

Same thing the rest of the weekend. I ate what there was to eat, but not all of it, and not seconds. I made good choices where I could, and let myself have bread when I wanted it. Not normal life behaviour, but I looked around at the skinny people in the room and thought, they're eating more than me, desserts and croissants and all the rest. But I bet they'll take care later, or tomorrow. So when I got home, I had some brown rice, a left over pork chop, some Chinese eggplant and tomatoes, and an avocado salad. Satisfying, and delicious, and pretty good for me.

And today I've the birthday party to get through. A small piece of cake, I think, and then a walk this afternoon. And tomorrow morning, back to Curves with Mom. We go every weekday and do our workout, and though I still find it like Robot Exercise Church, I see the value in it. I sweat and my heartrate goes up and I can feel my arms and legs getting muscle-y and there ain't nothing wrong with that.

So. I think I will turn out to be a person who willingly exercises every day in order to be able to occasionally eat Italian bread. That seems like a pretty good deal to me. It's three days since I last worked out and I feel a bit insane for the lack of it. So I'll bust out a little yoga this afternoon and then get in a good walk before it gets dark.

Oh yeah, the losing. No idea if I have. My body feels different, more defined, more shapely. But the scale here is completely unreliable, and the one at Curves has me up six pounds since my first weigh in three weeks ago or whenever that was. And that just doesn't seem right, since I've been eating better and exercising more. So it's about time to take measurements again, which I will do, and I think those will have to be my guide.

Please stand by for an important statistical announcement, to come sometime in the very near future.