Day 422 Leaning On Motivating Thoughts and The Mock Meltdown

Day 422

Leaning On Motivating Thoughts and The Mock Meltdown

When the struggle intensifies and the “steel curtain” zone must be at it’s strongest, this is when I get really simplistic. Keeping this weight loss journey as simple as possible has been my mantra from Day 1. I simply enjoy fifteen hundred calories in and do some kind of exercise out. That’s it. I don’t care how I get those calories as long as I don’t go over and if I’m moving and sweating---then it’s a workout. I’ve battled stray thoughts of going nuts and eating large amounts of whatever, but I haven’t and I will not. Of course they always happen more frequently in times of stress and uncertainty. From Day 1 I’ve had to cling to my motivating thoughts many times, some days tighter than others, always remembering why this journey is so important to me. I don’t turn to food for comfort. I turn to my motivating thoughts, my hopes and dreams for the future; these are the things that keep me positive and moving in the right direction.

I guess I have gone nuts on certain things that fall within my calorie budget. I spent 330 calories on ice cream sandwiches today. It’s always the ice cream with me huh? I did do it, not all at once…just one at a time at 110 calories a pop. Three of them by the time the day ended. Hmmm. Maybe that’s my new version of “going nuts.” These were the low-fat vanilla flavored ice cream sandwiches. They’re wonderful to have around for a nice little treat, and they do last much longer than a box ever did before in our house, but even within my calorie budget---I still felt like I over did it, ya know? I didn’t really, so we’ll call it a “mock meltdown.” You can have one too! Just find something that is a wonderful calorie value and knock yourself out! I may have to buy one of those sugar-free angel food cakes from Wal-Mart, the entire cake is under 400 calories---I mean the entire cake! I’ll just eat half a cake at a time. I need to have one ready at all times. Then if I feel like having a mock meltdown---I’ll just eat a half a cake. Cake makes everything better, right? Especially when the entire cake is less than 400 calories. Fresh strawberries anyone?

I had a huge craving today for deep fried cheese. It’s strange really, because cheese sticks have never really been a weakness of mine. I like them, I mean what’s not to love? Deep fried cheese rocks, but I can take ‘em or leave ‘em---today I just had to have some. Five of them from Sonic Drive-in checks in at 436 calories. Uh---NO. Will not, could not---87 calories each? Well, now wait a second...87 each? OK---when you put it like that, maybe one or two. Before I could get to a Sonic for that order, the craving went away---it helped that I was sitting at 860 calories for the day and anymore before dinner would mean less dinner. This whole “good choices” thing works its self out with just a tad of common sense and a little patience. Unless we’re talking about three ice cream sandwiches in one day, yeah…sometimes a "mock meltdown" just happens.

Scott Hayes sent me a text invitation this afternoon for a pre-weigh day racquetball match at the YMCA tonight. It was just the workout I needed! We spent nearly 50 minutes in that court hitting the ball around. I can’t be for sure, but I think Scott took it easy on me. Scott plays almost every day, he’s good. We decided to not keep score. (great idea!) We were in there to move and get a good workout, not keep track of points. We followed the basic rules of the game and it was fantastic. I’ve written about Scott’s weight loss success before and Day 331 titled “Scott’s Story” was the day that Scott shared his story with readers of this blog. He’s lost 140 pounds, looks great, and can flat out move. If you went back in time, not that far back, say late summer of 2008---and you put Scott and me in a racquetball court with him weighing just shy of 400 and me at over 500---I think we both would have died in the attempt. Not tonight my friend, not anymore. It’s all good!

Tomorrow is weigh day. I can’t wait to see what the scale says. I’ll be sending out the usual mass-text, e-mail, Twitter, and facebook posting of the numbers.

Thank you for reading. Goodnight and…

Good Choices,
Sean


Pic snapped right after our racquetball match. Look, no double chins! Wow, I’m really red faced. Between the two of us, we’ve lost 363 pounds in a little over a year!