An orange makes me happy

When you are limiting your food intake in a serious effort to budge yourself off a plateau, an orange can be mighty good.  In fact, while I drove around Christmas shopping, dodging the Krispy Kreme drive-thru and avoiding the Dairy Queen and NOT THINKING about donuts and ice cream, I comforted myself with the idea that I still had a snack at home:  an orange.

And, oh, that orange was glorious and nearly overpowered the scent of the popcorn my husband ate while we watched "Friday Night Lights" together.  Who needs popcorn when you can consume a delicious, juicy orange? 

How much better it is to wake up in the morning without regretting an overindulgence.  I've confessed my indiscretions here before (eating the whole package of double-chocolate Pepperidge Farms Milanos while driving home from Target, for instance).  I've eaten more than my share of processed junk foods, including whole cans of Pringles in a day or two.  I spent over 10 years living as a fat woman.

And that is how I know that it's preferable to deny myself and reap the rewards of that denial.  Someone just told me today in a comment (you can read it below, I think):  "Don't lose sight of what you want the most because of what you want at the moment".  Good, huh?  Excellent philosophy, in fact.

What do you want the most?  I want to be rid of these last pounds.  Only sixteen to go.  I can sacrifice a donut or two in that quest.

I start my second week of PureFoods Fresh Start tomorrow.   This week, I reached the 60-pounds-lost mark.  (Hooray!  166.4 pounds this morning!  I lost 4.6 pounds in the first full week.)  Who knows what will happen in the next week?  I can't wait to find out.

 

Comments

[SB]

I've been reading this blog for a year and somedays I like it. Somedays I can't get into it but I still want to like it. Today I am taking it out of my bloglines. So goodbye. I wish you hadn't regularly turned the whole diet thing into a religious/moral issue. Overeating is not "sin," it is overeating. Being fat is bad enough without having it be made into some sort of moral evil.

[Barbara H.]

"Don't lose sight of what you want the most because of what you want at the moment". Excellent. That's my downfall -- I keep finding some way to justify this brownie or that second helping, which in themselves wouldn't be so bad, but all add up. And the pleasure of eating something is so short compared to the consequences.

Congratulations on reaching the 60 lb. loss!

I have to disagree with the previous commenter. I wouldn't say every second helping or cookie is a sin, but indulging enough to result in overweight is wrong in two ways: God has charged us to take care of our bodies as His temple, and we're not exercising good stewardship in taking care of the bodies the Lord has given us, and He has charged us to be filled with His Spirit, one aspect of which is self-control, and over-indulging in food is a loss of self-control.

[JanB]

Wow, don't be discouraged. Just keep telling it your own way. Not everyone is on the same wavelength and you don't have to be accountable to others. This wasn't what I was going to write when I read your post today, but when I read that comment, I thought you might be a little down. Not everyone will be happy with what we write. I know sometimes I write about things that are spiritual and then other times I swear and I constantly expect people to call me a huge hypocrite. But that's just me. I am not 100% good or 100% bad, I am just me.

I think that when we start making sense of what drives us to eat, we related it to our own walk in life. Not everyone is on the same wavelength though and I wouldn't want it that way. For me, I see overeating and stuff as laziness and greed, or as emotional shallowness. But we all see it as it relates to us.

Congratulations on your loss!! I am so excited for you!!

[Karen]

Losing weight is a journey. For some it is a spiritual journey. I think if you don't learn some serious life lessons along the way, you will go back to the old habits and gain the weight again.

[workout mommy]

I am so confused by the first commenter.

Anyway, good for you for resisting the crap and eating the good stuff!!!

[iportion]

I would like a juicy piece of fruit but I am fruitless right now.

[Julia]

Mel,
you're journey has been so inspiring to me. I think I kept coming back here, because you always said that every diet wasn't for every person. That was important for me to get. It freed me to not pin all my successes and failures on the diet itself...we all know that leads to discouragement and defeat. You just do what works and when that stops working, you do something else.
Everything is a factor in weight loss and we can only do what we can do...some can jog, some cannot, some can eat carbs, some only protein...some both.
I am grateful for your blog and the comments. It helps me not to be too hard on myself when I stall, or gain. Thanks a bunch! And mucho congratulations on moving that scale down again!
A Humbled Julia

[Patti Justice]

Wow! It sounds like someone is very discouraged by their diet. I'm glad you're not though. You keep up the good work and you'll have those 16 pounds gone before you know it.

[Susan]

Keep writing and inspiring us with your success! Though I'm not a religious person, I don't mind the occasional interjection of your faith, it just helps me to remember who you are and even though we're different we still have some of the same goals.

[Poppy]

Mel, I'd say this is an instance of blogging serendipity. You made people think, and they reacted--not always positively. You didn't mean to start a debate on the moral/religious side of dieting, but it happened anyway.

No one wants to lose readers, but this is actually a really cool aspect of blogging. No matter how hard I try to write well, sometimes the best stuff ends up in the comments.

[SaraB]

60 pounds!! Oh my that's wonderful! Congratulations to you! I can't wait to get there myself. I loved your thoughts on your beautiful perfect orange. May I ask - what changed? I know my motivation when I eschew popcorn for an orange, so I'm curious to know yours. We all know that it is the better thing to do - but sometimes I choose the popcorn. So what has made you turn around in your choices - or regroup? Is it the success? Is it the guidelines and not wanting to waiver? Maybe I can apply it to my thoughts too. You're doing great!