Never too old to learn...

12^th December 2011

To lengthen you life, shorten your meals.  Proverb

Countdown to Christmas tip – Add it up. Never leave a party without knowing how much you've eaten. Yes, that includes those tiny, addictive canapés! At a cocktail party, allow yourself one round of the hors d'oeuvres so that you can pick your favourites. Zero in on those you like best and log what you eat. This goes for baking days, too — don't let yourself 'forget' those extra tastes and track them all.

I had a lovely weekend but also one where my head did quite a bit of thinking in-between the eating, drinking and enjoying myself.  Yes I found myself feeling quite, oh I can’t think of the word, anyway I was being thoughtful and thinking about my behaviour and how that affects others.  I try to be the best person I can be however we all have moments where we’re not that best person! 

And I realised this weekend, that if something that is said hurts you then it's possible that there is some truth in the comment!  It’s an excellent time to have a good hard honest look at yourself, none of us are perfect, no I'm wrong we are all perfect for who we are, but none of us are flawless. When I do something that isn't good I use it as feedback and guidance to grow, I’ll do my best not to do it or anything similar again.

I make mistakes, not on purpose of course and I'm the first to apologise if I've done something wrong or said something that upset someone else.  I do my best to live the best life I can, to be the best version of me possible but sometimes I mess up because I'm not faultless, just like everyone else.   At the same time, I’m me, I make no apologies for who I am, if people don’t like me they won’t stay around me, that’s fine too – I love the person I’ve become, it’s taken me a long time to get to this point (almost 42 years to be precise) so apart from the odd moment, I’m 100% happy with who I am.  And I do my best to make my members realise they are perfect for who they are, and the should love themselves regardless of what size they are, size is not your worth, you can be big and healthy and you can be slim and unhealthy, it’s not just about size or weight it’s about being happy and healthy both physically and emotionally.

So yesterday afternoon as we were about to start lunch, I wrote “Just decided I'm not ProPointing anything from now till January 1^st” on my facebook and instantly I got a response “NOOOOO that's weeks ago still - too long so rethink as too much damage can be done in that time :(“  People make assumptions when they read or hear something, people also interpret it in a way that suits them.  How have you interpreted my fb status?  Do you think that means I’m going to go on an eating frenzy?  Or do you realise that I can continue to maintain my weight without ProPointing?

Thanks to Weight Watchers and a lot of self development work on myself, I no longer feel the need to eat everything in sight all the time as I may have done in the past.  Yesterday when we sat down for our Indian lunch, I’d cooked 7 different main dishes, lots of indian snacks, nann bread and rice.  I had one plate of food, a spoonful of each main, 2 spoons of rice, 1 snack and an inch square of nann bread because I can take it or leave it, I’m happy to sit and see the leftovers, I’m happy to stop eating when others are still going.

Another thing I did this weekend, that I’d never dream of doing at home is eat nachos in front of the tv as a snack after we’d been out for a lovely 3 course meal, when I eat out on a Friday I don’t usually eat again the rest of the day because I’m not hungry.  I never buy snacky food for in the house because that’s where all those additional ProPoints come from that do all the damage.

So no I won’t be ProPointing for the rest of the year, not unless someone asks me to work something out for them, but I won’t be eating my way to January 1^st, I plan to enjoy my Christmas break when it starts, I won’t go crazy and I’m perfectly happy to come back to my meeting on January 3^rd and have gained weight because that’s what I do at Christmas, I enjoy myself and relax, gain a little weight then get it off again.  I’ve been doing it for years and know I can, as I’ve said in meetings, it’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Year, it’s what you eat from New Year to the following Christmas eve!

It’s all about balance and doing your best, if like me, you live with that mentality; you should be fine and content with yourself as I am.  We can all improve on ourselves, for me life is about learning and growing continually.

It’s the final countdown - 13 more sleeps!  ;)