She said, "Well, that's not really the point, is it?!" I immediately became angry at her remark, furious in fact. Who was SHE to tell ME that I couldn't have a piece of cake to celebrate my hard work?! The absolute nerve! I had lost all that weight on my own, hadn't I? I certainly deserved a piece of cake if I wanted it.
For
two whole days I was furious over her simple remark and I just couldn't shake my
indignation. It even crossed my mind
that I should just stop talking to her for awhile. I mean, if she couldn't appreciate my
position, was she really a friend? By the end of the second day, I couldn't
figure out why I was still angry. I knew
I was overreacting about such a simple remark, but I didn't know why. Then it dawned on me (another DUH moment perhaps?): I was
angry because she was absolutely right!
Once I realized this, the anger disappeared instantly.
It became
pretty obvious that someone with a food addiction rewarding themselves with
"bad" foods to celebrate their weight loss is completely nonsensical. It's much like an alcoholic having a drink to
celebrate a year of sobriety. My journey has been a road paved with learning experiences. People along the way have inadvertently taught me a lot about myself. After this particular situation, I never again used food as a reward for my success.
Instead,
I found other ways to reward myself: I
periodically bought a cookbook that contained healthy recipes or I bought kitchen
supplies. For example, on one occasion I bought a pressure cooker I had my eye on for quite awhile and
another time I bought a Ninja Nutri blender that's perfect for my smoothies. Everything I bought to reward myself, I've used in my weight-loss process. The way I saw it, I was cooking all
the time anyway so all these rewards would certainly benefit me more than a piece
of cake ever could.
I
sometimes rewarded myself with a new outfit, but I started losing weight so
fast, particularly when I started working out with my trainer, Flaminia, that keeping clothes
for long became a problem so I was really afraid to buy anything new because it wouldn't last long. It's a great "problem" to have, but it can get expensive.
While rewarding myself with things, however, I still have to be cognizant of not reverting back to my old shopping habits that got out of hand years ago and got me in terrible debt that took me years to pay off (detailed in my post titled "Trappings of unhappiness"). The new me buys things with cash, or if I use a credit card, I pay it off immediately. There's the issue of clutter I still have to deal with at some point, but I can only work on one issue at a time and reaching my goal weight is the priority right now. The clutter will be the next issue to tackle.
While rewarding myself with things, however, I still have to be cognizant of not reverting back to my old shopping habits that got out of hand years ago and got me in terrible debt that took me years to pay off (detailed in my post titled "Trappings of unhappiness"). The new me buys things with cash, or if I use a credit card, I pay it off immediately. There's the issue of clutter I still have to deal with at some point, but I can only work on one issue at a time and reaching my goal weight is the priority right now. The clutter will be the next issue to tackle.
Also, believe
it or not, sometimes I reward myself by adding a second workout on a particular day. I normally exercise in the mornings, but a reward could be adding
a walk in the evening, taking Mitzi (my mother's dog) on a long walk in the afternoon, or going to the gym again in the evening. Considering that I was sedentary for decades and that I always hated exercising, rewarding myself with more exercise seems incredible to me, but my success motivates me to want to keep succeeding. As I stated several times before, success has been intoxicating and completely motivating!
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