Changing Gears

I have had little enthusiasm to blog here recently - perhaps because I feel the blog has served its purpose. Though I wouldn't say I am completely and forever recovered, I have definitely moved farther on the spectrum toward "normal" than not. I have started setting up a new blog here:
http://wife2abadge.wordpress.com/
There's not much there yet and I'm not really sure exactly what I'm going to do with it. I really enjoy looking at food blogs, but I don't want to write about every bite I eat. I don't want it to be all about fitness either. I think I'll just start posting and see what happens. Whether you follow me or not, I really appreciate the supportive comments I've gotten over the past couple of years. I am well on my way to being a normal eater. Best wishes -- I will still be reading your blogs, so you'll still "see" me in your comments -- Susan

Absent: Calorie Counting

I realized today that I haven't counted calories in a very long time. I do occasionally tally the calories in my breakfast because I like to eat a LOT of stuff in my oatmeal (banana, cottage cheese, peanut butter, crumbled protein bars, flaxseed, etc) and I want to make sure I'm not eating much more than 450 calories or so. An entire day, though? It's probably been at least a few months since I've tallied every calorie in every meal. My weight has stayed stable too. I can tell by the fit of my clothing that I've gone up and down a few pounds every now and then, but they consistently fit the same way most of the time. I feel triumphant -- this is a major victory for me.

I'm doing better on stopping when satisfied and on eating more slowly. I haven't been the first to finish dinner a few times over the past week. I've been trying to eat without distractions more too because I realized that if I really want to enjoy my food, I do need to concentrate on it more. When I was in the grip of undereating, who cared if I tasted my food? It wasn't too flavorful anyway.

This past weekend was a good one. I went out to dinner with friends and barely ate any of my entree because I was full from the salad. And I was okay with that. I got a bike ride in, a weight training session at the Y, and had a good Retrouvaille CORE session. At CORE, we presented "the third great date" from the program, which was all about resolving conflict. On our "date", T and I discussed various conflicts, but spent a lot of time discussing yard work. I'm mortified by the state of our yard. While he isn't quite as embarrassed as I am, he would like it to look better -- but despises yard work with every fiber of his being. We decided that we really need to buckle down and just do it, to borrow the overused phrase. So I went out yesterday and bought some daisies, verbena, and creeping phlox. We spent a couple of hours weeding and planting in our front yard. I was in such a good mood all afternoon and evening because of it. Working together and accomplishing something that you can see feels so good, doesn't it?