Day 107 Replacing One Addiction With Another

Good Saturday evening folks. I am a tuckered out fella today. I got my day started early. I woke up at 5, got my eyes good and open and started a loooooong day. I got started with three miles on the treadmill at 3.8 mph and a two incline. I got a good sweat on and am glad I am liking the treadmill walking considering the mornings are getting cold here....brrrr! So I quickly got some breakfast cooked and showered so I could go get Lauren and Kathy around at the lock in and meet Lauren's cheer squad at the school at 9:10. We made it just in time and the bus headed out shortly after. We drove to Greenwood, a town the county over about 40 minutes away. We lost our game but the girls did a heck of a job cheering!! One of our good friends was Lauren's coach and we hope she is again next year. After leaving the game, we went to JC Penney's and bought Lauren a kick butt coat for 60% off! It really was a great trip to the mall and I never say that. We came home for a little bit so the girls could take a quick nap since they had stayed up most the night yammering at the lock in. I took that opportunity to tack on two more miles to my total for the day. When I got back, Lauren asked me to go outside with her and practice her basketball passes and stuff so I went out and we messed around for a half hour or so. We came in and got all gussied up for the downtown Main Street Trick or Treat. I packed us a picnic lunch and we met our good friends out on the little ampitheater park on Main Street and had a good time visiting and eating. Finally we went on to the candy getting. I went last year and it was a blast, with some lines but at the end of each line was chocolate bars usually. Tonight, the lines were loooooooong and you got gum?!?!? So we left somewhat disappointed. Everybody came back to my house and we all visited and had a good time. The kids of course ran in and out and acted fools, and that is my favorite part of our get togethers. I love mah peeps!

I did great in the face of treats. I wound up eating two squares off a chocolate bar and some sort of tootsie roll like thing that tasted like grape. That was it. Well I take that back. I did have a popcorn ball right before we went to JC Penney because I did not know we would be at Lauren's game so long and had not brought some food with me and I was starving. We have been working on our budgeting and one thing that got the kibosh was eating out, so going somewhere for a quick salad was out, and the coach had given the girls each a popcorn ball after cheering. It was all I had and I was getting light headed, so I did eat it, but it was out of necessity and not weakness. I was shocked to find it only had 100 calories. It still made my mouth taste weird and sugary. I don't eat a lot of sugar and it is weird when I do how my mouth feels all yuck!

I think I am going to try to get 5 miles walking in again tomorrow. It has literally become a habit. In fact, I would go so far as to say it has replaced mindless eating as a habit. In thinking about this during my second walk to get two more miles, I started thinking how my life has become a series of switching one habit for another. For example, I spent my life working in factories and not really getting ahead in life, even though I got paid well, I wasn't going anywhere quick. Then I headed off to college at the age of 34 and have done well for myself getting ahead, even if no more so financially, but I have prospects now. I went from being a lonely single guy that often longed for something to do each weekend, to a husband and stepfather who sometimes wonders when his next opportunity to sit and chill is going to be. And most recently, I have changed from the guy who just is going to eat, drink and be merry, to the guy who sees what all that is going to do to his life expectancy and now has traded out all that for getting healthier. I no longer spend every minute I can behind this computer screen or in front of the TV, I literally map my days around when can I get another walk in. I no longer try to figure out what my next meal is ( at least not obsessively like in the past, I do plan ahead, but for practical purposes, not selfish)but now I track each calorie and make the best choices possible for a mixture of quality calories with an allowance for foods I enjoy added in. I make conscious decisions to get myself and keep myself healthy for my family, to prolong my time with them. I am ashamed to say this, but once upon a time, I rationalized my overeating behavior and the reason I said I wasn't going to do anything about it was that I wasn't having that great of a time here on earth anyway, might as well enjoy it and move on to the after life as soon as possible. I have only told a few people that, but it is a true story and one I am glad is not longer true!!!