Angel Food (lowfat)

With more than a teensy bit of curiosity, I stepped on the scale this morning for my weekly weigh in. I weighed 155.0 - a .2 loss for the week. I recently read a blog entry by Round about how she doesn’t think it helpful to obsess over what the scale says. Despite my weekly weigh ins, I have to agree with her. The scale is simply a way for me to check in with myself and track my progress. The real weight loss work isn’t pushing the numbers on the scale further and further down. No, the real work comes with changing your lifestyle habits - eating well, finding exercise you can do regularly, maintaining some semblance of balance, and generally treating oneself better. Still, you will find me celebrating every ounce that the scale registers as gone. After beating myself up for decades, it only makes sense to give myself a pat on the back as the pounds come off and I work toward a balanced life and better health.

Sitting down to the Thanksgiving feast with my family, I realized that I wanted to try everything. But, for once, I didn’t want to feel ill after eating the meal. I doubled up on my mom’s cornbread dressing. (It’s the only time for a year I will have the chance to eat it, so why not?) But, I also was mindful of putting more green beans (freshly sauteed with garlic) and roasted asparagus on my plate than sweet potatoes. The dessert we ate a few hours later also did duty as dinner. I’ve been afraid of the big holidays in years past because I just knew that I’d over do it and gain weight. No, I didn’t have a huge loss of weight this Thanksgiving, but something better happened.  I realized that even feasting can be about balance and celebration can coexist with losing weight.