I had a birthday a few weeks ago and had a bunch of people either cooking for me or taking me out to eat which turned into 7 days of bad eating which turned into my legs and feet all swollen up so I could barely walk for a week. (My body doesn't like excess sodium.) When I finally weighed in I'd gained 7.2 pounds. I began eating healthy again after that week and my legs and feet are now back to normal. My weight is now .2 below where it was before the birthday celebrations. I need to get back to the gym but other than that, I'm back on track.
Let me state that *I* alone am responsible for this happening. I wanted to celebrate with all of these people and didn't want to seem ungrateful or be a stick in the mud. I made bad choices.
Well, I decided that this will never happen again and took steps to prevent it. I was brutally honest with ALL of my friends and family. I told them that I appreciated celebrating with them but that eating too much food I don't prepare for myself isn't healthy for me and just plain HURTS! I explained how I swell up from excess sodium and explained that to me, there's nothing "happy" about a birthday which is celebrated by multiple unhealthy meals. I've told everyone that next year, ONE off plan meal with my Mom and sisters is all the celebration my health can handle. Everyone understands my need to eat well and limit "bad" foods. I should have been excruciatingly honest with everyone before this year's birthday and while I can't undo this year's fiasco, I've prevented future birthdays from turning into food orgies followed by being ill for a week.
I'll just consider this another lesson I had to learn the hard way!

I'm sorry that happened, but do I believe that we CAN learn these lessons! Good job!!!!!!

I think weight loss is all about learning these lessons and figuring out what works and what doesn't. Good for you for getting back on track and for developing a strategy so that it won't happen again.

Cheers,

J

Another Wisconsinite!

Good for you for RECOGNIZING and asking for others to help/respect you. I think too many of us would just quietly shame ourselves. Sometimes I feel asking someone else to respect my diet is like asking them to respect my religious or political choices. I'm not sure when food became such a sensitive topic!

I figured that people that love me will respect my needs if I'd just tell them what my needs are. And I was right. But even if they didn't, it's my responsibility to decline an abundance of bad food situations. And yea, another Wisconsinite!