Marcia’s Meanderings – Food: a Love/Hate Relationship

Hello Dear Ones!

My weeks are always so full of adventures and learnings, joy and creativity! This week past was no exception: mountain hiking to view the amazing wildflowers in our area; extensive work on the 4th draft of my upcoming novel; copious micro & haiku poems written (check them out here: Poetry Corner); and my daily journaling as guided by Iyanla Vanzant‘s book: ‘One Day My Soul Just Opened Up’.

There is one more thing that has begun to occupy my time and focus the past two weeks. I mentioned in last week’s post Trusting the Divine to having had a love/hate relationship with food over the course of my lifetime. My weight has fluctuated and varied over the years with the comings and goings of happy, sad and stressful times. I have been as slim as a size 5 and as stout as a 22 1/2. Recently I’ve been registering in at a modest size 15/16, and yet … this is still not a satisfactory comfort zone for me.

What I did two weeks ago was to sign up for a weight loss program. Now I have tried many over the years. Most of them failed to work. Some of them worked in the short term. Life happened and all the new training supplied with each program would go out the window. I’d revert back to old eating patterns. Not having to think about anything new or demanding was preferable in stressful times. Hand to mouth foods were always easiest: carbs – particularly breads – were the staple of every easy meal; creamy things – like cheeses – were always fast to cut a good-sized chunk and savour; peanut butter suckers (directly off the spoon) whenever I felt I needed a pick-me-up; almonds in the bowl on the coffee table that I would have to refill every day because I had grazed my way through all of them; and desserts when my very slim husband was inclined to want something like gingersnap cookies or cinnamon scones or ice cream in the house. (BTW: he was not at fault here as I was often the one who would suggest while we were shopping that maybe he’d like that ice cream or pie or …? “After all, Dear, you’ve not had any recently…”)

And chocolate every night before bed with a cup of hot tea. Now not merely a single piece of chocolate – always dark , of course, as that is what the health experts tell us is best for us – oh, no … it had to be an entire square of Bakers Dark Chocolate – sometimes two.

Though I love my food, I did not love what it did to my body. And so I hated the food for what it was doing to me – making me fat. I also hated myself for not having the will power to eat wisely and well, to exercise more or to envision myself slim and get the results of returning to that svelte body I once had. (Yes, I really felt I could think myself slim!)

So, why do I feel this particular program is going to be any different? Simple: I created it! No, I didn’t design it. It came to me in the form of a professional package – with a doctor having done all the work to put it together – and at a price that I just happened to be able to afford in the very moment I stopped in to check them out! It had everything I was looking for – including all the foods I knew I would like and in portions I could easily measure (and it is easy!). And the funny thing is they told me I wouldn’t have to exercise. Now for me, that is a very good thing! I love to walk and I adore doing Tai Chi, but other than that, I’m a rather sedentary person – just so many sitting down things to do!!!!

Well – the past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity – much of it in my creative endeavours. Yet, for me, my meal plans have been a delight. They do demand, more than anything, a time commitment. I’m to eat only 3 meals a day and at a minimum of 5 hours apart from the finish of one meal to the start of the next.  That’s the most challenging for me. Up at 8am and to bed at midnight, I’m not usually finished my breakfast till 9am. That means I can’t have lunch till 2pm. Finishing lunch at 2:45pm means I can’t eat dinner till 7:45pm at the earliest.

Blessedly, I’ve found that this pattern seems to work for both Mike and I. Mike’s a sweetie and has been adapting to the change with grace and support. (Now does that surprise me in the least? Not at all!!!)

Though I was advised not to exercise in the first few weeks – to give my body a chance to adjust to the new eating regimen without the added stress of exercise added to the mix – I found myself having more and more energy and feeling like going for more walks – even walking faster and with more commitment and dedication. The hike yesterday, practically straight up the 200-meter (660 -foot) hill, was exhilarating! By the time I got home I felt as though if I didn’t have a hot bath and then keep myself moving, my muscles would seize up on me! Yet this morning, my recovery time amazed and delighted me! I have no pain and only one muscle gave a squeak of rebellion. Gave it a good massage and it has remained quiet since. My body seems to want to move. Wanting to move, I allow it to do so. In doing so, I am getting some much needed activity that has been aiding in more weight loss than I would have expected. A win-win all around.

And did I mention yet that I’m sleeping better than I have in years? Wow! What a great feeling to sleep the night straight through! I’m certain that also contributes to the added energy and drive!

I am not telling you that this is the be all and end all of diet programs. It seems to be working for me right now. What gives me the confidence to know that this plan is going to be successful for me is that it offers me everything I felt I needed in order to be successful.

Yet it is more than that. I put it out to my Self and to the Divine that I wanted to have a love/love/love relationship with food, my body and my Self. This program appeared into my reality within a mere two days of that request. Coincidence? Synchronicity? Neither as far as I’m concerned. I asked and it appeared to me. What I chose to do with it was up to me. I could have ignored the signs, not trusted what I did see, or blatantly refused to listen to my own inner voice.

Fortunately I did none of those things – I chose the path granted me by my Self and the Divine. It feels good and there’s a little less ME writing to you today …

In Light and Laughter,

Marcia

(BTW: If you want to know more about the weight loss program I have chosen, please leave a comment below. Comments are not seen till they are reviewed, so no one will know you’ve written to me except you and I … M)

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