Well yesterday officially marked the end of the I AM WORTH MORE CHALLENGE!
I can't wait to hear how it went for the rest of you who participated but I really feel like I showed the scale who was boss this week- no joke- there were at least 3 times that I was *this* close to looking but I didn't because I realized that it would be defeating the entire purpose of the challenge- to not allow the scale to trump over our success and determination.
For the Project 365 newbies (*hello to all the new followers btw!*) everyone participating in the challenge was to write down the things that they did this week that were evidences of the positive changes they have made in their journey to get healthy and stick them on top of their scale so that at the end of the week they would recognize that it is the small choices we make (and not just a #) that determines whether we have succeeded or not!
Ready to see my post-it note covered scale??????? Well here ya go!!!
and a close up....
For me this challenge really wasn't about learning anything specific per se, but more about not allowing the scale to have power over me (whether it be to weigh myself more than once a week or to ruin/make my day the the # it shows me) and I definitely think that was accomplished.It is my hope that for everyone that participated in this challenge that at your next week's weigh in when you step on the scale, regardless of what # it shows you, that you will see the invisible post-its that you could have put on your scale of the good decisions you have made and not allow the # you are shown to make you overly anything. Celebrate the victories, deal with the disappointments, and no matter what- keep moving forward!
And now onto a not so happy subject- but most def NECESSARY... last Friday I wrote about Failing Forward and about how we need to view our failures as necessary hurdles we must overcome in order for the process of long-term weight loss to work- well last night I definitely made an example of myself!
My friend and I were co-throwing a game night and we made sure that there were lots of healthy snacks (carrots, celery, hummus, apples, salsa, flax seed tortilla chips, my yummy spinach dip, etc.) and because Sunday's are the days I don't track (I still eat exactly the same as the rest of the week, I just take a break from writing it all down and counting calories) and I had already decided to allow the snacks to be my dinner, I was doing really good! Then one of our friends came over who thought we would be serving an actual dinner and not just snacks, was very hungry, and begged us to order pizza. I think you know where this is going... lo and behold by the end of the night I had eaten 2 slices of bacon, chicken, ranch pizza. Errrgh.
On the drive home and when I woke up this morning eating those slices came back to haunt me (both via a grumpy tomach and guilt!); this was the first real time since like my 2nd post that I've done something like this. Let me clarify- I've eaten things that weren't healthy on this journey but never without really thinking about it first, weighing the costs, and making the decision to and adjusting how I'd eat the rest of the day. This was just a "I don't care, I'm not even hungry, but I'm gonna have a slice of pizza" decision. And as soon as the thought about the pizza this morning became a "see, this is just proof that sonner or later you won't be able to maintain this healthy lifestyle," I knew this was an opportunity to jump over a hurdle in my journey and fail forward.
Remember my little formula for jumping over hurdles? Accept, Understand, & Plan? Well, I guess I'll use last night as an example of how this works for me:
* Accept: I accept that last night was a DECISION that I (and only I) made. It doesn't matter that I didn't want to order pizza, I chose to eat it. This wasn't an accident or a slip up, it was a decision. And just like I chose to eat that pizza, I can chose to not do that in the future down this road to success.
* Understand: I know that I need to understand why I ate this pizzza... I think I ate it because... I could. Sometimes I allow the little progress I've made to make me think that I'm at the place where I can do these things- UM HELLO- I still weight over 300lbs! I wasn't thinking, I didn't allow myself to think about anything otherwise I wouldn't have done it. I ate mindlessly- that is the bottom line.
* Plan: In the future, I'm going to follow the rules I've been following- when I see a food that I would like to eat but don't think it's a wise decision I'll remove myself from the situation (go into the other room) and decide if this is a decision I really want to make- 9 times out of 10 I get a grip and move on. I also need to be mindful that just because I've figured out a lot of this journey doesn't mean I'm "home free;" there is no value in learning anything if it is not implemented.
In the end I'm choosing to be thankful that last night happened and I'm viewing it as a necessary lesson and hurdle that had to be jumped- not it is my choice to decide whether I will jump and move past this hurdle or allow it to keep knocking me back down- I'm guessing ya'll know which choice I'm making :)
So- that's one more lesson learned in this long journey- and as always, I'm moving forward, ready to tackle another week!
So how did the challenge go for everyone? I can't wait to see the scale pics on your blogs! If you didn't participate, thanks for reading about the challenge and for all of the encouragement!
I leave you all with a pic that was take at the party last night. The one below it was taken w/ basically some of the same people at another game night in november... see any change?
Last Night: (The sleeves are a bit misleading, they like...fan out!)
and in November... 
Peace Out Lovelies!