Happy Birthday Weekend to Me!

It's my birthday weekend! Hooray!!

Having my birthday cookie and eating it, too!

An excuse to set aside the diet, eat cake, and enjoy, right? Well, yes and no. Yes, I have the freedom to do those things, but no, I don't think I will. I will choose to make good choices because I want to not because I have to.

I bought a cookie cake to bring to school to share with my students for my school birthday celebration today. Due to stressful events at work I ended up eating not only 1 slice of cookie cake, but two more after that. In my mind on the way to work that morning I planned to abstain because I didn't want the calories, knew I would have a hard time controlling sugar cravings if I started, and because I wanted to be able to enjoy my birthday cake tomorrow (being made by friends) without guilt of having eaten too many sweets over too many days.

That plan flew out the window, as I mentioned, due to stress. I beat myself up for a little bit, and felt the pain of too much sugar after having abstained, by choice, for a long time. But upon reflecting about WHY I made that choice I let go of my guilt and stopped beating myself up. I then made a plan to help myself feel better.

My plan was to get in as many walks (big and little) during the day as I could and to make sensible choices about my food the rest of the day. So while my class was with another teacher I went for a 25 minute walk. And I counted the whole-school trip to and from the park this afternoon. And I took myself for a long walk after school while waiting for the end of year school picnic to start. (Which reminds me, I need to wrap this up quickly because the picnic is starting now!) I also chose to not eat the big healthy salad I packed for my lunch because I was full on cookies. Yes, the salad was a healthy choice, but I knew that stuffing myself with food, even healthy food, wouldn't make me feel better. So instead I ate some peppers and hummus, and a plum. I felt great making that choice.

Now, with all the extra calories I earned from all my walking I have plenty of calories left for today so my big decision to make is: do I eat the salad I planned for lunch or do I choose wisely from the picnic foods? I think I'll go scout out the food offerings now and make a plan!

Share in the comments your strategies for surviving a potluck picnic!