Several weeks ago I turned 40.
4-0.
“Over the hill.” (Whatever.)
For most of folks this has been a birthday that they have dreaded and mourned. My husband spent a week in contemplation when he wrestled with this milestone and I’ve spoken to a number of friends that are spending this year evaluating life, goals and reflection of the past.
But not me.
I am thrilled and excited and I guess you could say I am proud to be turning 40.
I remember the moment like it was yesterday, sitting in my oncologists office in August of 2011 when he explained that I had a 40% chance of surviving 5 yrs. In my head what I heard was that I had a 60% chance of dying before I reached 40… and that my life would be over before it had the chance to really begin. It took a while to adjust my thinking and focus on being in the 40% of survivors… and then it became a challenge to be beat the odds.
Who knows what the future holds - but for now I will wear the trophy of greying hair (under my highlights) and new wrinkles and aging spots like a medal.
To celebrate I was able to easily convince a group of family members to meet up with me in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It’s funny how when you mention “all-inclusive resort” and “no children”, 6 of the worlds most precious women will jump at the chance to “escape” and take a few days to simply enjoy life!
And enjoy it we did.
So… since what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico, I will shift this blogpost to how I did handling the food/drink portion of the trip.
I am thankful to say that besides way too many chips that I had the 1st night, overall it wan’t hard to make wise choices. I mainly chose meat and veggie options with fruit as a treat. We did have desserts with dinner, but we chose to order several small desserts to share and each of us had a small bites so it really was in moderation. One of my older, wiser cousins taught me how to make good choices when it came to mixed drinks… so while we enjoyed ourselves, I didn’t feel knocked totally out of control and out of striving for a healthy lifestyle.
And I need to give credit and thanks to another one of my cousins (who found awesome success on this program) and helped keep me accountable to living a life of health and good choices. When she slapped my hand reaching for chips (and told me to just put a few on my plate) I was instantly grateful for her companionship in this quest to maintain the health we had worked for. Having others support you really does mean so much in success.
When I got home I found that I had gained 1 lb.
Just 1 cute little pound.
I love that learning to maintain and stay focused on health goals means that when given a chance to totally jump ship I have discovered how to enjoy life and food in a healthy balanced way. In my past, on other programs, it was this kind of environment that sent me spiraling back to frustration with myself and into the bad the habit of blaming food or the resort or even my social group for my choices.
Friends, the process of learning to maintain our weight loss is instrumental to long term success. Each of you are working so hard toward your your “physical goals” - this is also the time to work on your “mental goals”.
We all need to work toward:
Remembering the importance of water.
Looking at food as fuel rather than a reward.
Seeking support from encouragers.
Making wise choices daily.
Oh - and enjoying life to the fullest because it is certainly a beautiful gift!
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