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November 2, 2005
I Gave That Up For Lent... Uh...
Well, I'm back to the strategy of making CR vows and sticking to them. It's amazing how well that works for me. While I might be tempted to eat a little of this and a little of that (the crust off a co-worker's pizza, a handful of jujubees) here and there under normal circumstances -- and we've learned that those calories really add up -- when I vow not to do it, I don't. I'm not really even tempted. It's like making the decision is the hard part, not sticking to it. I've moved my daily meditation to the morning (I've been getting home so late that it doesn't make sense to do it at night) and I use part of the time to get my Vows du Jour firmly embedded in my head.
Yesterday I did a four hour meeting at a bar/restaurant in Center City with nurses as they got off of work. Though I was tempted to put milk and sugar in my coffee, I resisted because I thought that would violate the spirit of my not eating between meals CR Vow du Jour. At the end of the meeting, one of the nurses got out some gum and asked if folks wanted a piece. I said sure.
Then I thought: oh no! That might violate my CR Vow du Jour! Quick! Help!
"Ooops, I can't," I said.
"Why not?" said the nurse, clearly confused at my sudden retraction of my request for a piece of gum.
"I gave up gum for Lent," was the first thing that popped into my head and tumbled out of my mouth.
The nurses, most of them no doubt Catholic (Philly nurses are overwhelmingly Catholic) pointed out that it is nowhere near Lent.
Luckily, one of them came to my rescue, saying, "You must mean you gave it up for Advent!" I heartily agreed, hoping that no one would notice that Advent doesn't start for awhile.
The nurses noticed that it's not yet Advent. I was hoping they'd confuse Advent with the holiday decorating and shopping season, which starts immediately after Halloween. No such luck.
As they argued about the start date of Advent, a great Peter Gabriel song came on the overhead soundtrack and I diverted everyone with chatter about eighties pop music. I did not take or eat a piece of gum. Situation saved.
Tonight I have a special treat: MR is making CR Zoned Pizzas!!! And get this: my calories between breakfast and lunch are so low if I don't eat my fat free ricotta in the morning (only 441 total) that I am going to have the same amount of pizza that he has, plus my larger glass of wine (MR drinks 3 ounces -- cute, but nowhere enough for a real wine drinker), and still be at my calorie target! That's three low carb tortilla sized pizzas! I am so excited. I will be hungry for it, as I've been under cals the last few days. Well, correction, I'll still be a little over 1200, but I ended yesterday at 1057 and the day before added up to 998, so I have room. I have one of those pizza meetings this afternoon, so as per Judith's suggestion, I will survive the smell of pizza knowing that healthy CR Zoned pizza awaits me with my Orange One at home.
Posted by april at November 2, 2005 9:30 AM