A Wonderful - and Reassuring - NSV

Even though I reached my goal over 3 years ago (yeah!!), every now and then I am pleasantly surprised by yet another NSV (non-scale victory). My recent surgery and ongoing recovery has provided the latest one.

Because emotional eating played a huge part (no pun intended) in me getting all of the way to 268 pounds, there has still been the unanswered question of how I would react when under extreme stress, etc.  Would those old "just give me chocolate and nobody will get hurt" feelings bubble up to the surface again?  I've come to realize that the garden-variety of everyday stress no longer triggers an eating frenzy, but I hadn't really been pushed beyond that until the past couple of weeks.

To my delight and immense relief, even the pain and frustration I've had (and, to some extent, am still having) hasn't pushed me over the edge.  That realization fills me with joy and thanksgiving! 

When I was in the hospital, I was very focused on getting good nutrition to help with the healing process, so I turned down many of the food options on the menu in favor of healthy things.  One night my husband brought up baked salmon and green beans for my dinner since the hospital's options were a turkey rice soup with roll, meatloaf with gravy and mashed potatoes, and a turkey provolone sub sandwich.  I selected a tossed salad and fresh fruit cup off the hospital's menu to supplement the meal my husband brought me.  When one of the food service workers came to take my breakfast order and I ordered scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast, she smiled and asked me if she couldn't tempt me with a cinnamon roll.  I grabbed one of my before pictures that I had on the nightstand and handed it to her, assuring her that I couldn't be tempted because I was never going back to 268 pounds again.  I also told her that I was focused on getting the best nutrition possible to help my body heal and that as delicious as the cinnamon roll probably was, it didn't have anything in it that would nourish my body.  She looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "good point!"  I brought Medifast meals with me to the hospital (Ready to Drink shakes, crunch bars, pretzels, cheese puffs, and the new bites) so that I could continue to eat six small meals a day.

Since I've been home, Medifast meals have made it easy for me, and those meals along with Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, grilled meat, salad and vegetables pretty much make up my daily eating plan.

This is such a HUGE shift for me from just a few years ago!  Prior to Medifast, my surgery and recovery period would have been a time to fully engage in a "poor me, I deserve to eat" mode.  I would reason that I needed to regain my strength and would focus on "dieting" later, and would have indulged in lots and lots of "comfort food."  Especially during this recovery period as I've battled severe pain, swelling and lots of frustration, drifting into emotional eating would not have been surprising . . . except I haven't!!!

What I now know - FINALLY - is that the emotional eating is gone.  Gone.  And it's never coming back!  I praise God for this because it has only been as I have allowed Him to work in and through me and have allowed Him to fill in all those emotional gaps that the emotional eating cycle has finally been broken.  As hard as the past couple of weeks have been, there is real joy in knowing that a miserable part of my past is truly gone.

I decided to write about this today for two reasons.  First of all, this blog is a chronicle of my own journey and this was an important discovery for me.  Secondly, I wanted to share because I know how many of you are still grappling with your own emotional eating issues and I want to give you hope that it IS possible to finally put those issues to rest once and for all.  Doing so is a journey in and of itself, but it IS possible to permanently cut those ties between our emotions and food and to put food in its proper place.  It IS possible to deal with the stuff of life - all of the stuff - without stuffing your face!

As you make the choice today to stay on plan, as you determine that nothing will "make" you go off plan, you are laying down new habits that, given time, will permanently replace the old habits that weren't serving your best interests.  Take it one day, one meal, and one choice at a time.  And choose wisely :-)