I swore off chocolate (and chips and candy) for the entire month of May.
Maybe that is not a big deal to you, but it is pretty life altering for me. I'm not even sort of exaggerating.
This is the girl who feels a day is not a day until it includes chocolate.
This is the girl whose husband was borderline skeptical (scratch the borderline. He is out and out skeptical) that I can make it a month without chocolate.
Are you sure you can do that? Are you sure you want to do that to yourself?
Thanks for throwing down the gauntlet, Babe! Now I have to do it to prove that I can. Yeah. Thanks again. (that should be read in a very not thankful, but very sarcastic tone.)
I belong to a fitness group on FB. It is wonderful. All kinds of ladies meeting their fitness and weight loss goals. I really don't (didn't) have weight loss goals, but I do have fitness standards.
Runs. Swims. Walks.
Every month our group does a challenge. So far, I have not participated. They just haven't been applicable. But when our fearless leader, Lisa from Pennington Point, started querying for May challenge ideas I started to get a niggling in my mind.
See, I enjoy eating what I want to eat. And I exercise in order to be able to eat what I want to eat. And to not become the size of a heifer.
But, sometimes exercising can become an excuse for not disciplining my mouth and what I put into it. Sometimes I start to justify food choices. Sometimes I start to slide back into over eating junk food that I haven't regularly consumed in years.
Like too much bread. Too many sweets. Chips. Too much wine. Too much holiday candy. (that post should have been an indication of a problem) Too many seconds (and thirds...).
It isn't that I am getting fat. Or hating my new found love handles. But the just too tight slacks and the love handles do indicate that something has shifted. Obviously.
But though that is a nuisance, the bigger problem is that self control is not happening so much.
Self control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. A lack of self-control means that someone else/thing is in control.
Anyway...back to the challenge. I got to thinking to myself, that if the group chose a food challenge, I needed to do it. Well, there were many ideas put forth. And I kept mine to myself.
The chosen idea was to give up 3 foods. Participants choice.
I knew I had to do it. This one was for me.
I knew I had to do something that would return me to the basics. I knew that I had to do something that would cost me something.
I contemplated giving up sweets all together. Or all sweets but cookies. But, I knew that by giving up chocolate I was severely limiting my options. I mean, really, dessert without chocolate is practically another food group. Dairy...Fruit....
So, chocolate it is.
A month without M&Ms. Guinness Cake. Peanut Butter Pie. Chocolate Chips Cookies. Brownies! All my favorites.
It is day 6. I've made it thus far with no chocolate. I made chocolate dipped biscotti and I didn't even lick my fingers. (modern miracle do happen) My favorite cookies were served at the rest home, and I passed.
And I have not had chips or candy either.
Because sometimes we need to say no to ourselves to realize that it is possible to say no. Sometimes we need to say no to realign our priorities. Sometimes we need to say no in order to realize who is in charge-the Holy Spirit, or me & chocolate.
Sometimes we need to say no to ourselves in order to expand our dessert options. Flan, anyone?
