One truth I’ve stumbled across as an adult is that it’s a Good Idea to look back occasionally at goals or aspirations or habits you set a long time ago and compare them against how you’re doing now. I’ve often found myself pleasantly surprised upon doing so because many times, the change has happened so gradually that I haven’t really taken the time to appreciate the growth, and the new skill or the improved mindset or whatever it is just kind of melts into my current identity, and I forget to celebrate the victory.
I had one such revelation last week when I was looking back at food journals on My Fitness Pal from the time I lost ten pounds in a month soon after we got married. Since I’ve decided to focus all my spare time and energy on losing the rest of the baby weight (or at least not gaining weight while I’m still on the steroids for my AI disease), I was looking for inspiration as to what I actually subsisted on for those 5 weeks or so (since I distinctly remember having been able to successfully restrict myself to about 1200 calories a day and not be *too* hungry all the time).
I had to laugh at what I found:
Sure, there were days when I made nutritious, filling meals made up of foods such as beans, grilled chicken, and steamed vegetables. But you know what I found we ate for most meals?
Sandwiches. And cold cereal. And then more sandwiches.
Ah, how times have changed.
Now I feel guilty if I don’t squeeze in at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, something I didn’t worry about until about three years ago, which requires a lot more meal planning. I also feel a bit guilty if I don’t cook something on most nights because it means that not only does Matt then resort to eating pretty unhealthy (or nothing at all) the next day, but it also means that I usually have to buy my lunch while at work because of the lack of leftovers.
Before, we regularly ate boxed mac and cheese, went through multiple boxes of cereal in a week, and regularly participated in the “fend for yourself” meal because I just couldn’t bring myself to cook.
What’s ironic is that now I have less time than ever before to cook, but I’m pretty good to cook something most nights, even if it’s just creamed eggs for dinner or our favorite loaded tostadas. Even if I have zero energy or motivation to make dinner, I still end up doing it most nights anyway (instead of getting the $5 pizza yet again, like we used to do pretty regularly).
So here is me taking a moment to step back and appreciate how far we’ve come when it comes to dinner at the Meidell home (a fact which was further proved when I just “whipped up” a classic margherita pizza the other night from fresh ingredients I’d actually bought that day from the farmer’s market—I mean, I wouldn’t have even recognized this woman I’ve become had I seen her three years ago!).
So here’s one for the long-time-in-coming victories!
