Pencil You In!

WELCOME! My Schedule Recipes More Recipes! Even More Recipes! Breakfast Ideas Salad Dressings What's for Dinner Blog Here's To You! In the Beginning! Pencil You In! A Ham Story A Size to be Thankful for! Spring Challenge! What's in my Cupboard? Super Bowl Showdown My Fortieth Birthday The Time We Met . . . About Me



"A No. 2  pencil and a dream can take you anywhere." - Joyce Meyers 

reprinted from kidaround magazine© September 2007

I love school supplies.  They always remind me of a fresh start.  When I was a child, school was sometimes tough, but a new notebook was all it took for me to be hopeful. 

I was always partial to lunch boxes too!
       
While sharing this at a meeting Tuesday night, one gentleman recalled that he loved Trojan #2 pencils because they were so fun to write with when they were sharp.  When they got dull and worn you could just sharpen them and they would be fresh and new again.  

Wow!  Who knew # 2 pencils and notebooks were so much like weight loss?

September is the start of a new season.  For me, this past summer has had its ups and downs, and it will not go down in the annals of my personal history as having been my most consistent for weight  management.   Although I stayed at goal, it sometimes seemed that I did so by the skin of my teeth.  Weighing in last week  made me feel a little blue, which, of course, never makes me feel like eating less or moving more.  What I needed was something new and exciting to sharpen my desire, to spring me back into action!
   
So I got a new journal, all crisp and white, and started writing about my feelings and my food in it.  Taking careful note of what might be steering me off course has always worked for me in the past.  I also got some white chocolate mocha smoothies.  Something new to eat!  Now there's a concept!!

You know it worked!
   
That new journal had none of my mistakes in it.  And writing down my thoughts reminded me that I have been eating more because of my summer social calendar!  After all, it's not that I'm necessarily destined to be sixty pounds heavier again.  My best friend's daughter will only have a big wedding once, The Princess of Power will only have a big retirement luncheon once, I will only drink Sangria under the moonlight in Sevilla once, and my three kids will not live at home forever.  I realized that all of these events have contributed to my recent weight fluctuations.  But now they're done, just like summer, and just like yesterday. 
   
So the smoothies motivated me to create a menu plan for the day.  I like to make them with coffee or coffee ice cubes.  They are only one point that way, and if I want one at four in the afternoon, I can have it.  So I wrote down the one I had in my journal, then added the other food items to make the points work for the day.  From now on, I will only be eating what is in my new journal.  How very disciplined of me!

Pop in something new!  It may be back to basics.  Everything old is new again!  Reread the program materials, open a cookbook, remind yourself of why you started doing this in the first place.  Is it still important to you?   It sure is to me!  I don't want to go back down the road to being overweight!  Back then I was sad and angry too much of the time.  That is not me now!  I want to be a healthy weight and I want to reap all the rewards that come with that!

I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT!!  
                             
It may be as simple as a # 2 pencil!

Teresa