A Fine Line Between Woo Hoo and Blehk

I wasn't sure how to spell that sort of gagging noise I make playfully when I know I've eaten too much, so I went with "blehk". It will do.

I mentioned in a previous post that we took our Meal Off Friday night and our Day Off Saturday. We followed that up with a meal for which we got no points on Sunday night, a whole lot of spaghetti on Monday afternoon (it really did make my headache go away ...), and our Meal Off for this week on Monday night (that was actually a good decision).

Joseph and I chuckled as we reflected back over the weekend, because our Meal Off on Friday and one of our meals on Saturday were both buffet style. For two champion eaters like ourselves, we were in dangerous territory. I think we were both a little surprised at how quickly we got full at the Golden Corral buffet on Friday night. I started with a salad, and then I limited myself to one "main" entree (mmmm ... pot roast ... sooo good). By the time dessert rolled around, I was full. Did that stop me from eating dessert? Nope. That sure was good carrot cake (it wasn't from Golden Corral).

We went out to breakfast Saturday morning. Joseph did such an incredible job resisting the temptation to eat pancakes at a church dinner Wednesday night that I suggested we go out and eat pancakes for breakfast on our Day Off. So, we went to Denny's. They have new options for the build your own Grand Slam. I was proud of our choices! We chose things like whole wheat pancakes (they were actually really good!), yogurt, fruit, and oatmeal. We were still really full when we left (and we didn't even get to be in the Clean Plate Club!), but we felt good about the fact that we weren't full on things like bacon and sausage.

I think our biggest downfall as we headed toward the buffet at the wedding reception was that we were SO hungry. It's really hard for me to limit myself when my stomach is saying (in a Fat Albert voice, of course), "Hey, hey, hey! Look at those yummy chicken tenders! Oh, and croissants! Oh, my! A chocolate fountain! You could stick your whole head under that and fill me with chocolately goodness!" No, I didn't stick my head under the chocolate fountain. I do have a little self control left. I did, however, eat a piece of cake that I didn't really like that much just because it was cake. I know ...

I'm telling you all of this because Joseph and I had a conversation earlier about the fine line between Woo Hoo and Blehk. Woo Hoo is that moment when you're full and feel so good. As dieters, we didn't have that Woo Hoo feeling all week. I know for me, when I started to feel that Woo Hoo feeling, I didn't want to stop. I wanted to scrape all of the pot roast off my plate, because it felt so good to eat it. I wanted to eat 4 chicken tenders and 2 of those yummy croissant sandwiches, because it felt good satisfying my craving to overeat. I wanted to gorge myself on spaghetti, because it was the best spaghetti I've made in a long time, and it felt SO good eating it.

Then I found myself on the other side of the line. I was no longer in Woo Hoo. I had entered Blehk, and it felt gross. My stomach was no longer trying to persuade me to eat. My stomach was right down angry at me! I was uncomfortable and even felt a little sick at times.

So, part of this journey for me is learning not to cross the line. It's learning to enter Woo Hoo and then put the fork down. It's learning that feeling good after eating healthy, well portioned meals is much better than overeating and feeling Blehk.

I'm not naive enough to think that I'll reach that point quickly. I've been a Woo Hoo/Blehk eater for a long time. I do know I'll get there some day, though, and that will be a good feeling.

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For those of you who are curious, Joseph and I weighed in Saturday (we're supposed to weigh in on our Day Off). I lost 4.4 pounds, and Joseph lost 6.9 pounds! I'm so incredibly proud of Joseph. He has been such an inspiration and encouragement over the last 9 days. Having him by my side going through this process with me has definitely made it much more doable.