Six

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Phillipians 4:13

I never thought I would consider walking up when the sun wakes up to walk/jog.  I never thought I wouldn't mind literally rolling out of bed, putting in my contacts, hair in a pony, and running shoes on my feet. I never thought I would enjoy the crisp cool air the morning has to offer, and the peace and tranquility the empty road brings.   I never thought I would love to have the little earbuds in my ears with whatever song came on from random shuffle.  And I never thought I would miss it when I circled around and arrived back at my house. 

I never thought it would be easy to give up soda, and yet so easy to blame the stress and sleepiness and headaches on lack of caffeine.  And I never thought I wouldn't miss the taste of coke from the can or Route 44 drinks from Sonic.   I never realized how fast my complexion could clear when I didn't put junk food into my body.  I never thought I would not enjoy eating those delicious tortilla chips dipped in light colored queso or eating just one more double chocolate chunk cookie.  I never realized how much food consumes my life - although I should have known better.

I went to lunch with my dad earlier this week, and sure as the world, he wanted Mexican food.  As I sat there, with a thrice filled glass of ice water with a lemon wedge, a basket full of chips, a full container of queso and salsa, and those special containers for tortillas in front of me, I couldn't believe how enticing it all looked.

Normally, I would have turned the salt shaker upside down and made the chips look liked it snowed and the queso looked thickened rather than watery or runny - and would already be on queso number three.  I would have already gone through two-three little packets of butter and smeared it all over two-three flour tortillas - again doused with salt - and then dipped it into the queso until it seeped through the inside of the rolled up tortilla and then slathered on some more around the outside.  Oh, not to mention, I would have gone through an entire basket of chips by myself and already be asking the waiter for more and another refill on my coke, but with more ice this time so it looked like I wasn't drinking as much soda.  And I would have never touched my water.  I would have ordered two cheese enchiladas with cheese sauce only on top, with a side of quacamole instead of rice and beans.  And for dessert, I would have ordered a second sopapilla with extra melted icing on top, and once it was gone, I would have eaten all of the remaining icing on the plate.

I can't believe I would do that and still be hungry.

So, I would make the convenient drive to Braum's and order a medium chocolate shake with skim milk (because for some reason I thought that that was the healthy alternative) and guzzle that down on the way home just in time to put in a bag of "light butter" popcorn into the microwave and start the salting process all over again.

Instead, I chose to drink water and nix the soda.  I chose one corn tortilla instead of essentially five flour, nixed the salt and butter, and opted for a salad without shredded cheese and dressing.  Halfway through, I was pleasantly full. 

I will be the first to admit I cheated.  I had a sip of coke and spat it back out because it tasted gross.  I had a piece of cake with butter-cream icing at a friend's child's birthday party and got a tummy and tooth ache from the sweetness.  I skipped two days of running and felt lethargic.  I cringed at the fact that I put in a certain restaurant item into the calorie counter app on my phone.  I felt so much better when I chose a cobb salad minus the cheese with fat free ranch dressing over that chicken fried chicken sandwich with dark yellow cheese on top.  I'm not perfect. 

But I am six pounds lighter.