Tuesday, October 31, 2017

October 31st, 2017 It Was A Treat

October 31st, 2017 It Was A Treat

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded today's water goal, I stayed connected with good support.

I'm flooded with memories of Halloweens long ago. I remember how much fun it was when I was a kid--and how we loaded giant sacks full of candy...pouring it out at the end of the night and sorting it in order--from best to worst. Then I fast forward to when my girls were young--and the costumes they wore, and the excitement they shared--and the candy bars I'd steal from them, every single year. I would "charge" them candy as a "pass" to the next block as if I wouldn't drive them if they didn't pay up. I'm not proud of that--it happened. My years of all-I-could-eat candy on Halloween kept me from fully enjoying the real treats in my life.

I'm relieved to no longer live my own personal madness on this day. I'm happy to report, one more time--I made it through this day without devouring "treats." That's something I don't take for granted. It's truly a miracle to me--and I don't say that lightly.

I enjoyed several treats today.

It was a treat to leave work early and take mom to the store for her Halloween hat and some clothes. It was a treat to enjoy a rare middle of the week lunch out with her. It was a treat to see my grandson Noah dressed in his Jack Skellington costume. It was a treat to witness his excitement for the night ahead of him. It was a treat to be a part of two powerful group accountability and support calls. It was a treat to be able to see these things as treats.
My grandson Noah stopped by before Trick-Or-Treating.
I surprised him with my facepaint!












































I LOVE this photo of Noah in his costume at my birthday party.

Today's Accountability Tweets:


Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Monday, October 30, 2017

October 30th, 2017 Tweets Only

October 30th, 2017 Tweets Only

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with good support.

Doing a Tweets Only version tonight. Goodnight!

Today's Accountability Tweets:
Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Sunday, October 29, 2017

October 29th, 2017 Better Position

October 29th, 2017 Better Position

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded today's water goal, and I stayed connected with good support.

Sunday is most usually the day to get mom out and do something. We shopped for a little while before enjoying dinner out, then took a nice drive all over town and out by the lake. The drive is mom's favorite part of the evening, I'm fairly certain. We noticed how early it's getting dark and we haven't turned the clocks back yet! It is that time of year.

I sometimes have difficulty getting to bed early on a Sunday night simply because I typically stay up too late Friday and Saturday nights and it tilts the following day's schedule. I improved on that today. I'll be in bed much earlier tonight. And my work week will start in a much better position tomorrow!

Today's Accountability Tweets:


Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Saturday, October 28, 2017

October 28th, 2017 Each Day

October 28th, 2017 Each Day

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded my daily water goal, and I stayed connected with good support contacts.

The alarm was set early today ahead of my 10am-2pm location broadcast. I moved breakfast as late as I could with the intention of eating lunch after the broadcast. The schedule worked well for me today.

I enjoyed preparing dinner tonight. I really like getting creative in the kitchen; preparing things in a way that makes it a great calorie value. Tonight's meatloaf (see Tweets below) is a perfect example. 96% lean beef and a bunch of veggies made it a super low-cal meatloaf. The mushrooms are really the "secret" ingredient! The meatloaf itself checked in at 323 cal--the entire meal, 600.

Work was good today. It was one of those experiences where you do the best you can do and you realize, that's all you can do. I left the broadcast knowing that I went above and beyond--and I felt good about that. There's tremendous satisfaction in a job well done. I feel this feeling when I have a well structured day where everything works--from the morning routine that starts each day with the food plan to the support connections, the water, the logging--hitting the pillow feeling that feeling and knowing, without doubt, that it was a good day, is beautiful to me. I strive for it each day. I don't always hit that mark perfectly square, but this entire experience has never been about perfection.

Today's Accountability Tweets:


Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Friday, October 27, 2017

October 27th, 2017 Just One

October 27th, 2017 Just One

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with good support.

Today's schedule called for a long day. A midday four-hour location broadcast stretched the schedule to a twelve hour day. I took exceptional care of my food plan today. I arranged for lunch to be delivered to my broadcast--and tonight, rather than cooking at home, I opted to dine out at a restaurant a couple blocks from my apartment. I know the owners of this restaurant very well because I write, voice, and produce their monthly radio advertising campaigns. I finally took them up on the offer to use my Ezekiel bread for a burger. It worked perfectly within the boundaries of my food plan.

I was asked about not eating any of the birthday brownie cake served at my party the other night--the question was, how do you resist that, especially on your birthday? I've written a bunch about my abstinence from refined sugar and how it's truly changed things for me. Just as prominent is the ongoing understanding, definition, and education of what are my trigger foods. Foods that contain refined sugar and foods on my personal "trigger" list are not my food (a phrase I learned from Gerri Helms!). I can be around it--others can enjoy it---and I'm okay with my food plan. 

There's peace in acceptance. Acceptance to me means a full embrace of this "not my food" style of eating. Acceptance and this embrace of certain food plan non-negotiables only came when the denial was over. 

 In my experience, denial equals struggle. 

Denial was constantly asking myself, why do I keep eating like this?? The answer of course, because I'm a food addict, wasn't something I was going to admit. Denial was constantly thinking I could "eat just one," or "just this one time," or "I can binge for this special occasion and get right back on track tomorrow." I couldn't and can't do any of those things. Some people really can--but I can't. I certainly believed I could for a very long time because I was in deep denial of my personal truth, despite maintaining a body weight in excess of 500 pounds. The proof was in plain sight, but I couldn't see it. I didn't want to see it because looking at it honestly meant doing something--and doing something threatened my relationship with the very things my addiction required. 

Denial was also found in believing food could somehow fix me in highly emotional and stressful situations or periods of time. At best, food only delayed dealing with emotions and stressful situations--it's never fixed anything outside of myself. I will admit--the natural and deeply ingrained reaction to "escape into the food" still lives in me, and I'm convinced it always will. Staying out of that denial trap takes a daily practice.

And that right there is why I must continue taking care of me with a food plan and style of eating, a plan with daily accountability measures, and a plan of support alongside people who are also traveling this road.

Today's Accountability Tweets:


Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Thursday, October 26, 2017

October 26th, 2017 A Good One

October 26th, 2017 A Good One

Last night's birthday party was a fabulous event. We all shared wonderful conversation, laughs, and a great dinner! Noah is fun to watch at family gatherings because he gets super excited, but also, when it's time for it to end, naturally, he gets a little droopy. I did not have a Spiderman birthday as Noah suggested, but it was a good one!

Noah loves the Tim Burton classic The Nightmare
Before Christmas. Seriously. He loves it.

























Mom had a great time!
























My youngest, Courtney, Mom, Noah, and Me
























My daughters and mom

























Noah helped me blow out the candles!



















I didn't eat the desserts, of course, but I will say the brownie cake looked like the most perfect brownie cake if ever I did see one! And everyone enjoyed it very much!

Today featured a full work day and an evening location broadcast. I made the decision to stay in tonight, grab a cardio session on the staircase, and stay warm. I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded my daily water goal, I had some good exercise--walking at tonight's big Halloween carnival and my stair climbing workout earlier tonight--plus I stayed connected with good support.

Today's Accountability Tweets:


Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Wednesday, October 25, 2017

October 25th, 2017 Tweets

October 25th, 2017 Tweets

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I met my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with exceptional support.

I'm back home way too late. I better make this tweets only!

Today's Accountability Tweets:


Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Tuesday, October 24, 2017

October 24th, 2017 Stretch It Out

October 24th, 2017 Stretch It Out

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I met my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with good support. These are some of the things I envision accomplishing each morning.

Keeping tonight's edition super-short. It was a solid day. I thoroughly enjoyed the support interactions, and I enjoyed preparing a nice dinner this evening.

My birthday isn't over--oh no, we Anderson's know how to stretch it out into a multi-day event! We're having a big family get-together tomorrow evening. Oh--there will be pictures! As far as the food is concerned, we're planning a taco bar type thing. That works for me very well!

Getting a little more rest tonight--goodnight!

Today's Accountability Tweets:




























Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Monday, October 23, 2017

October 23rd, 2017 Wonderful Birthday

October 23rd, 2017 Wonderful Birthday

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with good support.

I've had the most wonderful birthday. The tremendous outpouring of birthday wishes was quite simply overwhelming. I'm feeling extreme gratitude--oh my goodness, so blessed and grateful. I heard from both of daughters. Noah suggested I needed a Spiderman themed birthday party. I heard from Irene too--in fact, we're having a family gathering for my birthday on Wednesday at her and Allen's place. I spent some time with mom tonight, and that was wonderful. And oh--check out what I found when I arrived home from work this afternoon.














This Happy Birthday sign was hanging from the balcony of a vacant apartment directly across the way from mine. Brad and Drew, the maintenance supervisors, painted this special honor--and even made reference to me forgetting my age! They're good people. It was very special! I noticed it the second I pulled in the driveway. I was smiling ear to ear. Pretty cool thing to do!

I made my way up to the apartment and found that my good friend Karen had decorated my apartment with balloons, streamers, and a giant happy birthday banner. It was like walking into a surprise party!

I prepared a good dinner after my Monday night group support call then headed to see mom for a birthday night visit.



















I just love to see her smile--and when her eyes are smiling, too--that's when you know, she's doing well!

I'm looking forward to the family gathering Wednesday evening. It'll be a fun evening of visiting, great conversation, and plenty of laughs guaranteed!

I'm still amazed at how convinced I was about the age thing. I really thought I was turning 47 today. When I discovered I wasn't--it was seriously a shock. I just hadn't done the math. I missed my 45th year altogether. How strange. I've heard from several who've done the same thing. I know--I keep going on about it, but that's just because I was 100% convinced--so now, turning 46 feels like going back in time for a do-over of sorts.

I just want to mention-- I feel bad not personally responding to each and every birthday wish...it just got overwhelming very fast, and it was impossible to keep up. If you took the time to wish me a happy birthday today, thank you, sincerely. You helped make my birthday a very special one.

Today's Accountability Tweets:
























Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Sunday, October 22, 2017

October 22nd, 2017 Amuses Me

October 22nd, 2017 Amuses Me

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded my daily water goal, and I stayed connected with good support friends.

I enjoyed some Noah and Mom time today. We shopped for a little while before heading out to lunch. It was a good time. Noah found himself a ghost mask and got a kick out of "scaring" everyone at the store and restaurant--including grandma and me!! It was adorable. He loves Halloween, that's for sure.



















Letting the tweets take it the rest of the way tonight. Tomorrow I turn 46! Not 47. I still can't believe I lost count of my own age! It amuses me.


Today's Accountability Tweets:















Anderson) October 22, 2017











Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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Saturday, October 21, 2017

October 21st, 2017 Call It Good

October 21st, 2017 Call It Good

I'm not 47 on Monday. I'll be 46. I forgot my own age! I'm not sure what that says about me or my life. For whatever reason, I simply lost track and in the process convinced myself I was already 46 and about to turn 47. I'm fascinated by this revelation. It's as if I get to do 46 over again. I've been 45 this whole time and didn't realize.

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded today's water goal, and I stayed well connected with good support contacts.

I started today with a location broadcast and ended with weather coverage tonight at the studio. In the middle of this busy day, my Oklahoma State Cowboys beat Texas, barely, in overtime--that was a great thing!

Noah is with me tonight--and tomorrow we're picking up grandma for lunch and her Walmart trip!

I prepared dinner tonight at the studio (Tweet below)--and I must say, the cabbage/beef/sour cream thing on a pita is currently one of my favorite dinner creations. I have no idea what it's called. I'll call it good.   

Today's Accountability Tweets:


quote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
It's #okstate game day! Celebrating w/my new coffee mug. #beattexas 3 tbs half&half in first cup, another 3 tbs half&half in refill. 120 cal pic.twitter.com/kqNQQq2G1p
— Sean Anderson (@SeanAAnderson) October 21, 2017

 class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Breakfast in MyFitnessPal. Not shown: 6.4oz pear & 100g red seedless grapes. pic.twitter.com/G0n1091QN6
— Sean Anderson (@SeanAAnderson) October 21, 2017
























Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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