A Visit from Delilah

Delilah was messing with me last night.

Monday is my typical weigh-in day and when I stepped on the scale at MV 24 I was 5 pounds up! Pretty unbelievable, actually, given I've had more than 8 hours of "sweaty" exercise in the past week. It's true that I had 2 days where I ate over 1500 calories (approximately 2200 each day) but an extra 1200 calories does not 5 pounds make!

After getting off the scale, and while going to the normal rationalizations of water weight gain, eating heavy food during the day, etc. (yoy!) I was feeling a bit dejected, I must admit. I asked myself why me, what was I doing wrong, etc., But then, while waiting for class to start I remembered Delilah.

(As explained by Mary Manin Morrissey, one of my spiritual mentors, Delilah is the one who seeks to sap us of our inner strength. She's the voice of our fear and relishes opportunities like this to kick us when we're down in an effort to get us to give up on our visions. "Delilahs are disguises of fear," Mary writes in her book Building Your Field of Dreams. "Because our Delilahs come dressed so cunningly, we often fail to recognize them. They seduce us, lulling us into a false sense of security to the point where we grow fond of our fears. We cling to them.")

I gotta say, as soon as I remembered Delilah--once I recognized her in my feelings of self-doubt--it was like a switch flipped inside of me and the light that come forth sent all the fears away. I started to smile and even chuckle to myself. Delilah can be sneaky, but I'm not letting her get the best of me!

First of all, the reality is that I'm losing weight. Sometimes I'm not the best judge in whether or not I look like I've lost weight, but I even I can tell that I haven't put five pounds back on. Secondly, the number on the scale means nothing. Like I was saying to my Vegas friends a few weeks ago who had questions about the Challenge, thank goodness we don't all have to introduce ourselves by saying, "Hello, my name is Donna, and I weigh XXX." Not the way it's done, so, really, what does it matter what the scale says? Finally, like I've said all along, whatever the scale says isn't going to change what I eat tomorrow or the next day or next week -- I'm committed to this Challenge. If anything, it makes me more determined to stick with it.

So, thanks for visiting, Delilah, and now move it along because there's nothing for you here!

My Typical 1500 Calorie Day

SBS Teresa said some people might be interested in reading what a person who doesn't eat sugar or wheat does in fact eat. So, here's a rundown on a typical day for me on no sugar, no wheat, no aspartame, no caffeine and at 1500 calories...

Breakfast
Spinach, 3/4 cup egg beaters, 4T light cream cheese
decaf coffee with 2 T non-fat 1/2 and 1/2
calories: 240

Lunch
4 oz turkey meat
1 T salad dressing (Miracle Whip)
cucumber slices
1 C Squash with 1 t butter
calories: 385

Snack
Chicken soup (chicken thigh, carrots, celery, parsley)
calories: 160

Snack
4 C popcorn and 1 string cheese
calories: 180

Dinner
4 oz salmon
3 oz sweet potato with cinnamon
calories: 400

Snack
apple
decaf coffee with 2 T non-fat 1/2 & 1/2
calories: 110

Total calories: 1475

I've always been a "grazer," and am lucky to be in a work situation that I can do that easily, so actually my lunch was probably spread out over an hour and a half. I'm usually up at 5:30 a.m. and go to bed at 10:30 or 11. My favorite hour of exercise on a day like this is step class at my gym.

So there you go. Questions? I'm happy to answer them.