Coincidence? I think not.

Morning friends!

*Warning:* This isn't going to be one of those warm and fuzzy posts and I'm really not the blow smoke up your butt kind of girl. I made a promise to myself when I started this blog that I was going to be 100% REAL and HONEST about what is taking place in my life because for me this is truth: If I am cheating and lying on this blog it will give me reason to cheat in real life. I'm not in this to fool anyone and especially not myself.

All that was said to preface what I see as a glorious victory that took place this morning after a not so glorious one that took place last night... :)

Yesterday my office had their annual Christmas dinner at a local bar called "Stinky's"- nice right? Now you need to know that the people in my office can EAT- no joke out of the 20 people that I work with I would say 14 of them are over 250lbs- so you KNOW that the potato skins, mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, and french fries were abundant to say the least! On any given day there is an assortment of donuts, pumpkin pie, and cookies that is readily available for people to feast on all day and I seriously never give in to eating any of it- mostly because *gasp* I don't really like sweets!

However, last night was a different story. As we all sat down and the appetizers were being passed I took one of everything just like everyone else- in fact I was eating things I'm not even sure I wanted to eat- gross. My entree choice was horrible and I barely had any dessert but still- I had eaten mindlessly and allowed not being prepared and the pressure of not wanting to be the only one not shoving their face to allow me to make poor choices for myself and put others in control of what I ate.

But here's the glorious victorious-ness!

1. Victory #1: I analyzed the situation- thought about why I ate what I ate and how I could have avoided that pitfall and how I will do better next time. I refuse to beat myself up on this journey. Now if this was just a diet I was doing for 2 weeks then it's important that I am perfect and shouldn't make any mistakes- but this isn't a diet. This is my new way of life and I am actually thankful for opportunities like this that I can learn to do better from.I learned how to avoid the pressure of "group grazing!" which is something that I will be constantly faced with.



2. Victory #2: I did put half of my entree in a box right away and when offered dessert I decided to take it home in a box instead of eating there, which made for...



3. Victory #3: This morning I was running late for work, which usually means that I don't have time to make or sit down and eat my usual breakfast, and as I was getting ready I thought, "Oh..I could eat the rest of that chicken wrap and fries...or I could just have carrot cake for breakfast....". (If you're like me you can rationalize yourself into eating this horrible food simply because it is already prepared and you are running late). But as I looked at the food I asked myself this question..."Am I in control of this food or is it in control of me?" And you know what I did? I took control! And if you were to look in my refridgerator right now you would see 2 styrofoam boxes that have written on the top (to my roomates): "If you want it, eat it- if not it's getting thrown away tonight!" I totally could have eaten it (and most likely consumed closed to 1000 calories, but instead I just said no.

And I've gotta say that I don't think that it is purely coincidental that that on the day I start this blog that this happened- this could have totally derailed me- but it hasn't EVEN. ONE. BIT.

How about you guys? What are some "failures" that have turned into victories in your journey?

Peace Out Girl Scout-