A-Ha Moment!!

Do you ever have A-Ha moments? You’re sitting there, thinking about something to yourself (or maybe explaining something to someone) when all of a sudden, something just clicks and you feel a little silly for never having seen it this way before. I love A-Ha moments and I had one just last night.

My social life is shaking back up as winter starts to turn into spring. I kind of hibernated most of winter, but now it seems like plans are all over the place and almost all of them involve eating and drinking. I am trying to make concerted effort to find activities to do with friends that are actually active, but everyone’s favorite seems to be eating out and happy hour. My boss wants to celebrate our one year work-a-versary tonight (usually involves stopping at several of his favorite restaurants for drinks and various small plates) and then some lady friends are meeting up for drinks, tomorrow is a lunch with my BF’s family, then Easter, then another dinner gathering on Tuesday and a friend’s birthday celebration on both Thursday and Friday and another friend wants to go out for cupcakes and I owe one a happy hour and on and on! I am so truly blessed and thankful for each and every one of my friends, but they sure do like derailing my good eating intentions!

So, I have been fretting and trying to think how to limit going out (both for my waist and my wallet), especially while the 5% challenge is happening (because I’m actually making progress!) when all of a sudden it occurred to me: I can go out, and NOT wreck my diet or my wallet. For instance, usually when I go out with my boss I take the bus so I don’t have to drive home because we drink more than I should. I could drive tonight and limit my alcohol (and calories) and I can order fish instead of something fattening. Then, if I’m done in time to hang out with the girls, I could have one glass of wine or a water. For next week’s dinner, I could make sure I've eaten enough during the day to make smart choices instead of hungry choices! I could also be DD for my friend’s birthday so I’m not tempted to drink too much. I’m not a big fan of being DD, but suddenly it seems like a good solution to my problem. I can go out, order diet soda or water, and be happy with myself the next day. These sound like silly obvious choices, but I usually treat these outings as an excuse to indulge and I am realizing now that I don’t have to, it’s all in my head. I will probably indulge a bit for Easter, but starting April 1, I am gung ho about losing the last four pounds for the challenge! (And I’m going to start making smart choices today and tomorrow as well, just giving myself Easter off and only brunch at that!). I actually have a plan for April, but I’ll post that in another blog since this one is quite long…