A Weekend of Willpower & Compliments

As I mentioned about two weeks ago, this past Sunday was my wife’s baby shower.  We drove to my in-law’s house early Sunday morning (about an hour away) and went to my wife’s old church;  we also had lunch together as a family before the shower at 2.

This is where healthy lifestylestake always pause:  family get-togethers.  It’s extremely easy to stick to a workout and healthy diet when I’m in my own house, my own city, my own office, with my healthy routine and little happy bubble.  Even worse, this is a southern family get-together.

What’s southern family get-together mean?  It means that if the green beans could be fried, they would be.  Lunch was catered at grandma’s house from Popeye’s (a chicken chain, like KFC).  The spread included:

• Fried chicken
• Cajun french fries (I love cajun food)
• Buttered biscuits
• Mashed potatoes
• Corn on the cob

Any other year in my life that didn’t end in 09 and I would’ve had second helpings of everything above.  Instead, I opted against the fried train wreck and 150+ calories per biscuit and chose to eat mash potatoes, corn on the cob, and a banana.  These odd choices prompted comments from around the table about my slimming appearance, including one from my sister-in-law along the lines of:

You hadn’t looked right at me since you got here…  I can definitely tell your face is getting skinnier and thinner on the sides.

I told her …”with comments like that, maybe I should look at you a lot more.”

That earned a wink.

A little while after the baby shower ended we all headed out to O’Charley’s for dinner.  I’m not sure what the calories were on my meal, but I got the grilled shrimp dinner;  seemed like a good call.  It came with two grilled cajun shrimp skewers, rice pilaf, and mashed potatoes.   During our meal at O’Charley’s, my wife’s family started commenting on my appearance again and how my face has definitely shrunk, as well as my stomach.  My sister-in-law’s boyfriend asked me what my secret was, to which I said:

Cardio 6 days a week.  Water all day.  Healthy choices.

I just wanted to repeat that again.  I haven’t lost this weight by some miracle potion, pill, or fad.  My weight loss is no secret;  it’s hard, the hardest thing I’ve ever done — but I’m kicking its ass.