Old habits die hard...(Long confession)

…and some refuse to die altogether!

  Beth and I have been married for 12 years.  During that time, we get to house sit for my in-laws when they travel.  You see they have 3 dogs, a bird and a partridge in a pear tree.  And we all know how hard it is to pack a partridge in a pear tree in a car!  Anyway, when RJ was a baby it was a really cool thing.  We pretended we were on vacation in Gatlinburg.  As the years progressed, it got to be impossible having to carry all his “STUFF” with us.  So, we decided on those house sitting days, only one of us would go and the other would stay home.

  Now to the old habits refusing to die!  This past weekend, right after the Lunch Bunch, Beth headed off for her parents house.  We view this now as a mini business trip instead of a vacation!  RJ stayed with me for a guy’s night out.  Not long after dinner, these habits I speak of decided to rear their ugly head.  In the past when Beth was away house sitting, it was a chance for RJ and I to “pig out” so to speak.  It was nothing for us to grab a gallon of Blue Bell ice cream, hot fudge sauce and all the other necessities that Satan has surrounded us with, and finish the half gallon in one setting.  So what did I do?  As soon as dinner was completed, I headed to the “aisle of shame” as RJ calls it.  That’s right; I went to that “den of sin” known as the candy and ice cream aisle at K. Rogers

I decided to stay away from ice cream, but hit the sugar free candy hard!  I walked away with 3 bags of sugar free candy and one bag of sugar free cookies!  When I came home, RJ was on the couch watching TV.  He immediately knew what this was, a chance to have a “boys night out”.  We picked a good movie and picked our first object of obsession, the Russell Stover Caramel Drops.

Let’s put it this way, we finished the bag within 20 minutes and that was all she wrote.  I felt terrible.  Mel was not a happy camper!  Oh yeah, Mel is the name for my pouch (stomach), as in “Mel’s Diner”.  Beth’s’ pouches name is Alice , from the same TV show!   Anyway, Mel was not doing well.  I never had the gastrointestinal distress that a lot of people have from sweets.  This was the first time since surgery that I did have an acid reflux attack.  If you have never had one, they are painful.  The rest of the candy was disposed of.  What was so supposed to be a fun night out for the guys, turned into a disaster of epic proportions!

What did I learn from this episode  of “Boys can be pigs”?  Once again, surgery was done on my stomach, not my head!  I feel like I have come a long way in making good food choices.  But I also figured out that it’s a long and winding road that leads to a healthier me!

So, what “old habits” are you dealing with?  And most importantly, what are you doing about it.  For me, it’s “Food for thought and moderation”.  In other words, before something goes into my mouth, I will think about it and remember this night!  I’m gonna try my best anyway! Have a great Easter weekend!

I couldn't help but laugh at this one, Scott...  It reminds me of something Dr. Houston said to us in his seminar, wayyyy before I decided to even go with him for my surgeon.  He said, "We hope if you eat ice cream, you will get sick as a dog, throw up, and you will never want ice cream again."  Well, I guess it will be quite awhile before you want some Russell Stover SF Caramel drops!  We learn the hard way.  After my dumping episode from a strawberry "supposedly" sugar free protein shake from Smoothie King, it was a longgggggg time before I would even drive past a Smoothie King, and when I did, I shuddered at the thought of that dumping episode!  Whew, it is the worst thing...  It sure took some guts to post it...  I am wondering when you say gastro distress...  gas, gas pain, diarrheaville?? Yes I can imagine.... lol Hope your tummy (Mel) gets to feeling better soon.

Hi Scott, I hope Mel is ok now!  I have been terrified of sugar, but have done small amounts of sugar free stuff.  but, old habits do die hard.  I went to Fresh Market the other day for the first time.  I had a terrible time walking past the bakery!  In the past, I would always stop and buy several different types of pastry.  As I was walking past it this week, I said to myself, "This was not a good idea".  I think I will avoid fresh market from now on.  Plus, they don't have as much low carb stuff as I would like.  I will send Ron for fresh veggies and meat from there from now on. Marilyn

Scott,   I enjoyed reading this.  Please do not tell me that boys can be pigs!!!!!  Surely you jest!!!!!!!LOL......

  Yes my friend, old habits do die hard and sometimes they never die at all.  Sad but true.  Here is just one of my old habits  

  1) My most favorite thing in the world to do is go to the movies.  I would ALWAYS make sure to get there a good 30 minutes or so before showtime so that I could get in line at the snack bar.  If there is a long wait this could be disastrous to possibly missing all the movie previews and most importantly I would go alone so I had to make sure I could find an end seat and stack my coat purse hat and everything else into the seat next to me so no one could sit by me.  The reason for that is because I was so large that when I sat in my seat my body parts would hang over and touch the stranger sitting next to me!!!! Yikes... And of course the end seat was so that people wanted to move back and forth on the row of seats it was easier for me to move to a slight angle and they could get out as opposed to being stuck in a seat in the center and when someone wanted to get by they couldn't because basically I was unable to move...Talk about embarrassing...anyway.....Getting back to the snack bar.  I would always purchase one jumbo size Mr. Pibb (cause they didn't have dr.pepper) and one jumbo tron size popcorn with extra melted butter.  Now I justified that purchase in my mind as the way to go because I could pay $375.00 for the Large size or go ahead and pay $375.25 for the Jumbo Tron size and get free refills to boot.  Now remember I am the only on there and I make sure they have complimentary refills on the jumbo tron size box.  I say complimentary refills as opposed to saying "free" refills cause I just paid $375.25 for a box of popcorn and I'm thinking I paid for everyone's refills. 

  So by this time I am pretty excited, I am feeling real good about my seating choice in the theater and I have my 2 favorite things in the whole world in each one of my hands.  A giant size soda and a giant size popcorn with butter.  Dim the lights and bring on Al Pacino......It doesn't get any better than this...

  Now fast forward 2 hours.  The movie is over and was absolutely wonderful and I made a note to self to purchase this DVD when available.  All the popcorn has been eaten and the soda is gone too.  Wow this trip was pretty good...The movie was so darn good that I didn't wanna miss anything by getting my complimentary refill....  Awe not all is lost, will just stand in line at the snack bar again on my way out the door for my refills....

  I had figured out how to get 2 hours of self medication.  Yep that is right..  I checked out of the human rat race for 2 hours to eat and drink things that were horrible for me but that made no sense cause they made me feel so good... And watched a make believe made up story about some beautifully thin gorgeous people that things in life for them appeared to be perfect and if it got a little off on not being perfect then the director would just make it into a bad dream scene and the actors wakes up and laughs....Yes, this is my favorite activity ever.....

  Well imagine the shock I felt when I was contemplating having WLS and I learned WLS patients can never have carbonated beverages nor is it advisable for them to consume popcorn...  You have got to be kidding me....  Someone please tell me this is not true....LOL....  Hummmm  I had to rethink this surgery thing again....  Was I going to be able to do that?  Why was the only 2 things in life that I enjoyed going to be taken away from me.....

  Well you see this is what brings us back to your confession.  I admire you by the way for confessing but I really didn't look at it as a confession.  It is exactly as you said a habit....Webster defines habit in this way:  an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary...

  Wow that pretty much hits the nail on the head doesn't it?  We are having to retrain our bodies from years and years of abuse physically and emotionally.  But the constant dripping of water will wear away a stone.  I have to believe that.  I am trying really hard to make my new habit if you will of food choices to be if it didn't grow out of the ground or slaughtered from an animal I probably won't be eating it. 

  It is hard for me to go into movie theaters these days.  The smell of the popcorn is unbelievable to me....  I even have a hard time with the notion that I won't be using that hand mouth motion that we exercise while the movie is playing...  How am I gonna sit still???