Special thanks to Jenny Craig for their sponsorship of this post.
The title says it all right now: I seem to be hungry ALL THE TIME lately.
It’s been at least two weeks like this. I’ve stayed on track with my program, but I’m telling you… it’s been absolute torture. As a reflect on this journey, it definitely has variety. There are times that everything seems easy peazy, and other times that I hop on that struggle bus with my lunch packed and planning to stay a while.
These days, I feel like I’m your struggle bus tour guide unfortunately, but I try to mix a little Pollyana-style glad game into the mix. Some days I do great; other days, not so much. But amongst every bit of it, I have yet to give up.
Example: Right now, I’m typing this blog post moments after unpacking my weekend groceries. On a rare splurge, I popped into Whole Foods to pick up a few things. Truth: I was looking for watermelon radish for salads, but they didn’t have it.
I didn’t let that stop me and I began wandering the beautiful store looking for other things that I might want to eat. When I’m in this constant hunger state, I absolutely know that I’m looking to feed my MIND rather than my body. My body has zero interest in large hunks of cheese. My mind on the other hand…
In an effort to stay on course, I picked up two really pretty green pears that I thought would make great snacks and proceeded toward the back of the store. I had my mind set on pickles from the olive bar. Have you tried these? Really amazing.
I assembled a pint of pickles, and then proceeded to pick up a few other items from the olive bar. Roasted garlic seemed like a good idea. I love peppadew peppers on pizzas, so I grabbed a few of those. I even got some of those tiny Peruvian teardrop-shaped peppers thinking I could throw them on a salad. Mission accomplished!
On my way out, I peeked at all of the hot bars and salad bars as I passed through. And, then I saw it: The Pizza Bar.
If there’s one thing I love, it’s a hot slice of Whole Foods Pizza. Once, at the huge Boulder location, I picked up a Bacon and Peppadew Pepper slice that continues to be one of my all-time favorite pizza flavor combinations… and I’m always looking for that to be a repeat on the bar. I also faintly remembered that it was National Pizza Day or Month or something, as published by Whole Foods on Instagram. I mean, slices at just $2.50 each? How could I not get one?
A veggie slice would have been perfect, but in the absence of that, a greasy pepperoni slice sounded like a perfect exchange. Keep in mind, I was on my way home to make a Jenny Craig pizza for lunch (one that I’ll share with you here on the blog this week), but in that moment… all I wanted was that dripping piece of gluten-filled goodness.
I grabbed the pizza server, gave myself silent kudos for picking the smallest piece, and scooped it into the handy brown paper slice box. And then it hit me…
WTF was I doing? I was literally heading home to eat a beautiful, healthy pizza. I was about 15 mins from hime and there was absolutely no reason for me to indulge in this greasy pie. And if we’re honest, real pizza wreaks havoc on my skin lately. The last thing I need is another zit (as a 42 year old…)
So, I did the unspeakable. My next step was wasteful. It was all of the things, and I really don’t care. I left that triangle-shaped box right there at the pizza bar and WALKED AWAY.
Why am I sharing this story? This has been my life for the past several weeks. I’ve been living in a cloud of stress and cravings (think Pigpen from the Peanuts, but cleaner.)
In 98% of the scenarios, I am walking away from the nonsense, just like this. In 2% of the cases (typically when rosé is involved), I’m jumping in riding a pink flamingo shaped float.
Just because I have been working toward my goal for a while doesn’t mean that it’s easy. And just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean that I’m giving up. Sigh…
This month has been a bust for weight loss overall, but I’m THRILLED that it hasn’t been a huge month of gains. Without Jenny Craig, I seriously think I would have been buying new pants.
Onto the next challenge ahead and to a bright new week…
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Jenny Craig; however, all of the opinions and comments about the program are exclusively my own and do not necessarily represent that of the brand.