Monday, November 4, 2013

AIM: A Thankful Buffet

If you're an American, then chances are the month of November brings thoughts of a bountiful meal to mind.  Food, glorious food...and lots of it, usually.  It's a meal that many of us only have once a year, so we (the royal) tend to eat our fill and then some.  Rather than do a post on making your Thanksgiving meal healthy, or on how to eat less (what??), your AIM team decided to concentrate on what we are thankful for this season.

These are in no particular order, but I have to start off with being thankful that I decided to give losing weight one last chance in May of 2008.  Before that, I really was done with dieting and had accepted the idea that I'd just be overweight for the rest of my life.  But I made one last effort, and because of that, much of my life has changed for the better.  And even though I have dealt with a couple of dumb injuries because of running, the fact is, I wouldn't have had those injuries at all had I not lost weight.  So I'm thankful for the injuries because they represent the athlete that I've become, which sounds strange, but it's all part of this circle of change that began in 2008.

I'm also thankful that our children have grown into confident, competent adults.  They are both college graduates with good jobs, they live on their own (actually roommates with each other, which makes me happy that they get along well enough to do that), they stand by what they believe in, and I don't have to worry (too much...there's always a little, it's the nature of being a mom) about them.  While I miss seeing them as much as we used to, I'm thankful that they'll be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that always is a laugh-fest!

I have to throw in a hearty amount of thankfulness and gratitude that my family members are all healthy now.  ::knocks wood, throws salt over shoulder::  Let's keep it that way.

I could go on and on, but I'll finish with this one:  I'm thankful for the internet, the world wide web, computers and all of the things that have allowed me to connect with so many of you.  Back in my day ::shakes cane:: the common version of reaching out with a stranger was getting hooked up with a pen pal (and I am still in touch with mine from when I was 12 years old).  Now, I have many, many friends who live all over the world...and yet, I've never met most of you in person.  The internet has opened my eyes to different ways of life, but confirmed that we are all so similar in our hopes and dreams and goals.  I'm grateful for this world I call Blogland, and for all of its inhabitants.



AIM: Adventures in Maintenance is Lynn, Lori, Debby, Shelley, and Cammy, former weight-loss bloggers who now write about life in maintenance. We formed AIM to work together to turn up the volume on the issues facing people in weight maintenance. We publish a post on the same topic on the first Monday of each month. Let us know if there is a topic you'd like us to address!

13 comments:

  1. how old does it make me seem TOO that I long for the pen pal days!!
    well sometimes.
    and each time I get the mail filled with bills...

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    1. It's sad, isn't it? I mean, unless we print out emails, we have no real concrete record of communications with friends. No envelopes tied together with string. My father still sends me letters, though, and as tempted as I am to do ecards for Christmas this year, I think I will send out the real thing.

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  2. Great post!

    And you know: you don't get overweight from just 1 Thanksgiving dinner. You get overweight on the other 364 days of that year. In my opinion you have to enjoy a meal every now and then without thinking if it's healthy or if you eat too much. Thanksgiving is a perfect day for that.

    I am thankful for the internet too. Otherwise we would never have "met". And I'm sure happy we did.

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  3. I'm thankful for you! Thanks for a little inspiration this morning.

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  4. Yeah, I sure could have said I am thankful that I tried losing weight one last time. I had definitely decided I was going to be fat the rest of my life.

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  5. You do have a lot to be thankful for, Shelley! Even the injuries, because you got them from *doing* something.

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  6. So Lori makes me cry, you make me laugh, and Cammy and Debby make me think (not that you and Lori don't make me think....you know what I mean :) ) The Internet can be a real PITA sometimes, but it can really bring people together, too. My life has been so richly enhanced (good lord, can I get more dramatic?) by the people I've never met and by the reconnections with the people I've known for a long time.

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  7. I love seeing your holiday pictures with your sons - you are always laughing and I love it! So much to be thankful for you don't even have to think about the food! Hugs!

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  8. My grandma and I still write each other letters, but I miss having more pen pals! I had a few different ones up through college, then email kind of stopped our letters.

    I'm glad something pushed you to give weight loss one more try! I have friends and family members who have definitely resigned themselves to being overweight forever, because trying and failing so many times IS frustrating, but for the sake of their health, I wish they could find it in themselves to give it another shot. And that is some great perspective on your injuries! I think about that sometimes too - a few years ago I didn't really know much about an achilles tendon or ITB, much less how much they can hurt when you overdo it. So I guess there's that.

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  9. First of all, I am thankful Blogger FINALLY let me on today so I could see these lovely posts of thanks!

    We (as in the royal we, but me in particular) are glad you decided to try one more time too Shelley. You are an inspiration in so many ways. I'm not giving up hope that we will get to finally meet in person though :)

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    1. I think it'll happen, and hopefully in the not-too-distant future! :)

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  10. Hmm...weird that my normal "comment mode" isn't working today. Hmm... ANYWAY, just wanted to say how much I love this post Shelley, and fingers crossed, wood is touched and salt is tossed that everyone stays healthy! Love that. Have a great Monday.

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  11. I hope to meet you sooner rather than later as well. Sometimes I have forgotten that we actually haven't met!

    Thank you for sharing your thankfuls!

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