Why the f--- not?

Yesterday when I was driving home I pulled up next to an older Jeep Cherokee at a stoplight. The back side and rear windows had several smiley face stickers. In small letters on the side window were the words:

"Why the f--- not?"

The f- word wasn't spelled out, it was just "f---". It's embarrassing to admit this, but I didn't know what it meant. I actually said to myself, Why the what not? Why not what? What are they talking about?

I'd had a bad day at work, and I had been feeling overwhelmed, stressed and just generally not in a happy mood. As I stared at the words, it finally clicked, and I started giggling, then laughing, and then thinking that was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. "Why the f---- not smile?" I wanted to thank the driver for making me laugh, it was one of those 'I needed that!' moments.
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Back on the wagon
I've finally returned to sanity. I'm even allowing myself to feel hunger pains again. I'm not starving myself, just eating like a person trying to lose weight on Weight Watchers. Smaller portions, weighing and measuring my food, and for the most part, tracking my food. More importantly, facing the reality that I can't eat what I want when I want it.

My exercise has been really good this week. I've taken a spin class, an aerobics class and a strength training class, plus my regular gym workouts. I didn't like the aerobics class. It wasn't as fun as I remembered. In fact, I could barely walk the next day.

This morning my weight was 173.4 (down from the 176.6 on Monday), so I'm feeling very hopeful I'll at least be back into the 160's again very soon.

Giving away all my size 14 clothes was really an incentive for me to get a reality check. Since I didn't have any bigger pants to wear, it was lose some weight or be really uncomfortable in tight clothes. You would think that was an easy decision, but surprisingly, it's taken me a couple weeks to get back to doing what I should be doing. I guess I just wanted that vacation from watching what I eat to go on indefinitely.

Women Food and God
I've finished the book. Although it's a good book, and I agree with most of it, it's not a miracle. This week I caught the first half of Oprah's interview with the author, Geneen Roth (a re-run of a re-run). When Oprah proclaimed 'this is the miracle you've been looking for!' I just shook my head. There are no miracles when it comes to losing weight. Even Geneen says in her book, 'there are no quick fixes'.

It's a great read and if you have food issues like me, you'll probably identify with most of it, but I don't think you'll think it's a miracle. I wish it was a miracle. I wish we could all easily follow Geneen's eating guidelines and miraculously get to our healthy weight. I think it'll help, and Geneen's ideas are solid and make sense, but the hard work is still on us. We have to create our own miracle. 

I'm going to read through it again. There were a couple places I skimmed over because they were boring, and I was eager to get to the good parts. Maybe I missed the "miracle" part. One can always hope. :)

Here are Geneen's Eating Guidelines, and if you were to follow them, I'm positive you'd get to your healthy weight. From page 211 (the last page) of Women Food and God by Geneen Roth.

The Eating Guidelines

1. Eat when you are hungry.
2. Eat sitting down in a calm environment. This does not include the car.
3. Eat without distractions. Distractions include radio, television, newspapers, books, intense or anxiety-producing conversations or music.
4. Eat what your body wants.
5. Eat until you are satisfied.
6. Eat (with the intention of being) in full view of others.
7. Eat with enjoyment, gusto and pleasure.   <----I've got this one down already!