Let's stop the war!

I am starting to realize this.  For so much of my life, I have been in a battle with my own body.  And then I began this journey and started to see food as an enemy.  It's a difficult place to be - I need food to live, but to constantly be battling it is exhausting.

But my perspective has changed and now in maintenance is slowly changing even more.  As I've moved away from eating things that are overly processed and terrible for the body I've gotten some perspective.  I admire people that can see food only for what it is - FUEL.  And they live that way.  But for me, food is also pleasure.  I love eating - I love the taste of a really great meal.  

So, that brings me to some things that I have also realized - if you are eating the right things, you can eat an awful lot and not gain weight.  Last night - after dinner - I went outside and was harvesting from our garden.  As I plucked some newly ripened cherry tomatoes off the vine, I ate a few.  And they were delicious!  No guilt afterwards - they have very few calories and were a pleasure to devour.

I am OWNING my love of food.  I recently got a headband for running that says "I RUN SO I CAN EAT".  It's supposed to be funny but there's a hell of a lot of truth in that - not just for me, but for many others as well.  

Which brings me to another point.  You can "get away" with eating a lot if you are exercising.  I am a very short woman in her 40's.  And I eat an average of 1800 calories a day and am maintaining my weight.  That's a lot of food.  And I enjoy every minute of it. 

Yesterday I found out that the half marathon that I am running in September has a "recovery tent".  It is sponsored by a local chocolate milk maker, Panera Bread, JRECK Subs and Chobani Yogurt.  I was immediately DELIGHTED and EXCITED to think about all the food that will be available for me to scarf down after the race.  

My first thought was that this shows that I'll never think of food like a "normal" person.  But then I said to myself "The hell with that!"  I'll burn approximately 1100 calories on that run and I will be gluttonous after the race!  It doesn't make me fucked up in the head.  I get that now.  

It's ok to do "naughty" things at times.  Sometimes we act like idiots while on vacation in a town where we're never going to see anyone we know.  We act like fools doing the "Electric Slide" at weddings.  

So it's ok that once and a while I eat wayyyyy tooooo muucccch - or something that isn't 100% healthy.  If I do it all the time?  Well then there's a problem and I will pay for it.  Just as if you acted at work the way you acted while on vacation in Las Vegas!  But once and a while.  Hell to the yes!

I believe that today!