Living Free

Day 9

Free Day.

This has been an awesome day not because it's free day and I can eat whatever I want, but because I have made it through without feeling guilty or like a failure. I was a bit apprehensive about today. The whole point of having a free day each week is to give your body a chance to indulge. The key word being "indulge". There's a BIG difference between indulgence and excess and I'm trying very hard to get a handle on the meaning of "difference".

In his New York Times Best Selling book Body for Life, Bill Phillips talks about eating a clean diet and exercising intensely six days a week. He encourages everyone taking his Body For Life Challenge to give themselves one day a week when they eat whatever they want. If you wake up and want Bacon, eggs and biscuits for breakfast... do it. If you want to turn around and have a Quater Pounder meal for lunch... be his guest! Enchiladas for dinner... You Heard Him... Go for it. Then you turn around and start all over with your clean eating ways the following day. 

The idea is that eventually you'll discover that you feel so crappy after eating all of this junk that you will not want it anymore. This concept really isn't all that new it's just packaged differently. Other plans advocate a cheat meal each week. And still other folks will say eat healthfully 80 % of the time so that you can indulge 20% of the time. No matter how you look at it, this is just another way of saying "practice moderation".

The thing is moderation has always been a problem for me. I'm a hedonist from way back. If it feels good or tastes good, I say enjoy it! There is no such thing as too much of a good thing... that is until you wake up with a screaming hangover or a giant ass!

So here I am looking into the abyss. It's my first free day of 2010. Oh how many times in the last 7 or 8 years have I been here and never crossed over to the other side? Is today the day that I make the leap? Is today the day when I finally learn the difference between indulgence and excess? Is today the day that I put my "future vision" of a lean healthy body into practice? Pardon my language... YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT IT IS!

Did I indulge today? Yes. I slept in. It was awesome. I had pizza for lunch. Two Slices not SIX! I had popcorn and a diet soda at the movies. No BUTTER and only about a 1/3 of the bag. I had a healthy dinner and followed it up with once of my Christmas Stocking treats -- a Harry & David Moose Munch Bar. (Sorry Gina, I'm saving the Chocolate Bacon Bar for a really special day). Tomorrow, it's back to my clean ways and I'm not depressed about it at all.

Today, for the first time in I cannot remember how long, I actually felt.... free.

Cheers!
Margaret