HE SAID/SHE SAID

When I asked if Mr. B and I could write He Said/She Said for Weight No More this year, Tina asked, “What do you have to write about? You work at the Y and your family eats well.” I was holding my fourth cup of coffee, a bag of salt & vinegar chips for lunch, and I had just gotten winded walking up the stairs. “This is the first vegetable I’ve eaten all week and I never actually work out at the Y- I’m only wearing workout clothes because none of my jeans fit.” So here we are.

Mr. B. & I have been married for 5 years and for the first few, we did have a healthy lifestyle. All of our meals were vegetarian, made with fresh vegetables straight from the garden. Everything was made from scratch, even our yogurt, bread, and beer!  I think we got away with buying just coffee, rice, flour, and sugar on most of our grocery trips.

Then our daughter started Kindergarten and there was a lot more rushing around in the morning and less time after homework at night; We started buying cereals for breakfast and snacks for school. That year, I was diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease, an autoimmune disorder that lets my body attack my digestive system any time I eat wheat, barley, or rye.  We started buying gluten free breads and pastas that sound healthy, but are heavily processed with extra sugar and fat to make them tolerable. Soon Mr. B.  started work at the paper and I went back to school. We both started staying up late working on the couch and eating snacks. Then we were up early and rushing around, and out the door with a third cup of coffee, and forgot to grab lunch, and there’s a meeting tonight, so just grab pizza on your way home, and suddenly…here we are. We have not maintained any of our healthy habits from 5 years ago; we are tired and heavy and on a dangerous path.

For me, Weight No More isn’t about fitting back in those smaller sized jeans, though that would be nice, they were expensive. It’s not even about the number on the scale, that’s just a numeric representation of my relationship with gravity.  I’m not worried about the pounds, just the bad habits that put them on.  The next ten weeks will be our family trying to make our way back to the energetic and vibrant life we started together.