Food Pushers and the Whole30

A little background:

I've always been one of the smaller-sized girls in my immediate social group. We have some farther away friends who are super fit and we meet up with them for hiking and skiing and the like, but don't see them everyday. In Albany, our circle of friends centers around music, television, drinking and social eating (there are some amazing cooks in our midst!).

But, despite all that, when I went paleo last year with Chris, everyone was MORE than understanding and always had paleo approved food for us at gatherings and didn't make a big deal about it. It was great. I did get some comments like "Soon I won't even be able to see you, you're so thin!" and such, but not a huge deal.

So I am about ten pounds thinner than that time last year. And I let all my friends know I am doing the Whole30 again - to just generally get the social eating/drinking under control AND to have a rocking body for my dress fitting.

I got a whole lot of teasing this time around, about the wedding dress diet and the like. It was pretty good-natured and I let it roll off my back easily. Some people, when they care about you, like to tease lightheartedly, and I get that.

BUT THE FOOD PUSHERS.

This happened on Tuesday, and I realized -- it really freaking bothers me!

I was surprised. One of my good friends (someone I like just about the best out of everyone I know!) had brought chocolate chip cookies dipped in chocolate - from a store, so not only unhealthy but full of who-knows-what. I obviously salivated a little when I saw them (I AM a former fat girl, duh). And my friend kept opening the container and putting it in front of me or under my nose, urging me to have just one.

All the usual comments:

"Just one won't hurt you."

"You are already thin enough!"

"You don't want to miss out, they're delicious!"

"You're beautiful the way you are, don't worry about a diet."

Urrrg. I did my best to tune it out. In fact, I had prepared to be tempted (and damn, was I ever tempted: pizza and cookies and chips!) and brought a raspberry tea with 1/4 cup of flax seed milk in a big travel mug and sipped on it all night. It was a little creamy and tart and lovely and kept me from diving into those cookies.

So I am responsible. I got this. BUT.. having people tease/tempt/mock your eating habits or your desire to be healthy/lose weight SUCKS.

There's no way around it, it sucks. And I know that people DO think I don't need to lose weight but they don't have to live in my body. They aren't me. I'm not being dangerous. And though I think there is a lot of trouble with the BMI chart, I use it to demonstrate that I am NO WHERE NEAR the underweight or unhealthy levels. My BMI is 21.6 and my goal BMI is 20.6. Normal weight is 18.5 - 24.9. I am just medically very healthy and losing 6 pounds isn't going to change that. Also, when I go to the doctor, they (much to my chagrin) put an "ideal body weight" under my actual weight, and that weight is always 120 lbs - which infuriated me when I was super healthy at 130 lbs, but that's for another day, haha. Point is, the doctor wouldn't find anything wrong with me weighing in at 120.

I want to eat this way. I want to stop eating pizza AFTER dinner. I want to stop downing 3 glasses of wine four to five nights a week. I want to stop putting chemicals in my body. I want to have my dream body. It's not up to anyone else to dislike me for that or actively try to derail my plans.

My advice to any of you out there when faced with food pushers: be nice and be firm. Tell them you DON'T eat that (not can't, but don't and won't) and that you don't need to be tempted like that. I try very hard when I go to a social event to not make it obvious what I don't/won't eat... but when someone notices and keeps urging you to eat it? You have to be firm in your beliefs.

Last night, I had another social win. I ate a SUPER awesome, healthy, paleo dinner (all ingredients straight from the farmer's market :D), went to a friend's house for TV night and did NOT eat the ice cream that was that night's treat - though I did eat the chopped pineapple that went on top (totally on plan!).

Anyway, here's my dinner:

Local, grass fed beef burger (tease me if you want, but I believe in eating local and chemical free :D)
Asparagus sauteed with lemon juice
Half an apple sauteed with cinnamon

Oh, the guacamole was homemade by me (and delish, if I do say so myself, haha) but not from the farmer's market.

Notice my super awesome wolf salt n pepper shakers??