An Unrelated Success

For the last few years I've been writing a novel. Well, this past week, I finished it (okay, the 7th draft) and sent it off to my readers! This is so exciting. It got me thinking though, about plot. Plot is what makes the story move. It's what the story IS.

I think this is what the weight loss "journey" (I hate that word) really looks like as well (though I should hope your chart would be going down, not up!). I'm hoping that with enough patience I can get through this just like I got through my book.

Celebration and Failure

Great news! I finished my novel. I didn't just finish a first draft, no, I have a completed, polished manuscript and sent it off to my beta readers. I was over the moon! Now I've always been food motivated (does that make me a dog?)

So I went out to celebrate and bought myself a chocolate malt. I bought the small, where as I'd normally by the large, but still. It was a pretty big cheat and set off cravings...so then I ordered pizza, because who cares? It was one day, and I had finished a project I'd been working on for three years! Again, I ate in moderation, only had one piece and two bread sticks. Normally I would've eaten half the bread sticks and half the pizza, so I consider this a small victory. The downside to only eating one piece? I ate the rest of the pizza over the next two days. Ugh.

I know all the tricks about rewards. Reward yourself with a new outfit, or new workout gear, or a pedicure. Yeah, whatever. That didn't work, obviously. Spend $3 on a shake and $7 on pizza and bread sticks, or a new outfit, workout gear, or a pedicure which tallies up to $20+. It's hard to decide justify that expense when you're on a budget. The $3 malt (or whatever small food token I would've picked otherwise) is so much less expensive and in that instant, with money tight, I can't justify shopping and pedicures.