Saga of the Green M&M

Several years ago I worked in a cubicle farm.  (You know, one of those places where someone yelled "Doughnuts!"and a bunch of heads pop up over the wall like a game of Whack-A-Mole.)  We were being moved from one area to another so we had to box up our stuff in preparation for the movers.  The cubes weren't very large so you stuffed your stuff wherever you could find an empty spot.  My spot of choice was under my desk.  I had cleared most of the miscellaneous junk out from under my desk and had to crawl under to get the last bits.  So there I am on my hands and knees under the desk when I see IT in the dark recesses of the back corner.  IT was a green M&M.

It was smooth.  It's surface uncracked.  Lying there with the little M&M stamp staring up at me smugly.  How long had it been there?  I love M&Ms so it easily could have been mine.  I'd been in that cube for several years, but it's possible it was there when I moved in.  It has a hard candy shell so you know it's sanitary.  Hmmm...

Now you have to understand what was going on at that point in my weight loss career.  I had just completed my Weight Watchers leader training after reaching my lifetime goal.  So why am I obsessed by this little green critter?  Food obsession to the MAX.  Did I eat it?  I don't think so, but I honestly don't remember, but that started a thought process of why that stopped me dead in my tracks.  I began to analyze the real reason that I wanted it and discovered it wasn't because of the candy, but because of my underlying emotions.  That's when I learned to deal with them by working through them instead of a one pound bag of M&Ms.

Moral of the story:  We all have our own version of the little green M&M.  I have more recent versions, but I know now that I know how to deal with it, I just think back to this and laugh.

The Pudgy Penguin begins!!

What on earth is The Pudgy Penguin? It's what I've created in the hopes it will help me to hold myself accountable during the long trek to return to my ideal weight and to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. I know how to do this stuff. You know the "talk the talk, walk the walk"? Well, this Penguin can talk, but at times has had more of a waddle than a walk.

I'm 51 years old (yeah, old enough to know better), have tried diets of Atkins, South Beach, Alli, Weight Watchers and various versions of my own making. To add insult to injury, I was a WW leader 20 years ago. So I know the drill, butI don't do well living it. I discovered WW online last year.  Using it in conjunction with joining a gym I lost 35 pounds (with a goal of losing 70) and felt better than I had in years.  Then life got in the way and I fell off the wagon. I not only fell off of it, but have tracks from where it ran over me. And regained most of the 35 pounds in the process.

Fast forward one year. I've finally had my first ever physical and everything is text book perfect... except my weight. Mom and both Grandmas had Type II diabetes so why am I stuffing my face and waiting for the bomb to drop? WAKE UP CALL!

So in late May I dusted off my online WW membership,stocked the fridge and pantry with good eats and waddled forward. To date I've lost 14.2 pounds. It's a long way to a 70 pound loss from here,but I know it's the only way I'll get there. Placing one little flipper in front of the other.