Think Like a Skinny Chick

I don't even know how many times I've gone out to lunch with a group of women and found myself reading through the menu ... hmm ... smothered chicken sounds good .... double cheeseburger with steak fries, dear god, steak fries! Skip over the salad section .... oh, pasta ... hmmm, manicotti ... lasagna ... spaghetti and meatballs.  Done.  Spaghetti and meatballs it is.  

So the waitress comes over to take our order and of course starts with me.  She inevitably asks if I'd like the lunch portion or dinner portion and of course I choose the larger portion because I LOVE spaghetti and meatballs.  Pan to the other girls at the table as they place their orders ...

One girl's having a salad because she's going out that night and wants to save room.  (Ha! I laugh, what a joke, like there's ever not enough room!)  The next girl gets half a sandwich with a bowl of soup.  The next girl gets a burger but tomatoes instead of the fries.  The waitress never asked them if they wanted the lunch or dinner portion.  So, then the food gets delivered and BAM my heavy plate gets put in front of me and their dainty plates get put in front of them.

As weird as it sounds ... I have noticed this pattern.  Why is it that I skip over the salad and "healthy fare" and go straight to pastas, sauces, burgers and fries?  I don't know.  Maybe it's because I "think like a fat chick."

Now, again, I mean NO DISRESPECT ... you may not think like me, but this is my forum so I'm sharing my thoughts ... when I say "fat chick" or "skinny chick" I am simply being honest, not derogatory.

I do think like a fat chick ... I want pasta because I love it and it's a comfort food ... and I want a lot of it .. because in a nutshell, I like to eat.  And eat.  And eat.  I like the act of eating and the taste and the feeling.  Salads, vegetables, fruit dishes etc., just don't feel filling for me.

And, that's why I weighed 232lbs last December, have high blood pressure and sleep apnea.

I also feel like "thinking like a <name it>" is a state of mind.  I feel like I'm viewed as a "fat chick," I view myself that way and I wonder if that contributes.  Because if that's what I think is my reality, isn't it just so easy to stay in that reality?  I remember once I lost 42lbs - damn, did I look gooood.  And, I met this person who happened to be standing next to someone I hadn't seen in a long time.  They went ape over my loss.  And, the person was shocked and said, "You were heavy?  I never would have thought you were heavy."

What?

Boy, did that catch my attention.  Because even though I had lost weight, I still thought people viewed me that way and honestly, deep down, I still viewed myself that way even though I was in the best shape of my adult life.

So, doesn't it stand to reason that if I "think like a skinny chick" that I will start to see a difference in my diet?  That I will see a difference in my confidence level?  That I will feel a difference in how people view me?

I am such a slow work in progress ... but I've started letting my friends order first.  I want to see what these skinny things are going to put on their plate and I'm trying to order similarly.  It's a small step ... but is it?  If I can change my habit of going straight to pastas and burgers and fries ... and re-train my brain to look at smaller meals and lighter fare and plan (sorry, still laughing over this but seriously folks ...) my lunch so I can have room for dinner ... won't that eventually change my view point on food?  On myself? and even how people view me?

It's a thought ... and one I'm trying to keep in my head.  It's not easy ... one meal at a time Ladies ... I may even find I am still satisfied with my meal at the end of it all ...

Challenge of the Day
Go to lunch with a skinny chick and have her order her food. Pay attention to what she chooses.  Choose your meal similarly.  Start to try and make this a habit.  You can do it, you beautiful, beautiful, fellow fat chick!