Raising Maine

Sunday I took three of my daughters, their cousin and their cousin's niece (or if you prefer, first cousin-once removed) who is three. She was thrilled to be going to the "yesteraunt!" Like a lot of three-year-olds, the thrill had nothing to do with the food and everything to do with the experience.

In fact, the food held no interest to her whatsoever. She was happy to let my daughter, who is her nanny, select her meal with minimal input.

"Do you want chicken or macaroni?"

"Chicken!"

"...and milk to drink?"

"No! Apple juice!"

Turned out they didn't have apple juice so she got the milk. She also got chicken and fries and she didn't touch any of it. Instead she made friends with a little diner a year or so younger than she. He was mesmerized by her, she thought he was a fun diversion but was really having a good time talking to his mom and showing off her extraordinary vocabulary.

I, being the Weight Watchers woman I am, mused on her word, "yesteraunt." I thought it would be great if all people who were actively managing their weight adopted a "yesteraunt" mentality.

"Yes, I can eat out and support my weight related goals!"

"Yes I can order whatever I want."

"Yes I can exercise flexible restraint!"

"Yes I can stop when I'm satisfied, before I reach stuffed!"

The problem is too many people with weight struggles don't have a "yes" attitude. They have a deadly-to-weight-control combination of "no" and "victim" attitude. "No, I can't do this and whatever I do while I'm eating out isn't my fault." Those thoughts take away your responsibility for what happens.

I know that it felt good to give the responsibility away for how I behave. I did that for years before I realized that the good feeling I had while eating with abandon every time I ate out (because it wasn't my fault) barely lasted as long as it took me to finish my meal. By the time I got in the car too full of food and regrets I realized that mentally and physically I felt really bad!

I learned that I needed to think about how bad it felt to be a victim before I sat down in a restaurant. I learned that I needed to think about the steps I could take to avoid the bad feeling. I needed to think about what I wanted when I ate out and then finally, I needed a plan to make it happen. I didn't know the word then because I hadn't heard anybody call a restaurant a "yesteraunt" yet. Now, I have heard the word and it's perfect! Yesteraunt is a place where you go for a good time (YES!), a good meal (YES!), and leave feeling happy about your weight management! YES! YES! YES!

If you consider restaurants a hazard to your weight management, I encourage you to start calling them, "YESTERAUNTS! Changing your attitude will change your behaviors. Changing your behavior changes your results!