Did I just not realize it?

*google image*

Since my husband was working last week on my actual birthday, we went out to dinner tonight with the kids for a belated celebration. We headed to a local steak house and I ordered a sirlion with grilled shrimp. It was really good and knowing I worked out (hard) today, I didn't feel guilty about eating it. Afterwards, we headed to a local creamery for some scrumptious locally made ice cream. YUM! I ordered a molten lava cake and a scoop of vanilla. I only ate half because I was so stuffed I thought I was going to throw up.

After getting home and changing into elastic "comfy" pants I nearly passed out on the living room floor while playing Go Fish with the family before bed time. I could hardly keep my eyes open. I recognized it was because my body was working so diligently to digest all of the food I just stuffed into my tummy. It was awful. I don't like feeling like that. My body isn't used to all of that heavy food, all at one time. (a small amount of raw green smoothie helped get that brick feeling out of my stomach, btw).

Looking back, I relized there was a time, not so long ago, when I would have eaten the entire plate of steak and shrimp and still eaten the entire lava cake and ice cream. Even though I would have been uncomfortable, I simply couldn't leave food on the table. I didn't know how.

I didn't even think twice about it tonight and I consider this a (not so) small victory. But then another thought occurred to me ~ have I lived the better part of my adult life feeling like shit pretty much all of the time? Did I not even realize how horribly I felt? Sadly, I think the answer is yes.

How many people walk around feeling bloated, stuffed and uncomfortable and not even realize it? How many peole out there know this feeling only as "normal"?

I know this will probably not the be the last time in my life that I overeat, but I'm grateful that I now have a new normal and that feeling like this is the exception as opposed to the rule.

P.S. I'm pretty sure the scale will not say 213 point anything in the morning. But I also know that it's not fat I gained, but water from so much sodium. I'll be stepping up the workouts for the rest of the week to balance this out. Balance. Life is all about balance.