I’ve gained 12 pounds since my husband’s return. Twelve pounds. That means that all of the hard work I put into diet and exercise to impress him lasted for all of that one welcome home night before the effects started to quickly disappear.
It doesn’t require much discipline to limit portion size when all of the food in your house is microwavable frozen dinners designed to keep you lean. It gets a little harder when your husband’s putting in requests for manicotti, tacos and steak dinners. I feel quite confident I like my cooking even more than he does. Cross-country road trips dotted with stops at fast-food joints along the way and gorging ourselves at multiple holiday meals while back home certainly didn’t help either.
Since New Year’s resolutions don’t seem to work for me — ever — our plan is the old-fashioned one. We’re eating healthfully and exercising daily. It sounds simple enough. Right now, we seem to be doing well. Of course, right now I’m on a break from classes and he’s still making the most of what’s left of his 30-day leave.
I heard a more experienced military spouse call this the honeymoon period recently and that seems very appropriate. It’s the strange stage after redeployment where everything is bliss just because he’s home.
Well, the honeymoon stage is coming to its close with the fast-approaching arrival of the realities of school and work. That means we’re back to “making time” for each other, along with cooking healthful meals and exercising.
I keep asking myself how people with children do this. Hats off to the military moms and dads out there who manage to stay fit and keep a healthy relationship, is all I can say.
Someday we’ll be worthy of hat removal, too, but in the meantime we’re focusing on one lifestyle improvement at a time.