Oh why oh why did he have to....

1:30 p.m. and I knew it was going to be the toughest day of my 28 days on MFP. I blew through over half my daily calories before 10 a.m. because I knew I was going to be pounding away on the computer on an important project most of the day. I calculated what I had left and how much I'd need for dinner. "I can do two slices of cheese pizza with some white meat chicken on 'em for extra protein, and a side salad with viniagrette on the side (for dipping my fork into just to get the flavor)." While I waited for the food to come out, I grabbed two glasses for water and drank them both. My thinking was that the water would take up some of the space that the pizza would, and the salad would too. With luck, I might not even feel like eating all of the pizza because I was too full from the water and salad.

Well, the road to H-E-Double-Toothpicks is paved with good intentions. And apparently, it is also paved with big crusty hunks of crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, buttery, savory, salty garlic bread. I say this because the server put my salad on the table (which I was ready for), but also, a big complimentary basket of garlic bread too (which I was definitely not ready for). Me around good garlic bread is like Bill Clinton around female interns.... Chris Christie around a double bacon cheeseburger... the president of Chick-fil-a around controversy. There's very little that will keep us apart. So as I'm eating my salad (and merely dipping the fork into the dressing just to get a smidgy of the flavor), the basket of garlic bread sat on the table mocking me. My fingers dropped to my smartphone, quickly entering "garlic bread" into the MFP database. Faster than gasoline prices are rising, I realized that there was no way in heck I could afford (calorie or fat wise) that garlic bread. In order to do so, I would have had to "massage" my numbers worse than a crooked accountant. Just then, right before I logged out of MFP, I did one other thing that saved me.

I noticed MeganMason9's comment to me that I have a great attitude. I saw SusieSonshine's remark that "Moment by moment, day by day, we'll reach our goal!!" I read Lornaloo3's comment that I'm "always so inspiring." And I read Nleon4's statement that I inspire her daily. All of these were from earlier today. And two things happened.

First, I cried. Real, big, full, salty tears of joy and gratitude. I have never felt so supported in my effort to lose weight and gain health as I have over the past few weeks on here. I knew right away that there was no way I was going to let any of you who have been so positive and supportive down by ending today with a Red Number. Eating wise, a few hours ago, I was standing on the edge of a very steep cliff, and you good people gently pulled me back from the precipice and gave me a big, loving, digital group hug. And you didn't even know you did until now. Never let anyone tell you that caring words of support don't matter. They DO.

After I dried my eyes, I looked around the restaurant and found a "pizza only" table that didn't have garlic bread. I explained my plight and asked them to PLEASE take it off my hands. They did, gratefully. But I was even more grateful than they were. So now it's 4:30 pm, and I have 347 calories to play with (around 800 if I walk briskly tonight). And thanks to all of you, I KNOW I'm going to see 11:59 p.m. tonite with GREEN numbers showing. They might be single or double digits, but dammit, they're going to be GREEN.

Huggs to all of you!

Scott R. in Houston, Tx.