When I was a Silicon Valley big-shot, making my six figure salary and living through the dot com boom/bust era, I mistakenly assumed that as long as I worked hard at something I believed in, I’d be secure in my financial resources. Sure, other companies were fly-by-nights, but the outfit I worked for was venerable and respected.

And then I got laid off.

It was hard, in the beginning, to accept the fact that our household income had plummetted so precipitously. It didn’t seem possible that suddenly I was –much to my shame and chagrin—collecting unemployment. It was surreal. Except for the fact that the mortgage still had to be paid. That was very, very real.

Devin and I struggled for a very long time in these reduced circumstances. At one point, he sold his entire CD collection one-by-one just to make a little extra. I worked at a minimum wage stock room job for a while, and we stopped spending money frivolously. It was painful and unpleasant.

And yet, we survived. We kept our house, we stayed out of debt, and we even managed to go on vacation a few times … overseas! We made a lot of adjustments that I still feel (no dog walker, no housekeeper, no carwashes) but lots of other changes that I can’t even remember.

Now that we’re both back on our feet, our income is still considerably smaller than before, but somehow we don’t notice it so much. Other than the fact that I work two jobs, the fact that we have less cash isn’t really all that measurable in personal terms. We go out to eat, we have our extravagances (tennis lessons for Devin, expensive clothes for me), and we have a normal, happy life.

As I was talking to Richard over a (huge and delicious) salad last night, I was also thinking about the reduced FOOD circumstances that I’ve gone through as a result of the changes in my eating. Since I hit my goal weight at the same time I got laid off, there will always be some kind of connection in my mind between the two events. No more doggy daycare, no more maple oat scones!

For the most part, I eat the things I want to and I don’t feel deprived. There are many, many foods which I’ve slowly dropped off my list (pizza, oreos, donuts) and don’t really miss. There are a few others that tempt me from time to time (ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, scones) but that I have learned to handle through portion control.

It hasn’t been easy, and I don’t always succeed. In the beginning it was a huge adjustment to eat reasonable portions (4 oz. of meat!?) but over time I’ve learned eating strategies that leave me feeling satisfied and comfortable. Sometimes (like the past month or two) I’m not as good at reining things in as others. But most of the time I understand the impact of my caloric intake and I’m able to live happily within the confines of a reasonable diet.

And that leads to the most important reduced circumstance of all…. my smaller waist size!