It is Friday afternoon… You are at the office happy hour… Everyone is offering you greasy bar food and sugary alcoholic beverages but you already made a decision to enjoy your cheat meal with your hubby at a wedding tomorrow, so you think… oh, let me just explain my choice of cheat meals with my well-meaning, bar-food-pushing coworkers and they will understand and leave me alone about the junk.
In my experience, I have found that as soon as I start to explain why I don’t want to eat something, I should just go ahead and put it into my mouth because the rest of the conversation goes like this… “oh, it is just a little… one won’t hurt you… you gotta live a little… you are missing out…” Sound familiar?
That painful conversation can be avoided by a simple “no thanks”. The less time you spend explaining yourself, the less time that unhealthy food topic stays on your mind. Change the subject. Focus on something else. Where your attention goes, energy flows and there are so many positive directions you could spend your energy like talking about summer trips and future goals.
Sure, you could have had some without it totally derailing your progress but by designating Saturday as your “cheat/treats” with your hubby, family, and friends, you are avoiding the feelings that can accompany the unplanned cheats. When it is planned, you can enjoy every bite:).
I recommend just enjoying whatever you choose as your cheat. The texture, flavor, and company. If you have multiple engagements, enjoy your favorite things and skip the things you already know don’t really do it for you. Always eat prior to going to the function so you are not ravenous when you get there. Sticking with more “wholesome” meals is better than loading up on sugar. And remember to have fun!!!
As we all start to eat cleaner and cleaner, we “reset” our set points and tolerance for the unclean foods. Enjoy your treats when you have them and remember that we don’t lose all of the weight in one meal (or even one day for that matter). And we will not gain it all back in one meal either.
Being overly concerned about what we are eating doesn’t just ruin our experience, but it affects those around us when we feel guilty about it. If you choose to skip the treats, just skip them (no explanation required). If you choose to enjoy them, enjoy them (no guilt tolerated;-).
Having a hot body is no fun if we are afraid of losing it with one lick of an ice cream cone.
