Cheating

You've done great eating healthy stuff all day. You brought to work with you exactly what you should eat, didn't deviate from it at all. Then, on the way home you get an intense craving for a Snickers. Then the internal fight starts. Should you get one? Is it worth it? Do I really want it?

I've read a lot of weight loss blogs that pretty much tell you to abstain from any type of trigger food. Well, I'll be the first to tell you not to. If you do, the next thing you know you're eating an entire bag of Mini Snickers, putting you further back from your goal than you intended.

There are people that recommend having a cheat DAY. As in eat great and healthy, watch what you eat (really watch it, not just watching it as it goes in your mouth) then, take a day and bomb it. I don't recommend doing that either.

There is a happy medium.

I don't believe in denying yourself something you want. If you do, the craving becomes so intense that you will inevitably get it and probably eat too much of it. I don't believe in having a day that you can eat freely (like a goat in an overgrown pasture). I believe that you should be able to eat ONE thing during the week that deviates from your meal plans. Whether that be a Snickers, ordering the cheese enchiladas instead of the grilled chicken fajitas, or ordering french fries with your veggie burger instead of getting a side salad.

Your body becomes used to the number of calories you consume each day. If you are repeatedly eating exactly the same thing or a small variation of it equating to the same calories, your body will find a way to effectively burn it- meaning you hit the plateau that no one likes. So if you're eating healthy and working out day after day and you're not seeing a difference... Eat ONE thing that you're craving off your diet plan. Get that ice cream cone. Eat that piece of candy. Order the milkshake. Just one thing. It will jolt your metabolism into thinking again. I used this analogy when I was explaining this to a client the other day. If I filled my gas tank up every time when I got to E, my car would run the same way. But, what happened if I filled it up at 3/4 of a tank. Or, 1/2 of a tank? In theory, the car would be surprised thinking that it still had so many more gallons left before the next fill up, what the hell is this?

I will go for a few days and will eat completely healthy, avoid dessert (no, really I do...as hard as it is to believe) and exercise. Then, just randomly will eat something outside my comfort zone- say a donut for breakfast if someone brings them to the office or a few cookies. I don't go into a cookie coma or anything, but I also don't deny myself.

For anyone that has lost weight themselves by working hard and making the right food choices, they can tell you they still did have bad food in their house. For example, I have a candy dish on my coffee table. Right now, its filled with spice drops. You know, those delicious sugar coated gum drops. High fructose corn syrup be damned, I still like them. Now, if I didn't buy them and put them on the coffee table, the next time I bought them I don't know how much self control I would have. But, since I have them, accessible to me at any time... I don't want them as much as you'd think. Maybe its reverse psychology on yourself. If its there, you don't want it as much as if you didn't have it where you could focus on your want for it. Make sense?

So, those cravings you have for something bad just might be the puzzle piece helping you get to your goal. There is a difference between having one cookie and 74 of them. Remember that. There's nothing wrong with one cookie now and then. But, having 74 cookies now AND then... there is a problem. Capice?