We have this local donut shop that makes these huge amazing glazed donuts. My sweet friend brought a dozen over as a gift today. So I ate two. Then another friend brought those little ice cream cups over to say how sweet we are. I’m on #3 of those. I was doing so well this week on the treadmill and doing my yoga stuff. And I see it circling the drain!!!!!
Ok I'm going to go on a diatribe here because this was my biggest hurdle too.
One of the hardest parts for me was learning to get used to not having the thing. There's a thing and I like the thing and I would like to eat all of it but I can't because I'm on this stupid diet and I hate it and I want to quit.
Then I'd successfully avoid having the thing, temptation is over, and I'm in the clear. For a while. But half an hour later, I'm thinking of that thing again and how I don't get to have it. And eventually I will crack because I never really addressed the problem. I still want the thing and I'm still denying myself and I don't really want to and even if my willpower wins out 99 percent of the time, if I find myself thinking about that thing a hundred times a day then I'm going to eat it.
What works for me, and a huge part of the way I gamify weight loss for myself, is to plan on having the thing later. The second that donut is in my house I know I'm eating the thing so I'm not going to help anyone by lying to myself about it. It's 400 calories, I've eaten 600 calories so far... I can do that and still have something ok for dinner while staying under 1500 for the day.
By being positive about it, I'm excited about eating the thing later, not worried about whether I'm going to blow my diet later. It's a huge change in the way I see it. There's zero guilt.
But what happens if I can't plan for it? My wife decides to get takeout and we get my favorite thing and it's like 1000 calories? Well, one thing is I could just eat half and save half for tomorrow. And that's probably the best answer anyways, but it sucks. Another answer is to do some exercise and hope to burn off all those extra calories I didn't expect to eat.
But the best answer for me was to recognize that those things happen and they're not isolated incidents. There's nothing unexpected about being tempted to eat too much at night. That's when I'm always tempted to eat too much. Instead of saying, if only I knew I was going to be tempted later, I assume I'm going to be tempted, and start my day with that in mind.
I have coffee, 4tbsp milk and 4tbsp international delights creamer for breakfast. That's it. I used to eat something with it, but I don't really need it. Lunch is a big risk for me though, because I'm usually making chicken nuggets or pizza or something for my kid and I just want one little nugget maybe two or ten. So I changed my plan, and when I make his lunch, I make myself a yogurt with berries. If I cheat and steal one if his nuggets, I log it and I don't lie to myself, so I'm not likely to overeat nuggets because I know it will suck later if I do. At 55 calories per nugget, sometimes I eat one or two anyways.
The important thing though is that I've still only had about 500 calories between coffee and "second breakfast". I have 1500 per day, not counting exercise, so I'm still sitting on around 1000 calories for lunch and dinner, and I've already had some high protein yogurt and high fiber berries (raspberries are awesome for fiber). So if someone comes by with donuts... or takeout... or I just go ape #### on the nuggets.... I'm still ok.
Instead of getting blindsided by surprise donuts, I assume there will be surprise donuts and if nobody gives me surprise donuts then I'll have something fun for dinner myself. Tonight, that's a couple glasses of pinot noir because I wasn't quite ready to quit drinking when I decided to get back to the diet. But it was almost a cheeseburger - instead of grilled chicken and vegetables - and probably will be tomorrow.
Having some healthy foods in my daily routine makes a huge difference. Pretty much every day I'll have skyr/Greek yogurt, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, and a huge bowl of broccoli and maybe cauliflower and carrots, or an egg sandwich on a high fiber Thomas's light multi grain english muffin. I drank wine tonight but still hit my protein and fiber goals easily because I start my day with enough protein and fiber to get me half way there.
It's not easy, but I can build my day around rewarding myself with foods I love instead of denying them, and deal with the unexpected temptations without missing my calorie goal for the day or sacrificing my protein and fiber and other nutrients. And that is so important to me because it doesn't really matter what I do on any given Wednesday, so much as it matters what I do over the course of several weeks or months. If I can stay under calories every single day and still have some of the things I want... I can do this for months on end.