Day 8: Splurge Strategically Part 1 | 30-Day Weight Loss-athon
Time for Day 8 of the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon. If you go crazy trying to deny yourself food that diet boot-campers forbid, then today’s 10 minutes could restore your sanity.
Read the steps first, then take 10 minutes to think about them and take action.Ready?
What You Need:
- Your sanity, right?
Step 1
First, before anyone starts planning a lifetime of lettuce and lima beans, let’s take a reality check about what’s forever forbidden.
I adore chocolate and a lot of what’s considered junk food – burgers, fries, pizza, chips, and cookies. People are always asking me how I can eat that stuff yet stay slim. The answer is: I splurge strategically.
Splurging strategically helps me to stay slim and – just as important for a chocoholic – it helps me to stay sane.
But there are two keys to splurging strategically – knowing what to eat sometimes, which we’ll tackle today, and knowing what to eat pretty much never, which we’ll deal with tomorrow.
Step 2
With all things ‘naughty’ or calorific, there’s only one solution to staying slim and staying sane: If you love it, eat it sometimes.
- If you eat it all the time, then you’ll get fat. It’s cause and effect: cruel, but unavoidable.
- If you don’t let yourself eat it at all, then you’ll go berserk – and eventually binge. Then you’ll be crazy and fat. Oopsie.
By letting yourself strategically enjoy the foods you love, you avoid feeling deprived, which stops you sabotaging your own weight-loss efforts.
The big proviso here is the word strategically. You can’t make treats a habit – they need to come out only when you want to satisfy a strong desire.
Maybe you’re one of those fabled individuals who’ve mastered emotional eating. (Note: 52 Weight Loss Missions customers, we deal with this tricky topic in Mission 43: Address Emotional Eating – Part 1 and Address Emotional Eating – Part 2). Well then, yay for you.
But for the rest of us, a little chocolate, cake or ice cream when you’ve had a crummy day is not the worst thing in the world, and can be an effective way to release the pressure valve now and then.
In the same way, something delicious and calorific when you really crave it can be pretty cool.
I’ll say it another way so there’s no misunderstanding: you cannot have these treats as a standard, habitual part of your diet: have them only when you really feel like them.
So make the decision that when it comes to high-calorie treats, you’ll eat only the foods you love, and only when you really feel like them. And when you do, thoroughly enjoy them.
Step 3
Okay, so we’ve agreed that it’s okay to have the things you really love when you really feel like them.
To help you avoid them the rest of the time, we need this final step.
Whatever treats you decide you want to have in your house, don’t have them in plain view.
Keep them out of the pantry or any place where you may accidentally come across them. Put them in a box or bag (not a clear one) and store them in a cupboard you don’t use. They’ll be there when you really feel like them, but they won’t pop out and tempt youwhen you weren’t even thinking about them.
And if you like, pop a post-it on there that says something like,
‘I can have this if I really want it. Do I really want it?’
Step 4
But wait, there’s more. The splurge strategically concept has two parts to it – so please be sure to check back for tomorrow’s action.
Check in!
And you’re done! Be sure to leave your comment below to check in and stay accountable.
If you’re reading this by email or in a reader then please click here to leave your comment. See you tomorrow!
I used to be a junk food aholic. I was always eating things like chips and brownies, cake and candy. I still enjoy those things but I have learned to reduce the amount of them that I eat. Single serve packs are a blessing. It’s just enough to curb the sweet tooth with out undoing my whole day. In the past I would go on fad diets, go crazy, and cut all sugar out. Guess what happened? Well I would juat end up failing miserably because I would then let the pressure build up until I would break down and go get a tub of Ben and Jerry’s. One thing I love about the warmer weather and summer is all of the sweet fresh fruit… Watermelon, cantelope, and Honey Dew melon… and those are just sweet enough to curb my craving for something sweet.
I used to be a junk food aholic. I was always eating things like chips and brownies, cake and candy. I still enjoy those things but I have learned to reduce the amount of them that I eat. Single serve packs are a blessing. It’s just enough to curb the sweet tooth with out undoing my whole day. In the past I would go on fad diets, go crazy, and cut all sugar out. Guess what happened? Well I would juat end up failing miserably because I would then let the pressure build up until I would break down and go get a tub of Ben and Jerry’s. One thing I love about the warmer weather and summer is all of the sweet fresh fruit… Watermelon, cantelope, and Honey Dew melon… and those are just sweet enough to curb my craving for something sweet.
I can’t wait to cover the emotional eating subject. I am pretty good most of the time. I usually save myself up and if I go out for a coffee with my friends I will let myself enjoy a cake or something sweet. I agree that if you try to not have anything sweet or that you like all the time it just makes you feel deprived and then you end up binge eating and then hating yourself. I also sometimes get in the mindset that I have broken my diet now so I may as well just keep eating the crap foods every day. But now that I have written down my real motivators I just keep telling myself “flat stomach” and I usually don’t want to eat it. I have eaten a little chocolate today for Easter but I shall keep the rest and only eat it sparingly. I am enjoying reading these daily reminders to keep us all on track. Thank you.
I can’t wait to cover the emotional eating subject. I am pretty good most of the time. I usually save myself up and if I go out for a coffee with my friends I will let myself enjoy a cake or something sweet. I agree that if you try to not have anything sweet or that you like all the time it just makes you feel deprived and then you end up binge eating and then hating yourself. I also sometimes get in the mindset that I have broken my diet now so I may as well just keep eating the crap foods every day. But now that I have written down my real motivators I just keep telling myself “flat stomach” and I usually don’t want to eat it. I have eaten a little chocolate today for Easter but I shall keep the rest and only eat it sparingly. I am enjoying reading these daily reminders to keep us all on track. Thank you.
Thanks! Good points. The only way I can keep chocolate in the house, even hidden, is to buy the darkest chocolate I can stand. My kids have a pyschic radar that points out all hidden junk food so they’ll find it and eat it, but they hate dark chocolate. LOL.
I’m doing well on the challenge. I’ve done each thing you asked. I went to the gym four times, I think, last week. Logged my exercise onto Sparkpeople, though I didn’t do my food. And I sarted hanging out some laundry each day–which means hauling it up two flights of stairs, through the house, out and down the deck steps. A basket of wet jeans is really heavy. 🙂 Thanks for your help and motivation. I need all I can get.
Thanks! Good points. The only way I can keep chocolate in the house, even hidden, is to buy the darkest chocolate I can stand. My kids have a pyschic radar that points out all hidden junk food so they’ll find it and eat it, but they hate dark chocolate. LOL.
I’m doing well on the challenge. I’ve done each thing you asked. I went to the gym four times, I think, last week. Logged my exercise onto Sparkpeople, though I didn’t do my food. And I sarted hanging out some laundry each day–which means hauling it up two flights of stairs, through the house, out and down the deck steps. A basket of wet jeans is really heavy. 🙂 Thanks for your help and motivation. I need all I can get.
Well I kind of started this last night. Before Passover dinner, I was going to go for my walk and then eat even better than the night before – then my fifteen year old daughter passed out as she was walking down the hallway in our home. Four hours and an emergency room visit later – she’s ok(she’s had a bug all week, low postassium, and being dehydrated was the cause), but I’m famished and the eating super healthy in tiny portions all day was now backfiring. I hadn’t eaten dinner and I was filling Easter Baskets. I splurged, but this diet/jounaling/small steps thing must really be working because I ate a couple of cadbury eggs and some jelly beans, a horrible dinner – but fantastic portion control considering on any other Easter without the stress of a hospital visit I would have easily eaten an entire bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs with that without thinking twice. I bite it, I write it. Today, I will continue that and count my calories no matter what the number is at the end of the day and somehow I will fit in that walk I never got yesterday.
Well I kind of started this last night. Before Passover dinner, I was going to go for my walk and then eat even better than the night before – then my fifteen year old daughter passed out as she was walking down the hallway in our home. Four hours and an emergency room visit later – she’s ok(she’s had a bug all week, low postassium, and being dehydrated was the cause), but I’m famished and the eating super healthy in tiny portions all day was now backfiring. I hadn’t eaten dinner and I was filling Easter Baskets. I splurged, but this diet/jounaling/small steps thing must really be working because I ate a couple of cadbury eggs and some jelly beans, a horrible dinner – but fantastic portion control considering on any other Easter without the stress of a hospital visit I would have easily eaten an entire bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs with that without thinking twice. I bite it, I write it. Today, I will continue that and count my calories no matter what the number is at the end of the day and somehow I will fit in that walk I never got yesterday.
Well I kind of started this last night. Before Passover dinner, I was going to go for my walk and then eat even better than the night before – then my fifteen year old daughter passed out as she was walking down the hallway in our home. Four hours and an emergency room visit later – she’s ok(she’s had a bug all week, low postassium, and being dehydrated was the cause), but I’m famished and the eating super healthy in tiny portions all day was now backfiring. I hadn’t eaten dinner and I was filling Easter Baskets. I splurged, but this diet/jounaling/small steps thing must really be working because I ate a couple of cadbury eggs and some jelly beans, a horrible dinner – but fantastic portion control considering on any other Easter without the stress of a hospital visit I would have easily eaten an entire bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs with that without thinking twice. I bite it, I write it. Today, I will continue that and count my calories no matter what the number is at the end of the day and somehow I will fit in that walk I never got yesterday.
I needed this today.
My problem is that even if treats are hidden well away, I KNOW they are there, and I can’t help myself, so I just can’t have them in the house. Its impossible for me to forget they exist. lol I just buy something when I want a treat. 🙂
My problem is that even if treats are hidden well away, I KNOW they are there, and I can’t help myself, so I just can’t have them in the house. Its impossible for me to forget they exist. lol I just buy something when I want a treat. 🙂
My problem is that even if treats are hidden well away, I KNOW they are there, and I can’t help myself, so I just can’t have them in the house. Its impossible for me to forget they exist. lol I just buy something when I want a treat. 🙂
Sweets… *sigh* I gotta get out of the mindset that desserts are a daily thing..
Sweets… *sigh* I gotta get out of the mindset that desserts are a daily thing..
What a great idea. yes I think I have chocolate at least once a day. I am definitely going to give this a go.
am pretty pleased with myself though we walked down to the park today and played ball with my son.
What a great idea. yes I think I have chocolate at least once a day. I am definitely going to give this a go.
am pretty pleased with myself though we walked down to the park today and played ball with my son.
I was not a big planner before and when I felt like having cake, I went all the way. But since I started really to get into exercising and counting my calories about 55 days ago, I am more careful. I love sweets so I still keep a place in my calorie count for a small sweet almost every day. Like now with Easter, I just love those Laura Secord eggs or the Cadbury eggs:) So my daughter bought be about 20 small Laura Secord eggs for Easter and I eat just one a day and it’s 80 calories. If I want cake on a special occasion, then I will work a bit harder on my cardio about 30 minutes more to afford a small piece of birthday cake.
I have 9 birthdays (including mother’s day and father’s day) coming up starting may 13 up until june 20th, so I will spend more time in the gym and be even wiser in my choice of meals:)
I was not a big planner before and when I felt like having cake, I went all the way. But since I started really to get into exercising and counting my calories about 55 days ago, I am more careful. I love sweets so I still keep a place in my calorie count for a small sweet almost every day. Like now with Easter, I just love those Laura Secord eggs or the Cadbury eggs:) So my daughter bought be about 20 small Laura Secord eggs for Easter and I eat just one a day and it’s 80 calories. If I want cake on a special occasion, then I will work a bit harder on my cardio about 30 minutes more to afford a small piece of birthday cake.
I have 9 birthdays (including mother’s day and father’s day) coming up starting may 13 up until june 20th, so I will spend more time in the gym and be even wiser in my choice of meals:)
I love the idea of strategic splurging. I know I wouldn’t be able to stay on any plan if I couldn’t have a cookie every now and then. I can’t wait to see the second part tomorrow.
Update I’ve been amazed at how much pre scheduling my workouts has motivated me. If it’s down in my calendar it gets done!