There is No Such Thing as Cheating

You shouldn抰 get down on yourself about the way you eat. Too many of us obsess over it. How much? When? What? What about that party? How many fat grams, calories, carbs, etc. We need to stop this insanity and concentrate on one thing?There is no right way, there is no wrong way, we simply eat.

Some days you eat a little and it抯 all healthy and some days you eat a lot is it抯 not all healthy. The point is that you need to forgive yourself for the days you overeat. Allowing guilt to creep in will only make it worse. No matter how much you try, there will always be days that you overeat, or you eat something that you don抰 consider 搊n your diet? Don抰 beat yourself up over this. Food is flavors and sometimes you just need that flavor! Accept the fact that it will happen occasionally and be prepared. Unless you are superhuman, it is almost impossible to stay away from your high-calorie favorites forever. I would get depressed if I thought I could never again have my fill of fast food. That doesn抰 mean I have to eat it every day.

It抯 not our fault we enjoy good food. We were not raised grazing on grass in our front yards as children. We were raised on good food that got even better when we had family gatherings and celebrations. We associate abundant, rich, high-calorie foods with celebrations, good times, and good feelings. No wonder we link good feelings with good foods. If we try to completely eliminate high calorie foods from our diets we feel as if we are punishing ourselves. This negative feeling will do us more harm than good.

We have to learn to forgive ourselves. It seems that things we would forgive in others, we can抰 forgive in ourselves. Don抰 be hard on yourself because you feel you made a mistake by overeating. We all have a setback now and then. Learn to forgive and be patient. We are all human and we all make mistakes. That抯 what life is about. It抯 a learning experience. Enjoy the learning process. We get to start all over and improve a little bit more every single day.

It抯 a simple fact that one day of overindulgence will not do much harm. It won抰 even move the scale much. If you get back in control of your eating the following day then you have nothing to feel guilty about! It is important, though, to keep your overeating to one day instead of multiple days. One day can be remedied quickly. Multiple days of overeating can have more damaging effects to your weight loss goals. It is common knowledge that you can regain lost weight much more quickly than you lost it in the first place. That holds true for whichever method you used in order to lose the weight in the first place. If you lost it slowly or if you lost it quickly, you will regain it just as quickly if you go into multiple days of overeating.

The worst thing you can do after that one day of overindulgence is think, 揙h well, I blew it! I may as well give up. I抣l try it again next week, next month, next year.?Don抰 do this. If you blew it for the day then go ahead and enjoy that day but have a clear plan for what you are going to do the following day. Plan ahead! It is going to happen so make sure it doesn抰 sneak up on you without you having a plan for the following day!

I can抰 emphasize enough how important it is to have a plan. Something that you know you can fall back on after you lose control of your eating. Sometimes it抯 best to have a structured eating plan; one that you can easily go back to after that one day of overindulgence. My favorite plan and method of getting back in control of my eating is cookie dieting. You should have a plan of your own. If you know ahead of time what you are going to do after an extravagance then you will be prepared. Life is full of detours, obstacles and temptations so we need to remain flexible in order to maneuver.

Whatever the temptation, remember that it is not bad to overindulge occasionally. If it is planned, it could even be beneficial. Don抰 give up. Go back to your structured plan and eventually you will get to your goal!

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