Special Occasions
Did you look at your calendar yesterday?
I really was glad I took a look at mine. Kind of put things in perspective for me.
I did the math. I really took pen to paper and added it up. If I chose to indulge at every occasion, I would gain 5.47 pounds over the holidays.
I wasn’t lying. I really did the math. And I hate math and it hates me!!! But I like being this size, so I did what I had to do.
So…what it boils down to is this: how often are you going to choose to eat off plan and what constitutes a special occasion?
As a general rule, I eat off plan once a week. Notice I don’t call it cheating. It’s planned cheating, maybe, but not cheating. And it’s not a whole day off plan, it’s a meal off plan.
There are more than one of these occasions in several of the holiday weeks, so it’s not as simple as planning my weekly planned cheat around those days.
So…once I had it all before me, I had to choose. And so I thought, “What is a special occasion?”
Christmas in one for me.
Taking cupcakes to my son’s party at school is not.
Taking a group of foster kids out to dinner is a special occasion for me, and will be one of my meals off plan.
Eating lunch with my coworkers is not.
I marked six of those 25 things of mine as special occasions. And I will stick to that list.
And if you’re thinking I will enjoy my days less than the ones who choose to indulge, you would be wrong.
Because you would be surprised how little, if any, of my joy comes from food.
And those nineteen occasions I’m not going to eat off plan? I could easily give you nineteen reasons why being fit and healthy tastes better than any party food I’ve ever had.
My joy will come from watching my son and his friends have their party. I don’t need a cupcake to enjoy that.
And besides…my hot ISS friend Kevin would kick my booty if I had 25 cheats in two months! And I’ll kick yours if you do!
Got it?!
October 30, 2008 at 4:58 am
I have one planned cheat each week also but I don’t call it a cheat either I consider it my weekly reward for staying clean for the week. Great blog as always my friend.
October 30, 2008 at 5:26 am
And what is interesting is how my ‘planned cheats’ have changed. Mine include something like cheese and crackers, extra fruit, chocolate pudding (with protein powder) and whipped cream–and I am satisfied. Some of the other stuff I used to eat just isn’t good anymore and I don’t like to endure some of the physcal side effects.
October 30, 2008 at 5:47 am
That’s a great way to visualize how much the small lapses iun nutrition hurt in the long run. Thanks for the tip! Keep on rocking!