Confections and Cliches

Happy Friday Eve readers!  In light of my students' final concert tonight, which involves lots of sugary treats during the dessert portion, I've decided to talk about sweet treats and some of what I've experienced as the most common (and at times super annoying) cliches when it comes to weight loss and fitness. 

First and foremost, I love sweets.  I have a major sweet tooth and I would be perfectly happy if every meal I ate from here on out involved ample amounts of dark chocolate.  With my choir program's dessert concert scheduled for this evening, there are currently 3 cheesecakes, 2 boxes of cream puffs, 2 trays of brownies, 2 cherry pies, and 2 giant trays of cookies in my kitchen....not to mention the 5 cakes and 4 bags of cookies currently hanging out in my office.  Torturous, right?  Actually, and rather surprisingly, so far I haven't been tempted by any of those tasty treats, and here's my theory on why.....

Weight loss cliche numero uno: Ask yourself if you really want to eat it, like really, REALLY have to eat it before you actually partake in whatever indulgence you find yourself faced with.  I've thought about this a lot this week and I've tried to put it into practice.  After unloading all that sugary goodness from my car yesterday I seriously asked myself, do I really want a cookie right now?  Am I going to have a nervous breakdown if I don't have a cookie?  And honestly the answer was no, I didn't really want a cookie...or brownie, or cream puff, etc. Often times I think we indulge simply because something is right in front of us and not because we're actually craving it, or even hungry for that matter.  For example, I've often found myself faced with this dilemma at birthday parties, complete with the usual birthday cake and ice cream.  After the candles have been blown out, people just start passing plates around and most of the time I just mindlessly accept one and start shoveling cake in my mouth.  Here's the thing though - I'm usually not hungry, sometimes I'm not really in the mood for cake, so why am I eating it?  Because it's there.  Because that's what you do at a birthday party.  So here's my challenge to myself and to anyone reading this - next time you're at a birthday party, or any social function, really ask yourself if you want to indulge in whatever food or drink is around BEFORE you start eating it.  Take a minute to do a check-in with yourself and ask, "Am I full?  Do I really want to eat/drink this right now?"  Once you have the answer, go from there. 

Which brings me to my next, and least favorite cliche - everything in moderation.  I've personally struggled with this one a lot in my life because I really didn't understand the meaning of moderation.  For example, if I really want to eat the whole package of Oreos, if I only eat half the package that's moderation right?  Um, no.  So how do you come to a compromise?  I know that if I say I'm NEVER going to eat another Oreo EVER again, I'll be fumbling around in the pantry at 10:30 at night trying to find the dang Oreos.  Here's how I started learning to use moderation, in the right way for me.

First, I look at the serving size.  If a serving size on a package of cookies is 2 cookies, I eat that serving.  Then I know I just consumed 150 calories, had a tasty treat, and I don't feel guilt ridden and fat from eating a dozen cookies.  I also enjoy my food, eat it slowly, and savor the taste of whatever I'm indulging in.  That way I truly enjoy it, and again, I don't feel guilty about it.  That's actually the final section to that equation for me - guilt.  I know darn well that I will feel terrible, physically, emotionally, and mentally if I binge out all crazy on something.  Making those correlations will help you avoid binging and feeling awful about it later.  So next time you're craving a treat, look at the serving size and decide your moderation from there. 

With those two tips in mind, I hope this helps you, and me, eat a little smarter from now on.  I'll be back soon with more ideas (and a few more of the most comically irritating weight loss tips I've ever encountered), and a few recipes for your Memorial Day barbeques.  As always, please feel free to share, discuss, and comment!  Happy, healthy, eating!

<3 Ida