Day 220 - Snacks

Although I have been able to eat less and exercise more, finding weight loss success, my snacky tendencies are still there. If there is something in the house, whether it's chocolate, or something sweet, I will eat it. Recently, with such snacks in the house, I haven't eaten as much as I typically would, and I think the exercise is able to compensate what I do eat, but I tend to eat more than I would prefer of these treats. This sets up a mental battle that causes conflict and with this conflict, I am setting myself up for a relapse. When we eat more than we plan, we feel guilt, plain and simple. Who is ever happy with themselves when they eat more than they want? When in this state, it's easy to fall off the wagon and just think, "Well, I blew it today, let's go crazy and do better tomorrow." This is the first step to weight gain. I know, I gained 40 pounds once with that mentality.

For me, I understand that no matter how well I am doing, if favorite snacks are in the house, I am going to eat them. The solution? Don't have it in the house. Period. Why torture yourself?

There are times where you can't avoid it. Accept this, and at those times, do your best and understand that a little over doing it, isn't going to hurt you. Exercise more. Drink more water. Do the things that you know help off set it. I found that when I workout at night, afterwards, I am just not snacky. So a game plan for me is that when there is something in the house that might cause me trouble, I need to work out after dinner ASAP. The sooner I work out, the less likely I will be indulging. Evenings are when I don't have much restraint, so I need to be careful and do the things that help me stay in control. The most important thing to remember, if I do consume more than I planned, forgive and move on. It's easy to compensate for a day that had a slip, it's when the slip turns into a week of slips that I will find the weight coming back on.