Okay, an advanced warning, I am definitely a hard a** when it comes to this issue so engage the grain of salt approach when reading
and this isn't aimed at any one person, just something that has been on my mind with all the new folks passing through.
I think we need to seriously look at our cheats and off plan choices. How often are they happening? There is always an excuse to eat something off plan - it's always a holiday (I worked in child care and trust me, there really is always a holiday!),an unplanned meal, a gathering that includes food, cookies in the office... If you need an excuse there will always be one. I don't think it's reasonable to say I will never eat another cookie, sushi, etc but I do think that long term success only comes from honestly evaluating what, when and why then making changes. I've seen so many people come through this Forum who find themselves frequently having a bite here, a piece of pie there because they
can't refuse. It is sadly easy to predict that many of them will disappear after awhile. You have to be ready to make serious changes for any weight loss program to work long term. If we could continue doing what we had always done and lose and maintain a loss we would all have done that already. On the other hand excessive guilt doesn't burn nearly enough calories to be worth it
So no, I don't think beating yourself up is any more helpful than making excuses.
If you want long term change you have to make long term changes. Eating something off plan once in awhile should really be once in a very long while, planned and adjusted for, and only something you know won't trigger you. Mine is my mother's homemade cookies at Christmas. I eat one of each variety that she makes from scratch. That way I get to try them and don't feel deprived but there is a guideline that keeps me from going off the range. I also never eat anything from a mix because a) it's not worth the calories and b) high fructose corn syrup will send me around the bend in a big way. And, honestly I did not eat anything off plan from 10/1 when I started until the end of May when we went on vacation. I needed that structure for that long to really get it set in my brain. My brain, sadly, still thinks it wants simple carbs sometimes so I need to stick to the framework pretty strictly.
I don't want to sound like I'm beating people up because that is not my intention. I also don't want to pat anyone, myself included, on the back for getting back on track every other day. As always YMMV (have to do that just for Jenn) but this is what has worked for me. The one time I didn't follow that rule the current 8 lb hip expansion showed up. I, like everyone else, constantly need to be reminded