I tend to reward myself with food. When I got a recent promotion I wanted to go out and eat. I did but I realized i wanted to do mroe. I wanted skin care products so that was my true reward.
When my son is good we take him to blockbuster or to a movie. Lately he has been working out with me and he loves it! I've been teaching him about serving sizes on chips and cookies and believe it or not he is reading before he is eating. this makes me happy because at least I know he is learning while i am too. He used to sit down with a bag and just eat and eat and eat.
Now he is thinking and that is something I was never taught to do. He is not overweight and I don't have him on a diet. In fact he said he was gonna lose weight and I said someone your age shouldn't lose weight by diet and said he is young enough that he can just learn better habits.

what a great thing to teach your son goalnorolls! i am trying to encourage my daughter to watch her serving just to be AWARE of what she is putting in her mouth. shes a perfect size 8 so she is the right size but i know how easy it is to wake up one day and say "what the heck happened to my waistline?!" My mom taught me to cure a bad day with a sugar cookie. that didnt get me very far. we all have a responsibility to our kids to teach them what we have learned. sounds to me like alot of us are off to a good start!

Well, what can I say, who doesn't blow it from time to time. Dieting is not that easy because its a big change and its everyday. What my skinny girlfriends usually do when they over indulge one day, is cut back the next. That's how they keep their weight stable. They never seem to feel guilty about it either.

"I was just a little upset at myself because I didn't think twice about it."

You may not have at the time. But you did later. That's probably a change in your thinking right there. You posted it here. That in itself is a triumph!!

I know I went through the same sort of change in my thinking. And next time, you'll probably think about it sooner, maybe even before you order. It's all part of the process.

I've found that if things are part of my family's life, like going out for ice cream, then I need to accept that. That's just the way it is, and I have to deal. So I try to think ahead of time about strategies for dealing with those inevitable times.

We go out to ice cream. What are my options?

Get nothing, or just a diet soda, and feel completely deprived. (not a very good option, in my eyes. Sometimes I really only want a soda, like at the movies, but sometimes, damn it, I WANT ICE CREAM, TOO)

Get a small cone or sundae and share with Gem. (It works right now because she's so small, but that probably won't be an option in a couple of years). This satisfies my sweet tooth with much less than I usually would get.

Get a lowfat option -- like frozen yogurt, sherbet, or sorbet, instead of full-fat ice cream. That way I get the sweetness without feeling too deprived.

Get a small version of what I'd normally get. When I really just want full-fat, luscious chocolate ice cream, I get a small, one-scoop of whatever my favorite flavor is. And then I eat it slowly and savor every mouthful. This is the option I usually go for.

Get my regular thing and only eat part of it. when we go to Dairy Queen I LOVe their pecan mudslide. It doesn't come in small. So I get it and only eat half of it. Again, I try to eat slowly and savor it. Otherwise I go into "vacuum mode" and it disappears all too quickly without me realizing it, or even really tasting it.

Get my regular thing and enjoy it. No guilt and move on. I sometimes save up calories or declare the day my "treat day" where I don't have to limit what I eat (although I do still count up the calories and put it in Fitday). The good part of doing that is that I can splurge, and enjoy it, and KNOW that it's still part of my plan and not become so discouraged that I eat ice cream every nght that week.

It's much better to eat in triumph and enjoy it, to own the choices you make and savor each mouthful, knowing it will be a once in a while thing, rather than to eat in despair, furtively, guiltily, and have it taste like ashes in your mouth and lead to bingeing from guilt afterward.