Reading some recent posts I was reminded of an incident that happened with a friend some years ago. Three of us were going out for Suzi's birthday celebration. Suzi announced that she had gained 10 pounds over the holidays, but this was the year she was taking them off...along with the other 50 or so she had gained over the years. "Tonight is my birthday, so even though I'm watching it I'm going to let myself enjoy the evening." (Over the course of dinner she mentioned that the previous two nights had also been celebrations, and that another was planned for the weekend.)
She started with a lovely salad...with a large serving of creamy ranch dressing. For dinner she ordered shrimp dijong. For those of you who may not be familiar, this is shrimp made with a very heavy garlic/butter/breadcrumb sauce. Absolutely delicious...but generally served with more sauce than shrimp. A potato with butter and sour cream finished the main course.
For dessert the server brought a complimentary piece of apple pie a la mode...generously a la mode. Suzie polished it off with pleasure. At the end of the meal she pushed away her plate and said with satisfaction "That wasn't too bad, I had salad and seafood, and for dessert I stuck to fruit."
Reading some of the posts recently I was reminded about that episode and thought about how often we kid ourselves about what we actually put in our mouth. That night was an epiphany for me...not that it changed my eating, but I stopped kidding myself about how much food I was really taking in.
I told this story to a friend, and she said, "She was kidding, right? She meant it as a joke?"
But I guess she didn't!
Yep, people do think like that--I did, about some foods--I didn't realize how many calories foods contained, foods like salad dressing, dinner rolls even without the butter, etc. I know there are folks out there even now who are thinking, "Why am I not losing weight? I'm watching what I eat!"
Ahhhh. Cute story. And quite frankly, a little scary if you ask me. It IS frightening that some people feel/think that way.
I used to eat like that all the time, probably worse, but I KNEW that I was consuming a gargantuan amount of calories. It didn't stop me though unfortunately.
I don't know which scenario is scarier - kidding yourself time and again - or out right knowing what you're doing is dead wrong, but doing it any way.
Some less experienced dieters truly don't know how many calories are in the foods they eat. An early (many years ago) attempt by my brother and his wife to lose weight involved cutting out the bag of chips they used to eat while watching TV at night. It was replaced by a head of lettuce and a bottle of full fat dressing -- they kept this up for a few months before they realized they were gaining weight!
I loved this story and its so true, I have been guilty of this. Feeling smug in the past as I had a baked potato, conveniently forgetting the size of it, the butter added and the topping...
This is so true. I have a lot of experience with WW, so I know how to calculate points. I'm not currently doing WW, but several women I work with are. I'm am constantly amazed by how much the UNDER-estimate the points they are eating. I've watched them devour huge plates of food, then "estimate" that they have only consumed 6 points. I try to stay quiet, because I'm not totally sure they aren't doing it consciously. I know when I was on WW, I would NOT have appreciated anyone telling me, so I don't tell them. But, every week, they are surprised by how slow they are losing, if at all.
Funny...true...don't we kid ourselves
That is hilarious!!! So true though. Thanks for sharing!
