[cornellchick]

I went to a coworker's baby shower at work just a little while ago. I was a little hungry and there was cake, so I said to myself, "OK, I'm doing well on calories today/this week, so I will have a small piece." So I had a small piece and it was tasty. I asked the cake purchaser what kind of cake it was, and she informed everyone that it was iced MOCHA cake.

Who cares, you say? Well, since I am a total chocoholic, I swore myself off of it for the entire summer (to help with my weight loss, cravings, and just to prove to myself and others that I could do it). I haven't had any chocolate since mid-May and I wanted to keep it that way.

So now I'm completely kicking myself for eating the cake... not really my fault, and for goodness' sake I couldn't even taste any chocolate in the darn thing ... but kicking myself anyway because I wanted to do this choco-fast without messing up.

There was one other day about a month ago when a friend offered me some taffy and I ate one piece, then later I found out it had been chocolate flavored. I let that one slip because I'm pretty sure the amount of real cocoa in a piece of chocolate-flavored salt water taffy is pretty much negligible. But I'm guessing the amount of real cocoa in mocha cake is more substantial than that.... GAAHHH!!

OK, sorry, I'm done. I know life goes on. I just hate that I've now messed up a SECOND time this summer. >_<

[JayEll]

Ummmm... what color was the cake?

Sorry you broke your rule, but it was inadvertent--it's not like you set out to eat chocolate. At least, I assume not. That is, unless the cake was brown...

Jay

[cornellchick]

It was a dark beige-ish color... it looked considerably lighter than chocolate-colored. And no, it was of course not my intention to eat any chocolate for a while yet.

I guess I learned a lesson - always find out what I'm about to eat before I eat it.

[Kofarq]

I would say your summer has been purely successful! Never have you purposely eaten chocolate. Accidentally doing so DOES NOT COUNT!!!
You are a GOOD girl!! YOU did not mess up!

[kaplods]

I think regardless, the important thing is not to obsess. Sometimes we put alot more focus on "the rules" we impose upon ourselves that we lose focus on the important reasons we made the rules in the first place.

Sometimes, it's very easy to treat diet "rules" we have given ourselves almost as if they are magic incantations and if we break one "poof" the spell is broken and we'll instantly gain all of the weight back.

What really have you "messed up?" Why is perfection so important to you?

If you are avoiding chocolate because you tend not to control yourself when eating it, what is more important the chocolate content or the control? Did those two things that didn't have enough chocolate in them for you to taste
break your control? If not, then what is your concern, is it just the fact that you weren't perfect?

For me to be successful, I had to throw away the idea of perfection. I'm not saying that, this is true of you, but for me - when dieting I always thought I HAD to be perfect and anything less than perfect "didn't count." The problem was I couldn't sustain perfect, I inevitably made a mistake, then felt that since I couldn't be perfect, that meant I couldn't be successful.

You can be successful, with or without perfection. And while perfection might even be possible, it's not usually very practical.

Also, I would ask you not to consider yourself "good" if you follow diet rules and "bad" or having "messed up" if you intentionally or unintentionally break one of your own rules. When you make rules, do so to make your life and weight loss efforts easier, not more complicated, and certainly not judgement based. If you feel like you've "messed up," you're so much more likely to give up thinking that you can't do this, and you can.

[cornellchick]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful words. I don't feel so bad about it now... it really was just a vent of my immediate frustration with the situation.

kaplods - you're right, of course. One slip-up doesn't mean the end of the world, and I'm definitely not going to fall off plan because of this. I guess I need to cut myself a little more slack. It's just such a nice claim to make... but I need to get it into my head that there are more important things than my mental "days accident free" counter.

Kofarq -thanks for the kind words, they help.

OK, I think I'm over it now... hey, that didn't take so long.

[Insatiable]

From my experience, little slip ups like that make you stronger for next time you have a weak moment. You really wanted it, its ok! You did it, move on, and don’t kick your self. You can’t take it back, so head up soldier and keep up the great work.
Now you know for next time that if you eat it it will not be satisfying afterwards. This is what will make you not do it. You will learn from your mistakes, just like a kid and when we touch the hot pan.

I went to a birthday party, well not, it was actually just a gathering for a 10 year old, just for cake and presents. I went through what you went through many times before so I knew when cake came that it would not satisfy me. It made saying no easier.