I'm not a sweets person - never really have been. My weakness is things like pizza and white bread - I could literally sit down right now, slather some fresh baked Italian bread with butter and eat the whole loaf.
I've literally had sweets maybe 5 times in the last 1 1/2 years. A piece of pie last Thanksgiving and Xmas and a piece of pie at a friend's wedding a few weeks ago.
Today at lunch I went out and ran 4 miles straight for the first time. I was pretty psyched. Then I came back into work and ate for lunch some chicken, brown rice and a banana. It was good and filled me up. Then I went back to refill my water bottle and sitting on the table was a big box of Dunkin' Donuts. I peeked in to see what kinds there were and they looked and smelled SO GOOD. I didn't have one, but DAMN - you would think after so long of adapting a healthy lifestyle that something totally unhealthy and processed as a donut wouldn't even look good. But it did!!
CherryPie--your nick name is funny considering your post
I'm with you...not a sweets person. Really.
However, we are only human. Every now and again, it comes into view (and possibly smell) or someone gets a great idea to go for Carvel. One can only resist so much. We had an icecream social at work--and I didn't eat a thing. If it was a Carvel machine, however, I'd be tempted. What they had didn't excite my senses.
Halloween - hubby bought numerous bags of candy that has been sitting on the porch and I pass it at least 2x a day--I haven't been tempted by anything there except the KitKats--which are now gone between him and our daughter. Thank goodness. KK was on the "forbidden" list. At least he didn't buy Almond Joy. <--- would have sent me over the edge, indeed. If I want ONE once a year, I'll go buy one...but to have a bag of minis right there...bad idea.
Trust me, the donut didn't taste nearly as good as it looked and/or smelled. Last week I had a bagel with cream cheese...for dinner...had not had one since July. It was ... meh. It didn't rock my boat. I think if you had the donut, you would most likely have felt the same. Just not worth it.
The other day there were bagels in the office...my favorite...asiago cheese with chive sour cream. I use to look forward to bagel day. This time I decided it wasn't worth the 310 calories just for the bagel...not to mention the ump-teen million calories I would spread on in cream cheese.
It's amazing how those little pleasures aren't worth it when you put a value on them, hahaha!
It's amazing how those little pleasures aren't worth it when you put a value on them, hahaha!
Word. People at my office are always bringing in cookies and donuts and cake, and I always had some. But now that I'm counting calories, it's easier to decide not to eat that so-so cookie because it would mean having to skip lunch. I did once succumb to the lure of my favorite donut from my favorite bakery and it was well worth skipping my usual granola for. But my bar is a lot higher now!
carbs are my downfall... pizza, bread, bagels... I guess I'm lucky in that I never liked donuts to begin with though
But sweets, I just can't handle anymore. I never really had a sweet tooth to begin with, but I just find that a lot of things I used to love just make me retch now. I tried an entenman's cupcake a few days ago and found it too sweet to eat, I have little desire to eat candy and I don't like candy corn anymore—I was previously addicted to the stuff! I was waiting for Halloween to come around so I could have some; I took a taste and no longer found it appealing!
I do like sweets and the one cheat I have had so far (since May) was a couple of funsize bags of M&Ms. And they still tasted great!
One of the things about my plan is that eventually, I will not be counting carbs (already don't count calories) and be able to return to a "normal" diet. Obviously, the definition of normal doesn't mean the way I ate that got me to 261 lbs. However, it does include room for treats, and I expect to enjoy them just as much as ever. What gets me through right now is knowing that it's not forever, it's just for now. And I'll take that same mentality going forward, so that I might not get to have chocolate every day, but a couple of times a month will get me through all the other days of not having it.
If I was trying to convince myself that chocolate (or Carvel - my absolute FAVORITE thing!) no longer would taste good and I wouldn't want to ever have it again, then I might as well forget it right now and not even bother! lol!
No matter how many times I watch 'Supersize Me' or read Morgan Spurlock's book about it I still crave McD's when I am stressing. That isn't even real food!!!!!!! It's greasy, weighs me down and is full of fake crap... but it won't leave my mind... I have no current plant to stay away from it, but I am working on it
I was in the mall over the weekend and couldn't resist an Almond Crunch pretzel. Hot and crunchy how I loved them. But eh, it was just alright, definitely not how I remembered them tasting. I ate half and threw the rest away.
You didn"t miss anything with the Donuts.
I must be the goofiest weight loss person on the planet. I don't like sweet stuff.
But give me loud, noisy, salty food. Chips, peanuts, pretzels, french fries, onion rings, toast, celery, carrots, etc. If it's loud, noisy and salty, I'm all over it!
I do have to let you all know, I am Dr. certified allergic to chocolate. It gives me the most God awful belly ache.
Your post made me laugh, because we have Oreos in the house and my husband will give them to our son as a treat. I always have to smell them -- that's my sugar/carb fix.
They say taste is 9/10 smell, so really, there's no reason to actually put the thing in your mouth, right?
I still enjoy the taste of pretty much all the foods I used to eat when I wasn't trying to eat healthy, but there are some things that don't taste as good. I'm similar to shcirerf in that I love the salty foods, so those tend to be the things that catch my eye and try and lead me astray.
I'm not necessarily avoiding the food that tempts me, but like you, I'm trying to make better choices and say no more often.
There was a doctor who struggled with his weight and ended up writing a book called The End of Overeating to try and understand why he couldn't manage to keep the weight off. The conclusion he comes to is that foods with high levels of salt, fat, and/or sugar stimulate certain chemicals in the brain that trigger a craving for more and more and more. The food industry taps into that and creates foods that have that salty/fatty/sweet trifecta. (donuts are one of those foods!)
I remember listening to him talk on NPR once ages ago and it was such a relief for me to hear how that temptation wasn't a moral weakness... there were very real chemical processes taking place in my brain that made it very difficult to say no to fried, fatty, salty foods.
So to finally get to what I really wanted to say... hurrah for not giving in to temptation! Hurrah for losing 179lb!! Hurrah for running 4 miles straight!!!
I was thinking of this. Trust me Dunkin Donuts spends lots of money to figure out how to make those donuts look, smell and trigger those chemical reactions. They want you to eat lots of donuts and they know if you eat one you will probably have another.
Here is another example. I hate KFC, it is so gross and we even call it "Dirty Bird" When I have eaten it in the past it makes my stomach turn but when I walk by a KFC and smell that fried chicken man do I crave it, I start having food fantasies of buying a big bucket with fries and gravy and eating it all myself. I never do because my rational brain kicks in but man that smell is powerful. I am pretty much convinced that they purposefully pump out the smell into the air to draw you in.
I'm not totally suprised that it looked to good to you, as I have heard that after strenuous exercise our bodies usually want some form of sugar. Plus, your body is trained to seek out a high calorie option after working so hard and burning to many calories. So I think it's pretty normal to feel this way.
That said, I second the above posters who mentioned that some things taste better in your mind than in actuality. I have quite a few foods that will look and smell good, and that I remember vividly as being so delicious!...only to eat them now and realize that they aren't actually that good or satisfying at all. Strange how our tastebuds change but our minds sometimes need time to catch up!
Thanks everyone for your thoughts! I think it is just wishful thinking that one day I will never crave horrible fattening things and instead just want healthy food in normal portions! And at least I didn't give in! I would have been furious with myself if I had!
You'd think they wouldn't even look good!!
