Up until this point, my plan has always allowed for cheat days. I like going out. I enjoy going out on dates to restaurants with my husband- the atmosphere, the food, maybe a couple drinks. And, I feel that these cheat days have helped me, because many times, they have shaken up my metabolism and prevented me from stalling out for too long. They also keep me from feeling deprived. I can easily stay on plan the rest of the week now, if I "let it all out" one day a week.
But I only do well if the cheat day is just that... a day. If it becomes 2 or 3, then I am in trouble.
I am going to be starting BFL soon, and I was thrilled to see that he is also an advocate for the cheat day. That in itself makes me feel like it's a plan that I could see following for life.
However, my husband may force me to give up the cheat day forever, and honestly, I am pretty upset about it.
Last night, we went out for Chinese food at my favorite Chinese place. They have some of THE BEST chinese food I have ever had. Seriously amazing stuff, with very high quality ingredients. So, we went, I had sesame chicken and fried rice, and it was delicious. But, the serving they gave me.... INSANE. I mean, I could eat it for 3 whole days and still not finish it. So, I ate what I could and the girl packed up the rest of it for me, and we went home.
Two hours after I got home, I found myself munching on the leftovers. Which was fine... it was my cheat day. But when I finished, I realized that I needed to get the rest out of the house. Today, I get back on plan, and having chinese food in the house is very dangerous. So, I tell my husband I want to throw the rest out.
And he gets mad at me. He tells me I am "wasting money". And I tell him, "Well, if this is going to be how it is, and I am not ALLOWED to do what I want with my own food, then I guess we're not going out anymore."
And, that's where we left off last night.
My husband has always been like this. At work, he eats the leftover birthday cake from parties every day until it's gone because "it needs to get eaten." If my mom sends us food (food I don't ask for), he eats it because "if we don't eat it, we are wasting money". He will even go as far (this is gross) as to eat lunch meat, which smells bad and is way past the good date, because "we paid for it, so it can't be wasted."
My husband also hangs onto things he never uses for the same reason.
I remember watching "I can make you thin" with Paul McKenna, and he talked about this problem. And his reasoning made sense to me... no one else is going to benefit from this food. I can't save other people by keeping this food. And, the money was already spent on the food... it's not like I am going to get additional monetary charges for every day I don't eat it. So, I have no problem throwing out food if I am not interested in eating it anymore.
What do I do? just give up cheat days for good? It's not my fault most restaurants serve ungodly portions. But, I don't think I am going to be able to get through to my husband on this one. We've been arguing (not yelling, just disagreeing) about this same concept for almost our entire marriage, and I am tired of fighting about it.
*plays Taps to signal the death of the cheat day*