I've read Nessa and others discussing a "planned indulgence." I've been on the Beach for 5 weeks now, and except for a mini tootsie roll the first night of Phase I, one accidental dorito, and the chicken nugget incident, I have stayed on plan. We are going to the beach this week and there will be lots of temptations - anisette taffy, caramel popcorn, a place next door that makes donuts fresh every morning, and usually we go out for ice cream too one night. I plan to resist, but I'm wondering if I can reward myself with an ice cream? Just one? Or is it too early? I don't want to head down that slippery slope, and I'm afraid success has made me a little cocky. When I started Phase II, I was paranoid about even eating oatmeal, now I'm thinking ice cream.
How do you plan an indulgence? Do you save up your fat calories for the day? Extra exercise? Is there a right way to do it? Or should I just not go there?

remember that this is a new WOE and not a diet. So I think that if you want to treat yourself to one ice cream it would be ok. But remember that it does not take too much sugar to make you start craving more. Take care have fun and eat smart on your vacation. I hope I can take my own advice.

See if you can get sugar free frozen yogurt. Many ice cream places have it, so it would be a much healthier way to indulge than eating a hot fudge mountain. :P

I agree with little chick. Is it realistic to NEVER allow yourself an icecream? No. People that are on diets dont allow ice cream in the diet. People who are planning to eat healthy for life know that an ice cream is going to happen, a peice of birthday cake is going to happen. Sure sugar free yogurt would be better, but if not, one ice cream is not going to kill you. And personally, i think it is a good thing and a positive sign of your new lifestyle. It shows you are mature enough in that lifestyle to have ONE SMALL icecream...not the donuts, taffy, AND an ice cream. Go for it and enjoy.

You mentioned you get the ice cream in the evening which could be an advantage as far as the cravings factor. If you have it in the evening, you won't have a whole day of temptation ahead of you as your blood sugar goes up and down. After a good night's sleep, your body will be reset and in a good place for jumping back on the wagon.

well how often do you go to the beach?

is ice cream the only thing you will indulge in?

I can tell you that i was 3 months into phase 2 before my first treat/cheat...


if i was going to OC I would have ice cream. I might even have fried dough/funnel cake.... and boardwalk fries... and try to keep the rest of my time there as beachy as possible. at least that's what I would plan.

what i would do would remain to be seen......

Today I had a 'planned slip'. Today I closed my little shop, and knew it was going to be a bad day. So I decided that if I wanted a scoop of Ben & Jerrys, I wasn't going to add that to my little pile of woe. In fact I had a small pizza, some wedges and some Phish Food B&J icecream.

You know what? The pizza and wedges gave me terrible bloat, and I had a couple of spoons of B&J and put the rest back in the freezer. Didn't fancy it s much as I'd geared up to! It's like I tell my friend who's getting ready to don the Beach Bikini - Don't spend your time thinking you will definately want that cake/ice cream/bag of chips (she reckons she'll be counting the days before she can have sugary morning cereal again). Because if you go into it with an open mind you might find you don't even want it when you get there! I regret the pizza not because it was anti-diet, but because I felt so bad physically after eating it! Which could be a good thing, cos now I know I'll not be tempted again - I'm aready heading towards beached-whale status, don't want to bring it forward!

I had my first "no-no" last night. It wasn't really "planned". (been on SB since April and have not had ONE thing I wasn't supposed to)

Yesterday was my daughter's last day at her job here. She is moving to LA in a few days and came to spend the weekend with us and had been kind of "emotional" about leaving. When she got here we really didn't have anything fun planned for the evening. I don't know why I suggested it, but I said "Hey, why don't you and I go have a glass of wine somewhere?"
So we went to a place where she used to work in college and sat on the patio, looked at the wine menu and both said almost at the same time "Let's just get a bottle?" We both ran into friends, had a great time and we drank that whole bottle then another glass on top of that compliments of the waitress who is a friend of my daughter's. Ouch..so much for one glass of wine.

I am paying for it this morning, but it was worth it. (come on water, coffee and aspirin!)

I feel the same way as others...I am going to be "on SB" the rest of my life and if an occasion arises where I am going to overindulge, I will. But I won't be overindulging in "bad" stuff on a regular basis.
So if you have to have an ice cream, so be it as long as it doesn't become a "way of life" and something you are going to have every day. (I sure don't want any wine again for a LONG time!!!)

I have to admit that DH and I have a planned indulgence about once a week. Usually, though, it's fruit with nufchatel cheese or a ww english muffin with sf jam. I do admit that one week we both had an ice cream. But as long as I'm losing and feeling great, who cares? I honestly believe that the indulgences are the only things that make SB totally doable! Probably a bad attitude to take, but I'm taking it!

The one thing DH and I do, though, is make sure that the day of the indulgence is SB by the book, and we're not allowed to do it again for at least 7 days.

Good luck deciding!

I planned a little "break from life" today. I had a stressful weekend- my roomie had a bunch of friends over so I spent the weekend with my boyfriend, which would have been fine if I didn't think he was dying all night! He snores like crazy, which is fine, except sometimes it sounds like he's choking and I get really anxious until he breaths again! I also met a bunch of his friends who I know kind of don't like me because I'm a lot older (and my BF accidentally let it slip that because his 350 pound friend is so self conscious, he also doesn't like me because I'm big :P) so it was really stressful and uncomfortable for me. I'm a naturally shy person so an hour and a half dinner with my boyfriend, a bunch of his friends, and one of the friend's wife was really awkward.

So today I stopped at the store and got some of the Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia fro-yo, mixed it up until it was really melty, then just ate the chocolate chunks and cherries out of it. No ice cream. I know that sounds DUMBDUMBDUMB but I've always preferred the chunks in ice cream to the ice cream itself, so the whole process of beating away my frustration on the ice cream really helped. I also had a bagel for breakfast and it was a wholewheat everything, so it wasn't necessarily an indulgence- but oh did it feel like one!

Oberon, it's funny to read what you wrote because I totally could have written it myself! I had this pint of frozen yogurt in the freezer when I started on The Beach and I was saving it for when I finished Phase 1, thinking I'd give myself a little treat for making it through the two weeks. Well, I never wanted it. It was in the freezer until a week ago when Tom ate it. I wasn't even sad!

Kara

has he been evaluated for sleep apnea...cause it sounds like he has it.

that can be very dangerous. he should have it checked out.

Nessa wrote:
"if i was going to OC I would have ice cream. I might even have fried dough/funnel cake.... and boardwalk fries..."

Nessa! You're making me homesick! I miss going to OC every summer. San Diego just doesn't cut it. Frozen custard! Thrasher's fries! The beach and water warm enough you can actually play in it!

Well, I admit to wee planned indulgences the past two days. During my 90 minute "break" from working the Festival, I came home and made a strawberry Daiquiri! Just one each day and I savoured every delicious sip!

This has been a fun thread to read about everyones' little indulgences. I thought you might be curious whether or not I faltered so here's the update. I bought sf fudgesicles and two boxes of popsicles and fudgesicles for the kids. Every night I made myself a sundae of some ricotta with sf sweetener, strawberries sliced on top, and a sf fudgesicle on top, a little melty. I did fine until the last night, we came back from the beach, I was all set for my treat, and I realized the kids had eaten all of MY fudgesicles. So I used a regular one instead. Also, one night I put nine Reese's pieces on top of the fudgesicle. I know the time will come when I'll want to treat myself, but I didn't feel the need to splurge this time, and only ended up cheating a little. Thanks for all the advice! It's good to know you can cheat a little from time to time without blowing it. I tend to be an all or nothing person, so I need to learn moderation.

By the way Nessa, at the boardwalk, I usually stop at Dolle's and get caramel popcorn and a pound of anisette flavored salt water taffy. Thrasher's fries always smell great, but I never want to wait in that line, and I'd rather have the sweets anyway. The only thing I really missed was the taffy.