What's Your Excuse??
 

Lots of folks have "reasons" that they use to tell themselves it's OK to go off their program. What are some of your excuses? And how do you know that they are excuses?

I'll start--

"I've worked so hard today, I really deserve to relax with some off-plan _____."

This is an excuse because working hard does not entitle anyone to overeat their calories, eat sugar/chocolate/chips/junk, and so on.

"I'm hungry but I'm not in the mood for my planned foods. I think I'll go out to ____ instead."

Being in or out of a mood has nothing to do with the question of staying on a program. The mood just becomes an excuse to indulge by going out to eat.

"Oh, I just think I'll eat at (high-cal restaurant here) even though I'm not sure what's on the menu. After all, it's not going to do that much damage."

Yeah, right. A recent thread here in Support showed that it's easy to eat over 2,000 calories in one meal at many restaurants and not even know it. I need to look things up before I go to a restaurant, not after.

How about you?

Jay

Umm so most recent was. . . Its my birthday so its okay. Were on vacation for my birthday so i can splurge. The one steak wont matter. The cupcake, 2 cakes, cheesecake and resturant wont make me gain. HAHAHAHA 5lb gain for my "well deserved" birthday vacation. Not doing that again

Candy its my birthday soon and my mum keeps saying 'its okay to go a little crazy, its your birthday' but thank you SO much for reminding me that the lbs dont give a damn what day it is!

One of my excuses is 'I'll just eat this now and be better tomorrow' (but then i totally go awol)

My birthday was last week and I got a lot of 'it doesn't count, it's your birthday' from the people around me. I know better, thankfully, and while I splurged a little, I mostly kept my head and came back from a birthday trip with no gain. So it's possible to enjoy your birthday and still stick to your plan!

As for the original question, I don't tend to talk myself into stuff, I guess. Usually when I eat something that's off-plan, I just do it because I want to and then regret it (or not) later. Though maybe I am just not conscious of my own excuses? That's a possibility.

In my case, it's a pending excuse. I haven't had a birthday cake in many many years, and for a long time I've said that for my 40th birthday I was going to get myself a big, bright pink birthday cake with bright blue trim. Trouble is...I turn 40 in 6 weeks. In the back of my mind I've been debating what to do.

I am pretty much impulsive with my off plan eating. I don't seem to bother with excuses. I see it, I want it, I eat it. I never tell myself I can have something becuase I "deserve it". Sounds too much like BS, I think.

Yesterday, we went to Costco. I brought along my salad dressing with the intention of getting the chicken caesar salad and using my own dressing. Well, I got up to the window, saw the turkey wrap and got that instead. The turkey wrap is enough for three meals. I checked later - it has 810 calories. I should have had 1/3 -1/2 of it and an apple (which I also had with me). I didn't even discuss any of these options with myself.

How about a bright pink cupcake? One cupcake isn't going to set you back much, and they're making such beautiful ones these days.

my excuses usually revolve around exercising and include "im so tired and i have so much work to do". But im working on it >.<

Pretty much the only time I eat off plan is for work/social events, when I have to eat out. When I'm at home, I rarely go off plan. I never eat off plan as a reward, because I don't feel like cooking, or because I don't feel like eating what I planned.

My biggest problem is getting back on plan when I've been off plan. When I eat out for lunch or dinner, I have gotten into a really bad habit of going off plan for the rest of the day (good thing I never eat breakfast out--the whole day would be shot :dizzy:). The problem is that I don't count the calories in the off-plan meal because it's so hard to do with restaurant food. And then, since I didn't bother to count the calories for lunch or dinner, I stop counting for the rest of the day. And if I'm not counting, it doesn't feel like the food has calories and I eat way too much of food that I really shouldn't eat at all. I feel like I have to eat as much as I can because it's my only chance to eat like this--I know I'll be back on plan the next day. And I am always on plan the next day, but I really need to get on plan by the next meal. I don't know if the solution is to be more restrictive about off-plan eating, be less restrictive (so I don't feel like it's my only chance to eat treats), or just live with it since it doesn't happen that often.

Luckily, I rarely eat out. I only do it for social or business purposes. My SO and I rarely just go out to eat by ourselves. If I want a special meal for the two of us, I make something special. If I don't feel like cooking, I make something that doesn't require a lot of prep (e.g., sandwiches) or we get pre-made salads from TJ's.

I do always have birthday cake on my birthday. We always go out for dinner (I'm not cooking my own special birthday dinner) and we always have cake. If there are leftovers, I can even have a piece of cake a day until the cake is gone. Usually I try to get a small cake so there won't be a lot of leftovers. Life's too short to not have cake on my birthday (and it's only once a year anyway, for Pete's sake). It's not an excuse; it's a rule. I have lots of rules that I live by. Another one is that if I'm at someone else's birthday party, I get to have a piece of their birthday cake too (I'm 40 and I work from home so it's not too often that I'm at birthday parties these days). I know that some people can be on plan 100% 24-7-365, but that's not me. I have to have allow for some off-plan eating occasionally. The only thing I'm working on is getting back on plan again afterwards.

Killed one "Special Day" Excuse
 

I've been working on the "today is special" thinking since observing that the number of special days has grown to about 365 a year, LOL.

For my birthday this year, I thought "Why not just have a Boston Cream Pie? My birthday is a special day." However, I recognized the feeling that went with that thought. I didn't want a small piece, I wanted a WHOLE Boston Cream Pie. Any that wasn't consumed at my birthday dinner would go in the fridge for me to finish. Some that night, some tomorrow, but a bunch would go in me. Not on my plan.

So I had a Birthday Watermelon instead. Was a real kick. My DD put candles on it and I had the whole experience. And it was a killer-good watermelon.

"I'm on vacation...I'll get back on track when I get home."

Ughhhh...this is what I'm dealing with now. I spent 5 days in New Orleans and according to my scale, gained 5 lbs. I didn't know that was even possible! :-(
I am back on my regime but it'll probably take a couple weeks to lose thise 5 lbs. Boy, those beigniets were amazing though......

ContessaN: That's the hardest excuse for me to break, also. When we go away on vacay, I used to always put dieting completely out of my head, and eat whatever looked good. I reasoned I may never be here again, and I want to eat this, or eat here, blah, blah, blah. Problem is we are foodies (OK, there is my OTHER excuse) and I always made reservations in advance at top rated or highly reviewed restaurants. And I ALWAYS would try their dessert, especially if it was a "signature" dessert. I would split it with hub, but still, that was too much! And if in Mexico or someplace like that--a lot of drinking as well, all day on the beach or late into the night.

I have got to be sensible about the vacays now. This will be my biggest struggle, for sure. Luckily, since recently moving to CA and basically starting our careers over, there isn't much money lately for any extended, far-flung getaways. That's a positive, I see now!:D

I have to be really careful when I exercise hard not to let myself eat too much that day thinking "Well - I burned 500 calories, a 300 calorie cookie is okay".

My excuse ~ Angie isn't home so I can have it!

Like last night's heart attack lasagna I made....

and am now trying to hide before she gets home.

I'm too tired to bother with counting... usually this tiredness leads to a binge, I'll get back on plan tomarrow...and tomarrow..and tomarrow...

I like Caroline's cupcake idea. But if you want cake specifically, is there a bakery near you that sells individual slices, or will you be sharing the cake with others? Because if you will be sharing it, you could always cut yourself a slice then arrange it so that at the end of the day/night, someone takes the rest of the cake home with them or just deals with it so you don't have to fight temptation :)

That, of course, is a wonderful and completely reasonable idea. I think I just have a thing about something big and pink and MINE. That's probably why I painted my first car pepto pink. lol

I should probably start making peace with small and pink.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I think that eating off plan sometimes does not need an excuse. It is just life. I will never be perfect. I tend to think of excuses more for how people resist an overall lifestyle change, and boy I think I have read every excuse in the book for that one! Heck I even had a few myself.

So, what I think can NOT be an excuse:

"I work--so therefore I cannot eat on plan or exercise." Well, I work too, over 50 hrs a week and I manage.

"I work 8 or 10 or 12 hr shifts so I can't exercise." Eh, doesn't fly with me. I work 24 hr shifts and I manage.

"I have kids so I can't exercise." The only person I have ever had any sort of sympathy for with this excuse was the chick who had toddler triplets. Otherwise, no sympathy. It is hard to do when you have kids, but you gotta do it anyway.

"I can't cook, so I can't eat healthy." I couldn't cook either. But I learned how.

So, having a day or meal off-plan is hardly excuse worthy in my opinion. It is a small blip. The overall lifestyle change is far more vital, and I have done away with all my excuses.

I could written what BlueToBlue wrote. I did not do too well yesterday - I was out with a bunch of girlfriends to celebrate my upcoming bday. Since each of of us lives elsewhere, we always alternate meeting at different restaurants so that it is not always the same person who has the longest drive. We were meeting at a place that is about an hour's drive for me and there was some additional mix-up with the time to meet so uncharacteristically, I arrived first and the place was packed. I staked the last available table on the patio and waited .... and waited. Normally, I drink water even if I eat out but I felt really stupid sitting there by myself, holding up a table (there people constantly seeking for a table) so I ordered a diet Coke.
For lunch, I had a steak (because I haven't had red meat for ages and low iron is my chronic problem). But, there was a choice of a salad or potatoes, and I had mashed potatoes although I should have had a salad. To add insult to the injury, I had "goop" to go with it. (Goop is mayo mixed with horseradish and some other stuff - it's their signature thing). The waitress, seeing all the presents and cards on the table, asked if it was my Bday and asked if I would like to have a brownie to share afterwards. I said yes. Well it was not a brownie - it was a mammoth brownie topped by a mountain of ice cream and sweetened whipped cream. She provided spoons for all of us but [hanging my head in shame] I ate most of it (at least I did not touch the brownie except for tiny sample - it was disgusting as brownies usually are [to me, that is]).
I had half of the mashed potatoes to go (I should have left them there) and finished them when I got home. I ate on plan in the evening but I find that after such a big meal I tend to want more (and more of the bad stuff). I even flirting with going to McD's around 8 pm (I didn't, of course).

It doesn't really bother me that I ate what I did - it more bothers me that I didn't have the will power to order salad instead of mashers, or to say no to the brownie with the ice cream. I ate really sparingly in the morning (my "lean" bagel with 1 LC cheese and a scrambled egg, and a grapefruit as a snack before I left) and my consolation is that I put in some extra distance on the treadmill yesterday morning. I definitely ate it all back and then some.
I have another dinner out next Saturday (with a different friend) and then I am meeting a friend in Toronto on the 23rd. But at least there will no ice cream on those occasions. I eat out only when meeting with friends and it is not frequent - this month is an exception because of my bday.

I can totally identify with the "new experiences" as part of vacation excuse, only for me every day is a vacation when it comes to food! I don't want to miss out.

Another excuse I have is, "I've had a bad day, and I want this to make up for it."

And, "I don't want to become like one of those shallow, self-absorbed women who need to look good so they have a man's attenton but who are mean to women like me, and not eating this would be the beginning of my obsession with looking thin and needing approval from men for my self-worth and becoming a mean, shallow person which is worse than being fat only the mean, shallow women can't see that it's worse and I'd get wrapped up in it and lose sight of being nice and so I'd just better eat what I want so that doesn't happen."

I'm very good at coming up with excuses.

my excuses is usually something like
"but I've worked so hard to get here and even if all I do is maintain this weight for the rest of my life I will be better off than when I had a bmi of 46"

hard to get past that one. but I am!

Here are all of mine;
I lost weight so I can have this to eat (excuse for french fries)
I can work this off with a workout (excuse for going over my calories - does the workout ever get done, ummm... maybe half the time)
I am not having as much as this or that person (excuse for treats or 2nd helpings)
It's that time of month, and it will help me relax (excuse for chocolate or mocha)

OH WAIT, here's a big one, it's FREE, so do the calories really count (at the office all the munchies - I have really done well lately, however - when I get a free starbucks ticket, I always want to get a mocha frap or something just horrible!)

OMG, that brought a tear to my eye. What an inspiration!

I'm someone's grandma .... aren't I suppose to be soft and cushy?

My biggest potential trap is deviating from "plan" then thinking: Well, I've already blown it for today, so may as well go ahead and eat "x". I have to keep reminding myself that it all counts .. it ALL counts ...

I haven't cheated once since I started my healthy way of life. I haven't had the urge. I almost feel like a freak...but nothing has tempted me...I say a prayer of Thanks regularly for this motivation. There is no excuse mightly enough to make me go back to the **** hole I was in phycially, spirtually and emotionally.

My biggest downfall is saying this little sidestep won't matter. Everything matters.

Ufi: I was ROFLOL with your "shallow woman" excuse! I may be thinking all of that also, but I didn't even realize it until I read it!

vixjean, MBN, flowingair: I have used ALL of those excuses, and it just sounds so pathetic when I read them in print. I can totally relate to all of you, and I'm resolving here and now to STOP that!

"I didn't enjoy my lunch, so a handful of peanut m&m's won't hurt."
"I had a bad day at work so I deserve that glass of wine/cupcake/Taco Bell Mexican Pizza."

I can also identify with the vacation excuse. Man, in June I ate and drank to my heart's content while on vacation and managed to only gain 1 pound. However, it took me FIVE WEEKS to remove that 1 pound! So I definitely don't fool myself, because I know that everything counts! And even when I've had a really really bad day, I still enter all the calories in fit day for a dose of reality. Helps me do better the next day.

I totally understand this! I still have problems with cake because I think, "I can have one piece", but then I think, "I don't want one piece, I want a CAKE". And I also happen to love pink, so I get it. Making peace with the 'small' is a tough one, but I know you'll get there.

Or, get that big cake and throw yourself an equally big party so that it will be demolished by the time it's over! That would negate the 'all yours' part, I know, but it's a step in the right direction in controlling your food. If I want to get rid of baked goods, all I have to do is bring them to work and wait a few minutes.