[JenMusic]

Subtitled: Lofthouse Cookies are of the Devil

Do y'all know Lofthouse frosted sugar cookies? They're those really soft sugar cookies that you can get in the bakery sections of stores. Long ago, my friend nicknamed them "crack cookies" because of their addictive and insidious nature.

I never ate them regularly, but whenever I did buy a box of Lofthouse cookies they only lasted about 3 days. Um, yeah. Sometimes I would buy them for special events so I could have one (or two, or three!) but give the rest away. However, I stopped buying them and haven't had one since sometime in the spring.

December has been full of temptation, but I've been doing really well. I let myself feel the desire for sugary things, but I've only had 2 "treat" type foods, and those were accounted for in my daily calories. But a week ago I saw Lofthouse cookies in the store and the cravings started. I resisted, and texted the friend I mentioned above, to tell her how much I was craving a crack cookie.

Yesterday we met for lunch, and she presented me with a ziplock bag of THREE cookies! Yikes! I was grateful, though - she's not a food-pusher or a saboteur, she's just a friend trying to do something nice.

So, in my continuing quest to learn not to be afraid of food, and to sensibly indulge when appropriate, I had a cookie. It was delicious, white-sugar-and-flour-processed goodness. I loved every bite. And I tracked it in MyPlate, and was in my calories for the day.

Now, what to do with the other cookies? I decided I wanted them, and one cookie a day, within my calorie limit, may not be the best nutrition ever, but I'm not going to make a habit of it. But there's NO WAY those cookies could be in my house and me not eat them.

So that ziplock bag, with two cookies, spent the night in my car. And tonight, after dinner, I went out and got one, and it also was delicious. And tomorrow I'll do the same thing.

I made mention on another thread about sometimes feeling like I'm boarding the bus to Crazyville, referring to the mental game that weight loss sometimes is. Is my relationship with food "normal"? Well, no. But that's OK. Because a year ago, or maybe even 6 months ago, I would have eaten all 3 of those cookies in the first 10 minutes of getting them. Instead, I'm using a technique to make 3 cookies last 3 days. I'm good with that.

Progress, not perfection!

[Andejean]

oooh... I do love those... can't stop eating them, and then I get a tummy ache... I stopped buying them, LOL

[Shmead]

All cookies are crack cookies to me. I could eat cookies for days. It is ridiculous how many calories cookies have. It shouldn't be possible to cup 1200 calories in two hands, but with cookies it's easy. I think it's because they are pure fat and sugar without any water or even air to bulk them out.

[moon safari]

I've never heard of those particular cookies but my "crack cookies" are oreos (or really any other sandwich cookies). I avoid them at all costs because, although I'm not a huge fan of sweets, I will easily eat a whole box. I made the mistake of telling a coworker that I love them and for Christmas she got me AN ENTIRE CASE OF THEM.

Guess what's getting re-gifted....

[JenMusic]

Originally Posted by Shmead

All cookies are crack cookies to me. I could eat cookies for days. It is ridiculous how many calories cookies have. It shouldn't be possible to cup 1200 calories in two hands, but with cookies it's easy. I think it's because they are pure fat and sugar without any water or even air to bulk them out.

Exactly. One of these Lofthouse cookies has 190 calories. My normal treat (not daily, but a couple of times a week) has 150. So it's higher, but I decided it was more worth it for me.

Cookies are also one of my weaknesses. I've had maybe 5, total of any kind, since I started tracking back in March. So this is also an experiement for me to see if I can incorporate them back in occasionally, or if it's better to eliminate them completely.

Still wouldn't buy them and put them in my house. *shudders*

[i76]

Boarding the bus to crazyville, been there!!! I binges on boxes of biscuits, sugar and flour! One taste sent me off and I "woke" up a few days later in crazyville, ashamed and guilt ridden with clothes so tight.

Now I am tracking and wonder when I can incorporate "treats" but is a biscuit really a treat? Hmmm

Hope things go well but I couldn't do that right now, only cause I shudder at the flashbacks to my recent binges!

[vdander24]

I am not sure which ones those are, but it sounds like the ones I avoid like the plague for the same reason! I was reading your OP and thought "3 days!" Those things would have been gone the next day in my family. I am struggling right now with temptation for everything! I am really going to give your idea a try.

Congrats on making fantastic decisions!

[Oboegal]

JenMusic, I don't think it's crazy at all. Our new lifestyle is for the long haul, and I think it's healthy to experiment to see what sorts of things you can handle or not, and what sorts of things are "worth it" or not.

I think there are some people who need to completely eliminate trigger foods. I think there are others (and I'm in this category) who can indulge occasionally in "treat" foods (which helps us not to feel deprived) as long as we have a "fail-safe" mechanism. Yours is to not let it get in the house. Mine is to fanatically "pay back" any excess calories, even if takes me a while. (I'm still paying off my Thanksgiving calories, but I still think it was worth it.)

Sadly, it's gotten so that "normal" American eating isn't particularly healthy, so I don't think there's anything intrinsically unhealthy about doing unusual things to keep yourself on track for the long term.

[JayZeeJay]

@JenMusic: your post reminds me of something I read. I can't remember where but it was about "unorthodox" ways to lose weight and keep it off. One woman had a terrible bread problem. She couldn't stop eating bread, but she had to buy it for her husband and several kids to eat. So, every morning she loaded the bread in the trunk of her husband's car. When he came home from work that night, so did the bread.

[rachinma]

I wait for my family members to eat a cookie and then use my finger to scoop out the leftover sugar icing that sticks to the plastic. It satisfies my craving and I don't eat the cookies.

Gross, right?