The concept of a “cheat day” is pretty common in the health and fitness world. As a personal trainer, I would typically recommend that clients follow an 80/20 rule [eating clean 80% of the time and loosening up the other 20%], which basically allowed some wiggle room in the diet for weekends or nights out or their kid’s birthday party. For many people, knowing they can have a “cheat meal” really helps them to maintain a healthier diet the rest of the week.
Not so for me.
Unfortunately, a cheat meal for me turns into a cheat day, then to cheat weekend, then a cheat week…and so on. Just when I get into a good system of not snacking after dinner, only having one drink a week, and no sugary candy, cheat day shows up and throws me off my game. So frustrating!
My food weaknesses are: sour gummy worms, spicy garlic wings, McDonald’s French fries, chips with queso, and ice cream [any kind or flavor will do]. For some reason, when “cheat day” rolls around, I convince myself that I must eat ALL of these things in one day. You would think it was my last meal on earth….
[Of course, I am doing this to myself.]
So, I have decided to get rid of the whole idea of “cheating.”
Last year I read the book, Four Pack Revolution, and in it Chael Sonnen talks about having a “reset meal” once a week [instead of a “cheat meal”]. The difference is really just in the name, but it helps psychologically. I’m not “cheating” on my diet and throwing all of my health goals out the window, but instead I’m “resetting” so I can re-focus on my goals.
We’ll see if this mind trick works.
🤞
Oh, but I WILL be having a small dessert on Mother’s Day [a mini chocolate raspberry tart that I intend to make for myself] and a slice of cake for my birthday [which I will also make because I love baking cakes, so happy birthday to me].
Oh wait, there’s more!
I’m also going to save movie candy for the movies ONLY. I have a real problem with eating family size bags of chewy, sugary, preferably sour candy. This started a decade ago when I was running 45 miles a week and putting in six hours of cardio at the gym on top of that…and gosh darn it, my body needed those carbs! [Well, truthfully, it needed healthy carbs, but back then I was nutritionally illiterate.] So today I am still struggling with that same bad habit I developed all those years ago.
That habit has got to go! 👋 Bub-bye!
So, I’ll save my bag of candy for when I go to the movie theater [which is very rare now that I have to drive 45 MINUTES TO THE NEAREST THEATER!!].
Sheesh…it’s going to be a long month…
Vamos al cine! 🍿 🎥
🍟 🍟 🍟
Karis
No Makeup Mama 
May I ask what you are aiming for? Is it simply healthy eating for long term health? Having read your blog a bit, i want to tell you about my thinking. When I go shopping and am tempted by some item, I remind myself about the packaging. I have been doing this for so long now that plastic really irks me. It is unavoidable in lots of situations but it might be another way to think about bags of candy. If you think of it as helping the environment rather than as depriving yourself, maybe that will help?? Whenever I shop, this question of packaging haunts me.
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Yes, my goal is just optimal health and fitness. I tend to be a binge eater which is terrible and I always feel like crap and my running and cycling suffers when I over indulge. But I’m glad you asked because I write a lot about my personal health and fitness goals and don’t want them to be misconstrued as focused on weight loss. I just want to be healthier. And this is a habit I need to kick. And you mentioned the waste…which definitely shames me 😔 because I care a LOT about waste and am very proud of how little waste we produce as a family. Before Covid hit, we would buy about 99% of our food and consumable products completely package free. But alas, when they stopped letting me bring in my own jars and shut down the bulk bins and don’t even let me bring my own canvas bags anymore…well, I’ve gotten lazy. I recently switched to buying a product in a more recycling-friendly container…but didn’t even think about the bags of candy. I am so embarrassed. 🙈 You are very good at pointing out my blind spots, so thank you. I am going to remember the wastefulness next time I think about buying candy. (Tho my husband does buy the bulk of it and he doesn’t give a rats ass about waste…)
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I definitely didn’t mean to shame you!! I just thought it might be another way to think about the candy problem. My weakness, when it comes to snacks, is savoury stuff like crackers, chips, cheese, nuts. I never buy chips (crisps) because I am simply hopeless at not eating them. But I do let myself have crackers and cheese a fair bit. They are terrible on packaging. THat’s the truth!! So I definitely didn’t mean to shame you. I just don’t know how to buy crackers that aren’t in plastic and I haven’t ever managed to make savoury crackers. I will have to work on that.
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I didn’t mean it negatively. I really appreciate it! The waste factor really will help me avoid candy. I’m so glad you mentioned it! (And I happen to have a homemade cracker recipe that is awesome, but uses a sourdough starter, if you’re interested 😁)
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ooh. sounds interesting! I have never used sourdough starter. I will have to track down a source.
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I get it! When I eat junk I eat it all! 😆 I love sours candy and chips 😋
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Glad I’m not the only one! 😜
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