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Yesterday was my daughter’s “half birthday.” I don’t really know where the idea came from, but somehow she got it in her head that half birthdays are almost as important as whole birthdays. Being the manipulative 3 and 1/2 year old, she finagled her mother into bringing home a box of brownie mix–and a package of m&ms. (Can you see where this is going?)
So before dinner, Megan and Pam made the brownies–mixing and stirring and frosting and sprinkling and of course carefully placing a few “M’s” on top. All was fine and dandy until dessert time. We all had a brownie and the kids went to bed. And then every time I walked past them for the rest of the night, I took a small nibble. A bite here and a bite there added up to at least another portion of brownies on the evening. I even had a bite this morning at 4:45 as I was leaving to go to the gym. Yep, I went to the gym this morning–before my family woke up. I did it on Monday too!
So you might think that I’m tempting myself today every time I walk by the brownies in the kitchen. But, I did the smart thing and set aside two brownies for the kids and painfully put the rest of the brownies on a plate for Pam to take to work so that her coworkers can get fat. Victory! At least for me.
What’s the moral here? You don’t need to deprive yourself of all the treats in the world. But you do need to recognize your weaknesses and exercise moderation. Then get your butt up early and head to the gym.
J.D.
13 responses so far ↓
1 Sheamus // Jul 23, 2008 at 9:54 am
Well done sir. That’s totally the way to look at it. As I’ve said before, if you do the work, then you should totally allow yourself those little treats every once in a while. You’ve earned it. And life sucks without brownies.
And cheeseburgers, cookies, ice cream, muffins, milkshakes, pizza, donuts, chocolate and French fries.
And beer.
All those things have a part in any balanced diet. It’s not balanced if you’re eating super-clean 100 per cent of the time. That’s the fast route to misery. Food should be fuel… most of the time. The rest, have fun with it.
2 Gooniette // Jul 23, 2008 at 10:12 am
Way to go! I often do the same thing when I bake.
3 Red // Jul 23, 2008 at 10:51 am
Damn thee! Why does everyone hate co-workers so?
/me glances at the tray of cupcakes RIGHT OUTSIDE MY OFFICE DOOR.
You’re now in the same league as those 90 pound girls who buy girl scout cookies “just to support the girl scouts” and then make me eat them.
4 Andrew is getting fit // Jul 23, 2008 at 11:00 am
I see your plan now! If the rest of the world gets fat I’ll look skinnier!
*evil chortle*
5 Fit Bottomed Girls // Jul 23, 2008 at 2:17 pm
This is hilarious. I also like to take food into the office. It’s amazing what people will devour in the cube farm.
6 Steve // Jul 23, 2008 at 5:59 pm
great plan and one we employ in our household too…
luckily there are no brownies in the house at the moment now you’ve put me in the mood.
–steve
7 luneray // Jul 23, 2008 at 8:14 pm
My weakness is ice cream sandwiches. I won’t even buy unless at time of purchase, I am fully OK with the knowledge that the box probably won’t last two days (doesn’t matter what size the box, either).
If I could just buy a single ice cream sandwich at Safeway, I would. But no, I have to buy at least six. (I’ve tried the Skinny Cow ones, and they aren’t bad, but they taste best when they are frozen really hard; otherwise, it’s really obvious that the ice ‘cream’ is mostly air.)
8 Sue // Jul 23, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Good Idea!
I allow myself one or two treats a week, on a regular basis, and make sure that I am getting them to, and that cuts the craving and stalking past brownies….
One preplanned treat a week isn’t going to stop your weight loss, and is good for the soul!
9 Miguel // Jul 24, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Your right, moderation is amazing! I like to have a “bend but don’t break approach.” Having a rewards system may be necessary for most. I recommend it, if you work hard, seeing results and reaching your goals, it’s time to celebrate- pick one day out of the week to enjoy whatever you want! Notice, I only said “one.”
If you don’t have the discipline to reward yourself with this kind of system, develop one that works for you. “everyone has their own different specific needs.” Enjoy life while pursing a healthy lifestyle- move beyond a day to day diet! 
10 Metroknow // Jul 24, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Truly a good plan, complete with executing on it! Nice work!
But yeah, as Steve said………..Where’s that GFS Brownie recipe again?
11 Cynthia // Jul 24, 2008 at 5:54 pm
It’s a funny thing, but there are foods that I used to eat regularly, maybe even constantly that I rarely eat now. Chocolate cake, ice cream, brownies, cookies, croissants, chips have mostly fallen by the wayside.
I ate a muffin a week ago… really enjoyed it, and then I thought about it and couldn’t remember the last time I’d had one. I can’t say that I’ve retrained myself, just that some foods don’t call to me the way they once did. Others still sing that siren song… pizza is one of those. Chocolate is another, but at least I like it dark.
Having a treat once or twice a week works.
The bad news is that I can quite easily eat too much of perfectly healthy foods, sigh.
12 Joshua // Jul 29, 2008 at 9:42 am
I have done the same thing with bringing food into the office, however, unfortunatley, sometimes I’m the one devouring what others bring into the office. I certainly have gotten better but the other day I polished off a third of a gallon size bag of some kind of unholy wonderful snack mix. I’m a pig. I really believe exercise and healthy eating actually cause you to crave healthy food and not want(at least as much) unhealthy food. When I was super active and losing lots of weight, I didn’t want all the bad stuff. Now that I’m, well, not as active, I want pizza, macaroni and cheese, chips, and french fries. Sadly, I can’t really do the rewards thing, because I can’t eat a slice of pizza or a small fries, I want to just open my mouth and have them dump the whole basket in. I’m a pig.
13 Cynthia // Jul 29, 2008 at 11:35 am
Of that list… “And cheeseburgers, cookies, ice cream, muffins, milkshakes, pizza, donuts, chocolate and French fries.” the only two things I really feel I have to have are the chocolate and the pizza!
The rest, if someone offered me enough money, I could give up for life. Well, as long as I could continue to make healthy ice cream substitutes. Though I’m beginning to feel like I ought to be making my own pizza.
I do think though that being active does help your body tend towards craving healthy things. God help me, last night I bought myself a treat at the store. Would you believe my “treat” was a $7 package of smoked salmon? And I’m really looking forward to having some today on a salad.
I’ve gone over to the dark side…
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