Remember how I made a vow, last New Years', to not eat chocolate in 2010? Well, guess what? I did it! Even through the holidays, through my birthday, through receiving all sorts of chocolatey goodies from well-meaning folk and through pregnancy cravings, I didn't eat any chocolate. It saved me, I kid you not, hundreds of thousands of calories last year that I do not have to burn off after I give birth in three months. (!)
I also had M&Ms with my breakfast on New Years' day, 2011. They were some of the yummiest M&Ms I've ever had.
And I learned something, which is always cool.
See, while I don't like the arbitrariness of setting a goal on New Years' day, I do like the time limit. One year. That's all I had to do. Then I could reevaluate based on logical conclusions rather than a desire to do the very thing I've decided not to do, (or a desire to not do the thing I've decided to do, whichever the case may be).
The reevaluation? I missed chocolate. It's my friend. It's sweet. It has antioxidants. I'm going to eat chocolate in 2011.
At the same time, I really really don't miss the hundreds of thousands of calories, or the workouts that I would have had to do to keep those calories off my thighs.
Hence, a different goal: for 2011, I will eat only 2 desserts per week. (A dessert counts as one bowl of ice cream, one piece of cake, etc. etc. A piece of candy counts as one dessert, but I can eat up to the entire normal-sized package before I start getting into my second dessert. Same thing counts for cookies, up to three.) I've done this restriction on myself before, and I've always liked the effects. Trouble is, I've never had a specific time when this restriction ended, so it was always, "Well, I want it, so I'll eat more this week and start again next week." Didn't work so well. I think I like the whole 1 year timeline. Yes, holidays count. I'll just have to ration better. Weeks start on Mondays, so I had the last two days to gorge myself on as much chocolate as I could eat (which wasn't as much as I would have expected- yippee!!) and today starts my first week.
Wish me luck and a December in size 10s. Or at least 12s. :)
4 comments:
Good luck!! and good for you!! During both my pregnancies, starting at about 2 months, I couldn't eat chocolate because it made me sick. I did a lot of moaning and complaining, but I'm sure it did save me a lot of calories too. I'm still losing pregnant-pounds, anyways. Two deserts a week is a really good limit...maybe I'll try that one...
~Carla
Good idea! I don't eat sweets at all and find it easier to consistently say no than to have a little. But a defined amount might work.
How many scoops of ice cream in that bowl? How big are the scoops? You've got to decide that in advance just like you've decided on 3 cookies. But what if they are Grandma's cookies? Those are gigantic!
I find the 100-calorie rule for treats is a good one. That's still 200 extra calories a week.
WV: notalc--a serious lack of a needed supply. The baby's bottom got a terrible diaper rash because there was notalc.
Wow I am so impressed you went a whole year...especially being pregnant! I did something similar with desserts one year and I still kept it up. Thankfully I can say it isn't to hard once you get past those initial cravings. Good luck!
You are amazing! Such self-control I could only dream of having.
I remember doing the 2 desserts/week with you! I've thought about doing it again. Maybe I will. Need to think about that though. Good luck!
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