I think I have a similar post from last cycle. I probably will every cycle. We talked once before about how doing this program is about choices. It's not about what you can't have. It's about what you CAN! While you're on Phase 1 you may feel so very restricted. Stop thinking about how you can't have different foods. Start thinking about the fact these are the foods you CAN have that will help you toward your goal. These foods were chosen because they are the best foods that will help you to lose that 0.5-1 lb a day! On those days you just feel like you just don't care and by golly, you're going to have a piece of pizza. Well, have it by golly. You CAN. You won't get the results you want, but you CAN. It will set you back probably a couple of days, but if that's worth it to you then do it. Choices. That's all it's about. When you follow the program completely, you WILL succeed. There are days though, that you just don't care and you want eat out with your family. This is a choice I was faced with last night. My daughter (she's almost 4) was craving a steak. Yes, she's a big time carnivore. Anyway.. I took her to Texas Roadhouse and we had steaks. Before we left I had no intention of cheating. As we sat down however, I started to change my mind. It's been 53 days since I've had any sort of bread (who's counting?) I did a 40 day Phase 1 this time. So, as I said I had a choice to make. Was I going to cheat or was I going to stick to the "rules" of Phase 2. I'm not going to call them "rules." I'm going to call them CANS. The things I CAN have to reach my goal. I CAN have, EVERYTHING except starch and sugar. That's A LOT of stuff! (Reminds me a little of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. I don't know why I just thought about that because this is not at all as heavy as that. You aren't choosing to disobey God in this case. I just thought about it, because my brain likes to jump around as you see)
Anyway.... I'm going to start over down here because I got way off track up there. So, I had a choice to make. Knowing that if I cheated there would be a chance that I'd have to do a steak and apple day, I decided to go ahead and cheat. I like steak anyway.. Well, they brought out the bread and I looked at the menu. I ate one roll. It was good, but not quite what I was hoping for. Maybe it would have been better with actual butter not that yucky cinnamon butter stuff they have. I had my salad. That was yummier than the bread! My daughter shared it with me. We found out that blue cheese crumbles are a little too strong for her. Haa! My food came out. Way more steak than I should have had, but dang it was good. I loved every bite. Even, when my tummy started feeling like it might be getting stretch marks I kept eating. What in the world?! I tried to do what Tom says about when you're done eating. He says that it loses it's taste after a while. Nope! I tasted every. single. bite! Then I stole 2 crunchy fries off of my daughter's plate. She just ate the steak, no fries. So, it doesn't sound like a bad cheat does it? I weighed this morning and I'm 0.2 over median. So, I actually gained 0.4 because I was 0.2 under yesterday. Still, not bad right?
Maybe it was bad though. What I realized this morning as I weighed is that this is what I did last cycle. I would have a tiny bit here and there and have no issues, so I'd have a little more. By the end of my 21 days I was already eating like I was on Phase 3. Cheating and then not seeing a bad result on the scale just gave me confidence to do it again. So, this is why I think it's way worse to cheat. Go ahead if you must. I think though, that by cheating we're missing out. We're missing out on the chance to work on ourselves. Not just self control. If you got through Phase 1 then, that's not an issue. We're working on the mental part of eating. The not eating for comfort thing. Eating only when we're hungry. Then, stopping before our stomachs get stretch marks. This Phase 2 is extremely important. It's not about the CANT'S. It's about the CANS. It's about remembering our original goal. It's about working on our minds so that we can really be ready when it's time to move on. It's about not giving ourselves permission to eat the bad stuff (though we can), but instead choosing to give ourselves permission to eat the stuff that will be good for our bodies. Isn't that where most of us have failed in the past? Choosing the bad over the good. Choosing it because for some reason we don't feel like we deserve the "good stuff." If our body is a temple, then let's start treating it that way. Let's take each Cycle as a chance to clean out our temple. Phase one would be cleaning everything out and de-cluttering. Phase 2 is moving in the furniture. The things that have to be in there. Finally, Phase 3 would be decorating. Putting in a few final little touches that make it our own. Sometimes we have so much weight to lose that we repeat the cycles. That's ok. Don't feel discouraged. Don't think about the CAN'TS. There are way more CANS! You CAN do it! I believe in you. Hopefully that's enough to get you started. Sometimes that's all I need is for someone else to believe in me. So, I'll be your someone if you want.
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