Thread: I refuse to feel guilty!

I did it...on Super Bowl Sunday I had a small (and I do mean small!!!) sliver of pizza.

I have read on here about some people's individual definition of a 'cheat' (for some it's eating off plan, for others it's matter of planning, etc...) and I have always pondered this question when it comes up. What is a 'cheat'?

To call something a 'cheat' means that this is an action that is bad and that one should feel guilty afterwards and repent. You know what... I'm tired of feeling bad for the things that I have eaten. I did it everytime I ate 10 cookies in a sitting and then went back for the another 10 a few hours later (or a few minutes later). Or when I hid the things I was eating from the people who love me because I was ashamed of myself for having no control over food (or so I thought). Or thinking about my weight problem every waking moment but feeling powerless to change it.

Then I found DANDR and this site. Suddenly I gained power and control over my problem. Most of my problem was psychological. I had to stop thinking of food items in terms of 'good' or 'bad'. To constantly label an item as 'bad' brings on a sense of deprivation for me. If I 'can't' have a specific food then I want it even more.

I don't 'cheat' and make 'bad' choices. I merely make choices when it comes to the food I eat. I choose to eat real, healthy, unprocessed, whole foods. This is a complete shift in my thinking. I eat better now than I have ever eaten in my life. On the rare occasion I 'choose' to eat something that offers me less health benefits well, I refuse to feel guilty about it. It does me no good!

Just the ramblings of my mind...

Started Atkins 10/27/03
182/150/142

Good deal GM! It sounds like you have everything figured out!

I must admit, that I've eaten some high-carb food and didnt consider it a cheat. We're not talking about mounds of mashed potatoes or anything, but I did have the sliver of pizza like you mentioned. I say, as long as we didnt finish off the whole thing by ourselves (which I probably would have before this WOEing) we shouldnt beat oursleves up.

Good luck to you!!

"We've Only Just Begun"
- The Carpenters

260lbs 5/00
231lbs 8/15/03 (began Atkins)
189lbs now
150lbs goal
Fiesty Red-Head
www.sdsymphony.org

Excellent observations GM! I too feel the same way as you - LC is my WOL, but if I choose to, I may have something that is not as great for me. Sometimes I pay for it - headache, bloated, etc. but that was MY choice. I now know how I react to certain foods, and yes, I may endulge at certain times (rarely, unlike in the past when that was all I ate!), and I ENJOY it. But just as quickly, I jump back on with the LC lifestyle - that is the way I eat now (and forever).

Enjoy occasional treats (and I mean occasional!), but don't fret. I know I don't - it's a choice!

Remember I Cor. 13 - charity never faileth.

you know what... that is awesome. I am so happy for all of you because you all GET it.... its a way of life, not a race, not a test. Sometimes you go off the straight and narrow, but sometimes a detour needed.

Sarah
159/148/135

...by George I think she's got it...



Always eat your veggies first!
LCE member since March 2002

That's exactly the same premise I used to stop smoking! Everytime someone would light up around me I would feel so deprived...until I realized that I wasn't depriving myself of cigarettes...I COULD HAVE ONE if I wanted it...
Made things MUCH easier...and I quit!

227.5/213 helloooooo 150!
Gertie

GM, I understand exactly how you feel... I too try not to "bad" myself when I eat something that is not as good for me as other foods. I have control now that I never had, and I am making conscious choices about the foods I am putting into my body. I also try to fit those occassionals into my 35-50 carbs I eat each day. One day I might have a piece of bread, another day I might have 1/4 cup of rice. I don't eat those things every day, maybe once a week I will have something like that, and pizza, well - you can count pizza as 25 carbs(pizza hut pepperoni lovers 1 slice - according to dr. atkins carb gram counter)
so....keep up the good work, you have it undercontrol.

http://www.youravon.com/cnorulak

carolyn in texas
started 8/11/03
327/288/150

Was it Pizza Hut? I love Pizza hut, especially the bread sticks, snicker, I confessed earlier about my "cheat".

I have always looked at food as bad, and the enemy, just the way I was raised, not saying that it's right, but it's hard for me not to look at food like that.

But on the other hand, since I started the wol, I am beginning to look at "certain" foods differently, as "good".

Kristie

168/158/115

When I am blue.....I remember to breath again

I think some of us used to call a cheat "off plan eating" and a planned cheat was "Planned off plan eating or POPE.
Speaking of pizza hut. They closed the one by me and I never even realized it. I must have passed it a hundred times in the past year without seeing it was now a tanning salon. Before this woe I woulda known about it before it closed.

Rob
310/230.5/180

Me, a skeptic? I trust you have proof.

[This message was edited by Rob on 02-05-04 at 02:36 AM.]

I've always felt that deciding if you're being good or bad based on what you eat gives food way too much power over your life. For a lot of us who have been through diet after diet, it's a hard mind set to change. But it can and needs to be changed if you're going to makes this WOE your WOL. Can you imagine if you said you were a bad walker or just couldn't walk succesfully because you stumbled or tripped?


That said, I do occaissionly have unfortunate lapses in judgement when making food choices. But that's all it is, a moment of inattention or poor decision making when I let something that sounds tasty right now overcome my better judgement. The secret is to learn from those lapses and move on.



Always eat your veggies first!
LCE member since March 2002

I scheduled POPE's once a mth last time I did this (and then I failed because I was on a permanent POPE when I was sick)..

Once I'm a bit further along the weightloss path, I'll go back to that because I miss our Apricot Chicken mthly pizza night.

But first my first POPE won't be until August, for my birthday.

The Cantab from the land of the Hobbits...
188/175/145 - target June 2004.