Eating Illegal?

What? What? Planned illegal eating? Unplanned illegal eating? Huh? What is this woman talking about? The Goddess is saying there is an appropriate time to eat off-plan?

Yeah. Actually, I am. Maybe you won’t agree, but hear me out and maybe you will.

There are certain circumstances when it can be a perfectly workable choice to eat off-plan, if done correctly. I’ll tell you why you might decide to do this and how to do it as safely as possible.

First of all, I have one completely incontravertable rule for all off-plan eating: It must be planned. That sounds ironic, doesn’t it? Off-plan planning. I made a funny.  “Planned? What the…?” you may ask. I sure wouldn’t blame you if you did.

That’s right. Planned! No matter what you put in your mouth, I want you to think about it beforehand. I want you to make thought-out, informed decisions about everything you eat. Why? You have a better chance of succeeding—that’s why!

When you eat off-plan because of a spur-of-the-moment circumstance—the smell of food in a mall, or the addition of one of your old, pre-low-carb favorites to the potluck table, for example—then it’s already turning into an impulsive act. Impulsive acts are often, by their very nature, uncontrolled. They don’t involve reflection. They don’t involved making an informed decision by weighing out the pros and cons. They just kind of “happen” and tend to make you feel out-of-control. Like you’re submitting, right? Giving up? Giving in? Losing it?

On the other hand, let’s say you have a particular occasion coming up. It’s your anniversary. It’s your kid’s birthday. Whatever. There is a situation where you would like to drink a glass of wine or eat a few bites of Super-Goodie Whatever. (But no whine, please! Goddess is allergic to whine.) So you decide, you’re going to eat off-plan.

It's vital you don't feel deprived, left-out, or sorry for yourself. That's setting yourself up for a fall. So don't. It's most important you feel like you can live with your plan and integrate it into your lifestyle. Sometimes, this may mean you make a decision to eat a limited amount of something that would divert you from your goals with regular consumption.

In a situation where you’ve made a decision about eating illegally, you know what’s coming. You’ve thought it out, considered the consequences, and have decided it fits into your “acceptable risk” zone. You have considered and decided beforehand what you’re going to eat and how much. You’ve made the plans you need to do this successfully. (Worried you’ll overdo? Eat some legal stuff beforehand so you won’t be ravenous, for example.) You adjust your carb intake down to compensate earlier in the day. You drink extra water, and get a little exercise in. You plan to stay off the scale for the next few days, since you anticipate the potential of an ascending scale dial because of water retention.

Goddess “Be-Informed” Sidebar: You don’t physically gain 5 pounds of fat after an illegal incident. But you can gain five pounds of water immediately. After you eat low-carb for a while, your body responds much differently to carbs. So don’t freak out. Watching people freak out makes Goddess very, very tired.

But even more important than the prep factor— by only eating off-plan when you’ve decided to beforehand, you are giving yourself the message you need to know: YOU are in control. This isn’t about feeling as if you “couldn’t resist.” (Cookie Godfather visit?) This isn’t because you have “inadequate willpower.” (Willpower is a silly concept, anyway. Just ask me.)

Beyond that, though: Unplanned Illegal Eating gives you the exact wrong message: You can't do it. It doesn’t stimulate feelings of mastery and self-control, that’s for sure! What kind of things do you tell yourself then, anyway? You’re weak? You can’t make it? You’ll never reach your goals? You have no willpower?

No, no, no! Negative is definitely not how you want to self-define. Your self-defintion is what drives your reality. You will ultimately act in accordance with how you self-define. Make conscious choices!

The other thing about unplanned illegal eating: It’s uncontrolled. You’re much more likely to decide to chuck in the whole day, evening, week, whatever if you are making these decisions without thinking them through. If you’ve told yourself already, “OK, I will have ½ of Dessert-Thing and a couple tablespoons of Other-Thing, “ then that’s probably what you’ll have.

What do we have when we’re through? Well, it’s pretty simple to make your choices and live with ‘em if you exercise just a little care.

Top Tips on Illegal Eating

1. Make planned choices, legal or illegal. Consider pro’s, con’s, and especially consequences.
2. Feel your own power in the process. Whether you’re eating legal or illegally, YOU are the driving force. It’s always better to take responsibility than to pretend like you’re the victim of circumstance.
3. Control your choices. If you are gonna eat illegal, then decide before hand how much and of what you're gonna eat. That way, you’re already outlined the scope of the choice. Don’t consider anything else as an option.
4. If you do end up “losing it” with an illegal eating incident, take note! This does NOT need to be a problem. If you lean from the situation, if you use this information for making future choices, it can become a boon in your long-term success instead of a stumbling block. The more you know about how you work, the better prepped you are to be successful.
5. Compensate other ways to help yourself continue to feel in control. If you’re gonna carb it up this weekend, eat fewer carbs a few days before. Don’t go insane here, but maybe eat induction-style for a couple of days. Drink extra water. Be prepared and be smart.
6. Maybe the most important tip of all: Eat illegally infrequently. The choices you make most often are the ones that come home to roost. It is, as it always has been, 100% up to you.

And if you don’t feel like you can eat a few bites and move on?

Easy, Sparky: then don’t. You’ll feel better in the morning. No matter what happens, keep your focus, stay real with yourself, and keep your brain engaged, and you’ll be fine.