when to chill out!

ssmom

I have been doing very well with my calories and weight loss, a good steady pace. I rarely eat out, at home everything has a label and I have a food scale so my calorie count is very accurate--for the most part. Today I found myself being a little obsessive though and had to just chill out! It was bad enough I had a slice of pizza at my mom's for lunch, but we came home and my son wanted to make blueberry muffins with fresh blueberries. I used some baking mix I had at home and followed the recipe--sugar, oil, milk, mix--I made more than the 6 it called for so they were smaller. However, I found myself not wanting to eat one because I just didn't know how many calories were in it. Here my son and husband are there enjoying them and my son (who is 4) wants me to eat one of his muffins and I don't want to. Needless to say, I said to myself "chill out and eat the freaking muffin"!!! It's not going to ruin my weightloss for the week so just eat it!!!

rero

as long as you don't do a 'thanksgiving' type binge then one muffin really wont harm especially if you're not adding a deathly amount of sugar. the thing about healthy living is balance which means eating things you like or want even if its not considered great. i occasionally have chocolate (yum!) or ice cream, especially if its a family occasion. i just go about it in a responsible way which is becoming a lot more natural as of late.

and the muffins you describe sound like a healthy choice compared to my vices. so don't be so hard on yourself and make your kid happy!

Amandac6772

I think that is the thing that makes it so hard to balance. I've noticed that I've been shying away from local restaurants that I don't know the calories for. I also have a 4 year old too that loves to "help" cook. In 20 years which will be more important the calories you ate or the memory of eating the muffin your son made.

Galathea

Sometimes we just need to take a deep breath. We are no machines. It's no problem, if things aren't always perfect or accurate.
We are doing this, also because we wanna get rid of the control food has over us. If it turns out to the opposite and we forget to enjoy the little good things that come with eating, what's the use of the whole thing then?
I hope you enjoyed the muffin. Your son was surely proud of seeing his mom eating something he helped to make. :flowerforyou:

Allibaba

It's all about moderation. I recently had a bit of a fight with my bf since he made us a nice homemade salsa and I was freaking out about how much oil he did or did not put in it. I had to take a chill pill and try not to stress too much. What I try to do is log the main foods, get a decent amount of exercise, and I try to leave a few hundred calories left over for things that I missed or just can't be bothered to enter, like a homemade dinner with 15 ingredients.

It is about enjoying your life and trying to get healthy, and realizing that we will not always be perfect, but we are going to do the best we can.

katya143

I get the same way, so what I do is overestimate the calories! It works, and you feel less guilty, but I must say, it is like a disease, we get to obsessed and it overtakes our minds with journaling (my husband gets annoyed at times)...we just have to remind ourselves that this is a lifestyle change...we need to just relax and take it easy

kspeach

The only things I really 'deny' myself are candy bars and soda. But if I MUST have one, then I figure out that's a few bit longer working out, or it will take away from my real food later. That's what really has done it for me and Pepsi! I'd rather eat 150-200 calories than drink a soda most days!

When I do get that M&M craving, I will have up to 5 pieces. Or split a muffin, or a 1/3 of a regular slice of cake.

I'm not good at the overall denial of things. I'm the type of person that if you tell me I can't have, I want it even MORE!! And I'd rather not have to test my will power more than I have to, so I go with the moderation theory. So far so good!