How to not splurge now when you know you will for an upcoming event/party?

mjc8080

How do you overcome the urge to "cheat" day after day even though a party or event is 1 week away? I guess I get into the mindset if I'm going to "cheat" at that point, might as well go off the track now till then and then get back to it. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

emmies_123

Reverse the logic in your head. You know you are going to splurge then (and well deserved, everyone needs fun) so behave now to minimize impact. If you want, think of calories as "money" and that you are "saving money for a treat." After all, if you knew you were going to need to make a large purchase in a week would you decide "oh well I can spend even more money on non-necessities now since I'll have to spend big money next week"

Remember, one meal/day of comfort does not derail the whole process.

88olds

One time I thought heard the voice of my 5th grade teacher. You’re only cheating yourself.

Really, who is there to cheat?

Drop the cheat mentality. Embrace the weight loss process. If you stick to the program where everything you eat goes in your diary no matter what, your point of view changes. There’s no way out of the accountability. What you call cheating is just quitting while telling yourself you plan to start again later. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe June.

Instead of abandoning the process, try to work it out. As pointed out, can you plan some lower cal days to cover? Can you calculate maintenance calories for a day? Can you figure out a reasonable extra number of calories you need for the event and just try to hit that? Just so you go in with a plan and come out and log the results into your diary. The process is more important than the numbers.

Someone said the other day that they just switch to their maintenance number for the holidays. Sometimes the best we can do is not gain for a while. Always have a plan. Don’t quit. If your plan doesn’t work out, make it better next time.