I had a cookie...

taurie

I know exactly what you're faced with. It's buying season where I work and there are loads of cookies laying around. I always tell myself 'I can have a couple cookies if I really want them, but that means I can't have _________ (fill in the blank) later. Today I had two cookies (55 cals each).

fitplease

One cookie is okay. It's a nice treat. You didn't pig out. You showed self-control. Bravo!

fatboypup

Cookies..... NOM NOM

sherrysheffer

i had a bowl of ice cream and a snickers the deal is to work it off and its all good. besides the stress you get from wanting what your not having is much worce on you love:flowerforyou:

sherrysheffer

good job on you weight lose.

LilRedRooster

If I was down on myself every time I had a cookie.. Well, I'd be down a lot, let's just put it that way.

I have cookies occasionally. And chocolate. And things like Nutella, cupcakes, or hot dogs. If I really feel like I want something, I don't deprive myself. The key is, though, I don't have more than one. I don't eat a package of cookies, or 3 hot dogs. I'll have one, savor it, enjoy every moment of that badness, and then move on.

MrsPike07

I eat cookies quite often actually. Why? Because if I forbid myself from eating them I will want them more. I just make sure I exercise more to compensate for my cookies

princessekrystale

LOOOOOL .... Guess what? Today I had:
- chocolate
- Ice cream
- chocolate
- and MORE chocolate.

But I'm not going to beat myself up for it :happy:

Kambriasgranny

You hada a cookie......that's ok, real life stuff happens and we react the way we do. The important thing is that you recognized it...don't beat yourself up....we ALL have times when we reach for something that we know we shouldn't. Work out an extra few minutes and move on!!! :happy:

JohnGym

It doesn't matter one little bit.

This site gives you a daily calorie goal. I'm guessing 1 cookie didn't push you over your daily goal? So what is the problem?

You can have a cookie every single day and lose weight as long as you stay under your daily goal.

Daline

I believe a healthy diet is a balanced one...one cookie every now and then is not going to break a diet. I eat a few cookies a week! I am pretty much just counting calories at this point...it's working out so far! 23 pounds down in 8 weeks!

AmberABowser

I don't see a problem with eating something more sweet or even something fast foodish now and then as long as you compensate for it by extra exercise or less food for dinner. If I couldn't eat certain stuff now and then *especially since I work at a Mcdonalds* I wouldn't have made it through these first eight weeks without crashing and giving up

graysmom2005

See my post about the 540 calorie snack sized McFlurry I had today. Girl, I FEEL you! :-)

lerob

Okay, I think you've gotten a lot of advice about how it is okay to have a cookie every now and then, so let's skip that part.

I think the subtext that's gone unmentioned here is that you're disappointed that you caved and gave into temptation. Eating a cookie isn't serious -- it's just calories, the same as anything else, and from that standpoint, it's no better than eating a teeming bowl of salad. Granted, there are nutritional differences, and your body operates differently on simple sugars and fats than it does on lettuce... but really, so long as you're within your range, a little bit of sweet and simple is good for your brain, both physiologically and mentally. So don't beat yourself up over that.

But the fact that you gave into temptation when you didn't want to is more serious. It's a matter of willpower, and for me, and I think a lot of other people, it's the hardest part about dieting, and it's one of the things that separates dietary change from the lifestyle change that we all seem to crave. So let's talk about it: why did you cave? I'm not sure, but I'd guess that you didn't wake up that morning and say to yourself, "I'm going to have a cookie today!" -- I'd guess, more likely, that it entered your eyesight, and there was a gradual erosion of your willpower to resist that temptation. That's usually how it is for me.

Let me share with you three anecdotes:

Firstly:

Even as late as a month ago, I would walk to work, and I would pass a Macs (which is a convenience store kind of similar to 7-11). It was almost a reflex that I would go in and buy something there. It was usually a bottle of pop (Dr Pepper is my Kryptonite), and some days, it was more; I was particularly fond of those $3 bags of jelly candy. I'd pick those up, spend about $5 on my Visa to do so, and I'd go to work and eat and drink throughout the day. I spent almost a year drinking a Dr Pepper or two or even three daily. It got to the point where I had heartburn in the morning every morning, and unless I crammed down a few Tums, it wasn't going to go away. I had to keep a bottle in my desk.

I went on several 'diets' as best as I knew how at the time. I mean to say, I pretended to watch what I eat, cut out really fatty foods, but never monitored portions, etc.., and 'treated' myself every often so I didn't relapse. Obviously, those diets were a waste of time, and often of money, because I'd try to buy healthy foods that I couldn't tolerate, or what have you... but every day, walking by that store, I felt the pull. Some days, I'd just go in and buy something. I'd have to chant to myself 'don't go in, don't go in' as I walked by it. Once I had finished walking past the store, I'd be fine until lunch, when I might be tempted again, but that was a victory, as far as I was concerned.

But it wasn't a victory at all, really, because I still was subservient to that voice. It's compromise, dancing sugarplum-like through your will. It's the destroyer of hearts and of every bit of resistance you could muster. And here's the stupid thing -- if you have to face it, it's already won. If you have to say to yourself, 'well, I could just not eat a 2pm snack...', then you're done, and that cookie is as good as in you, because even if you say 'no' this time around, you're already asking yourself 'should I or shouldn't I?', and that's flipping a coin that really wants to land on heads. I once read that there was no thing as willpower, and I believe it, at least to an extent. Force of will is extraordinarily hard to exert.

Secondly:

I've had two people in my life who I would consider to be extraordinarily disciplined. The first is my father. He used to drink 64oz of Diet Coke every day of his life, right up until I was about 7 or 8. But if anyone could make me believe in willpower, it's him. He cut out pop cold, one day, and to my knowledge, hasn't had a sip of a Diet Coke since. When he wants something sweet, he has a pink lemonade, or, on the odd occasion, a bottle of Ginger Ale. He doesn't drink anything caffeinated at all, not coffee or tea or anything.

But here's how he does it. He doesn't wake up every day and look at a bottle of Diet Coke and say 'Gosh, that would be good--but NO! I am on a diet and not drinking that any more!'. Instead, he wakes up, and he doesn't think about it. When he goes to the store, if he sees a bottle, it's not 'I can't have that', but a complete lack of consideration at all. To him, and I've asked him, drinking Diet Coke has about the same appeal as drinking bleach -- he just doesn't think about it, because it's moved from an issue of consideration to a non-issue. Now, if he wants a Diet Coke, he has to look at it and say 'I'm going to drink that.' To my knowledge, he's not ruled by the voices in his head, asking him if he wants to eat or drink something. Instead, he rules over his food. He says, 'cookie, I will eat you today, because this is what I want to do.'

This is the direction I want to move in. Though he and I are both eating healthy, only I hear the siren call of potato chips. I don't think it is immunity to temptation that my dad has; it is just an indomitable desire to always be in control of who he is and what he wants. If you're concerned about temptation, maybe it's time to ask yourself whether you prefer choosing what to eat or being told what to eat. I think developing that sort of resistance only comes with practice, much like you and I are practiced at rationalizing what we put in our mouths -- it looked good, I couldn't resist, etc..; all it is is forming the opposite habit until it's your default setting to ignore food unless you've planned to eat it. In a way, MFP is great for that, because you can lay out your day, and then say, 'okay, I have 200 cals kicking around, so when I see something I want to eat, I will eat it, because I choose to do so.'

(The second person the most disciplined was my chemistry teacher, who gave up smoking cold turkey. But he was always a bit odd -- he had a growth on his toe, so he diluted some hydrochloric acid, and... He was an odd duck. Probably don't use him for inspiration.)

Tertiarily:

It's hard to resist temptation, and it seems like skinny, healthy people eat whatever they want. That is the case, in my experience, but here's the rub: they don't feel guilt over eating a poutine, or mini-donuts. When we stress out over what we've put in our mouths, we hurt ourselves further. It leads to anxiety, which leads to loss of sleep, which kills our metabolic rate. It also leads to disorders. Not all eating disorders involve habitually sticking your finger down your throat, or midnight fridge-raids; it's just as dangerous to say 'I'm fat and out of shape, so why am I treating myself to this cookie?' You could be like my mother, who is so anxious over her weight that she constantly disparages herself in front of people (twice as much if we're viewing her photos). Her consciousness is so severe over the issue that she's poisoned my brother's mind to think that he has to be skinny, and so he runs a lot and was concerned about getting fat at the tender age of 7 years old.

My point is this: if you're going to eat the cookie, eat the damn cookie, and enjoy it. It's 200 calories, and if you go over your calorie limit for the day, then you've gone over it for the day. No biggie -- I have to force myself to remember that if I eat 2260 calories in a day, than that means that I have to burn an extra 50 calories the next day *to keep losing two pounds a month*. You're eating healthy, now, and even more importantly, you know what you're eating, and you can learn what you need to do to lose weight. In my mind, and I think that a lot of people would agree with me, learning how to lose weight and to be happy with yourself is more important than actually losing weight. Be healthy of mind, and you'll have to work to keep your body unhealthy.

We concern ourselves so heavily with the notion that we must be these pillars of austerity and stoicism, that we have to suddenly cut out everything bad from our diets. That's so not the case, and it's not sustainable. What we have to do here is to make sure we build healthy eating habits, such as knowing how much food we consume, knowing how much to consume, learn what tempts us, and how to avoid it -- or better yet, learn to fight temptation with your mind -- and when to enjoy ourselves eating. Food is freaking delicious, and I would be so sad to lose enjoyment of it, even if it is mind-numbingly fattening or sugary.

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- Too-long, didn't-read summary: -

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1. We have no willpower. If you have to decide if you want to eat something, you're going to eat it now or later, most likely.
2. Better to choose your food than have your food choose you. With careful allowance, you can allow for spontaneity and decadence.
3. Enjoy your temptations, or you'll make yourself sick from anxiety.

JohnGym

Great post!