What stops you from cheating?

sturbich · August 2013

I walked into a store this morning looking for a pastry, and the muffins looked soo good. As i got close enough to order they had the calories at over 580 per muffin!:noway:

That stopped me. I started thinking how many minutes of work out that will be, (that would mean no treat for the rest of the weekend).

What keeps you straight?

eblakes93 · August 2013

Planning out my meals ahead of time, so I have something to be accountable to.

Getting enough protein and water during the day. If I don't, I find myself binging at night.

And plain old will power of course.

fuzzieme · August 2013

Self loathing, pretty much

I think about how if I eat it, I'll feel fat. It won't change how I look, in itself, but it will completely change how I think I look. Instantly

battybecks · August 2013

Hi!

I've only just started on here, but I've been quite motivated so far by the colour change on the homepage summary. It went red yesterday (having eaten too many calories) and I'm determined it will not go red today!

I'm off to a wedding tomorrow though and know there's going to be all sorts of food and booze, so am looking forward to what other people say. Not sure thinking of the red number will be enough to stop me!

B x

rachel4 · August 2013

For me it's exactly what you just did. once I see the calories in the food it normally makes me not want it. also if you look closer you see all the other CRAP in it and it turns me away.
but of course that doesn't happen ALL THE TIME but normally I can reject it by huge calorie amounts

Good Job walking away this morning

jessicapk · August 2013

I'm about the same way. I think about how hard I have to work out to make up for it. Sometimes it works and others, it doesn't. If that doesn't do it, I think about how much better I feel and how much better my clothes fit. If that doesn't work, I become a scrooge and decide I don't want to spend the money on it

karenertl · August 2013

If it's available, I like to look at how many calories, how much fat, and all the other things listed on the nutrition label. Then I come to the same conclusion you do in that it would probably be too much work to burn all that junk off. With my luck, all the bad stuff would go to areas I would love to slim down!

SezxyStef · August 2013

Cheating???? I am not married to food so there is no cheating.

if I have the calories I eat it...ie last night...choice 2 donut holes or a drumstick (ice cream in a waffle cone with carmel down the middle topped with hard chocolate smothered in nuts and carmel chunks)

Guess which one I picked.

ckasap · August 2013

I think about seeing it listed in my diary later and all the things I could have eaten for the same calories and I stop. So far, it's working.

strongmindstrongbody · August 2013

I think about how that food is not going to fuel my muscles, just get me fatter.

MsPudding · August 2013

I find that if I think in terms of 'cheating' or 'no go foods' then pretty soon any diet is doomed to failure as willpower will, inevitably, cave in.

Instead I go for having what I want and if I'm over calories on one day, I'll cut down the next day by an equivalent amount so that the average daily calorie intake for the week works out at -3,500 to try and get the 1lb loss.

JM109 · August 2013

I just think of it as life, in general. I can't cheat life. I don't wanna be a cheater, in any aspect of my life. So, I don't. I just eat the best I can everyday. If, one day, I don't eat so well - I'm not cheating... I just didn't eat so well and life goes on from there.

That's just me.

*smiles*
Jean

cwolfman13 · August 2013

I have a healthy relationship with food and I hit my macro and calorie targets. No foods are off limits, if I want a pastry I have a pastry...I get my nutrition on and I get my fitness on...there is no such thing as cheating...ergo I never cheat. When I was losing I regularly went over my calorie goal...but I was almost always still at a deficit of calories and rarely above maintenance...I don't consider that to be cheating.

Everyone forgets that their calorie goal is a huge deficit from maintenance calories and gets bent out of shape for nothing when they go over a little bit or eat some "bad" food (no such thing)...it's ridiculous.

jaecamp1 · August 2013

It took me a really long time to realize that by cheating I'm only cheating myself. I was always big and shamed for it, so I hid a lot of eating with the mindset of "if my mother doesn't know I'm really screwing her over" later turned to bf, husband etc. Really just anyone. I had to keep telling myself "by cheating you aren't screwing over _____ you are just screwing over yourself" until I finally believed it.

jaxbeck · August 2013

Knowing something isn't worth it. Just yesterday I stopped in a gas station & decided to get a drink. Saw the bottled lemonade and it looked sooo good. Took a look at the label & saw it would mean 70 carbs. A bottle of lemonade was so not worth that many carbs!

caramammal · August 2013

i'm going on holiday in 3 weeks and i really want to lose around 4 pounds by then (or more). I dont plan to diet while i am away, so my mantra is if i want a glass of wine, i can, but not until the first day of my holiday. If i want a cake,i can, but not until the first day of my holiday.

However, if i really really want something, then i will have it, but i will also make sure i burn off those calories, and like you say, burning off 580 calories takes ages, for me, that's a 5-6 miles run :ohwell:

Factory_Reset · August 2013

Nothing

I can make just about anything fit

michellekicks · August 2013

There's really no such thing as cheating. If you are tracking and counting and you don't record something, that's cheating... but then you're only cheating yourself. I like details, so I like to keep very accurate records. I track all my food, even on days I'm way over.

juliemouse83 · August 2013

My husband would either kill me or leave me...

I kid, I kid...

Simply because this is my third go 'round on MFP, and my 4th or 5th attempt at getting the weight off permanently, I know that if I cheat, it becomes a slippery slope, and that it becomes easier to justify and boom, before you know it, I'm fat again.

ETA: And by cheat? I mean go whole hog, don't log, eat all the foods, don't stop until I want to, etc. etc... and basically say, 'To hell with logging today. One missed day won't hurt..." This time around I have a healthier relationship with food, have learned what moderation is, and that I simply don't have to starve myself to lose and be happy.

HacheraTsarine · August 2013

my MFP friends. I snoop around so much in their diairies, and comment a lot about it to them. I'd be an hypocrite if I were to indulge everytime I feel like indulging (which would be every 2hours, there's a coffee shop in the building I work in).

and the graphs (from MFP and Jawbone UP) too. I'm a graph enthusiast. I like them to be pretty. Indulging means skewing my results which will end with ugly charts.

MizTerry · August 2013

Well this is totally not what I thought it was going to be.

Food...hmmm...

IIFYM for me.

glin23 · August 2013

Thinking about how long I'll need to work out to burn it off.

LovelyVegetarian · August 2013

Sometimes I will fully buy something that is bad and I'll feel terrible and just throw it out. Yes it's a waste (of food and money) but I have gotten that close - where I'm holding the [fill in the blank] and then just have to throw it out.

Other times, taking one single bite will tie me over. I will log it and usually it's not that bad!

BattleTaxi · August 2013

-Plan meals,
-Bring a lunch box,
-If I know I'm going out - plan venue ahead of time and research menu to pre-plan meal choices,
-Always exercise,
-If I know I'm going to go over cal limit, I do additional time in the gym in anticipation,
-I usually try to keep about 200-300 cals free towards the end of the day INCASE I crave something that otherwise does not fit my macros.

Edit:
Also, I think cheat days are stupid, I plan for stuff that is outside of my macros. And forget the word "wagon". Your body and your life should not be referred to as something this insignificant. Be real with yourself.

ReginaMarie7 · August 2013

This is exactly how I am, that's why counting calories works well for me. It doesn't make anything "off limits" so to speak, it just forces you to balance your calories accordingly. If I'm craving something specific I see if it will fit in my limit, if it doesn't then I just don't eat it. Of course some things require much more will power than others.

MzManiak · August 2013

Nothing

I can make just about anything fit

:smokin:

newfette81 · August 2013

I dont consider anything cheating.. if it fits into my calories I can eat it..

what stops me from bindging is knowing how disappointed I will feel in myself afterwards.

SerenaBeans08 · August 2013

I remember what I want to look like. That seems to help me think about what is really important.

TabithaRose87 · August 2013

i think about if its worth the calories/fat and think about if that food makes me feel bloated/lazy. and I put a picture in my head of how I want to look/feel and then decide if eating that will help me get there.