Hi guys
Just thought I'd chip in - oops, er ... contribute!
OK, so yesterday was Good Friday and my parents sent me a cheque to go out for a meal instead of an Easter Egg, and I was invited to join a friend at an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant.
For those of you who are still reading and haven't picked up and hurled the computer against the opposite wall ...
On any other day of the week I've developed a strategy that helps me a lot and I think it might help you too.
First and most important is to love yourself. Now I'm not a tree hugger (or a "yogurt knitter" I think is the modern term) - but do just think about this for a second. Think of all the things you say to yourself throughout the day. Would you let anyone talk to you like that? Would you talk to anyone else like that? So if it's not acceptable for anyone else, why is it OK for you? Think about the love you have for a puppy to discover how much you're capable of loving, then start doing the same for yourself.
OK, so with this attitude of kindness, it's time to stop with the "you can't"/"you're not allowed"/"you're too fat to have" comments. Plan when you're likely to have your meals and snacks and then stick to it. When you've just had a meal and already ready for a snack, just lovingly tell yourself "Of course you may, just not yet" or "in a couple of hours" or "in 90 minutes" or however long it is. Then get on with something else. If it doesn't work with you telling yourself, imagine someone you respect telling you: that's someone who would want you to succeed, not just give in to you, by the way!
Well, it barely sounds like me to read the above, but I guess it's what I'm saying.
For reference, my meals are at or after (and it's amazing how when the time actually comes, it's easy to wait a bit longer until the urge takes you!):
7am Breakfast
10am Morning Snack
1pm Lunch
4pm Afternoon Snack
7pm Dinner
10pm Dessert - I quite often leave until 10pm, but it's fine to have straight after dinner.
I leave it because, even with all the above, my mind starts playing tricks on me when I've eaten everything for that day. "You can't have anything until tomorrow" / "You've eaten all there is" / "That's it now" / "You can't have anything else" etc. Saving just ONE thing is enough to combat all of this, so I often have my Müllerlight yogurt later, instead of straight away after dinner.
One final thing: out of curiosity I looked at the calories in a typical Easter Egg. If you don't know, are you ever going to be surprised! For instance, a Cadbury's Wispa HALF egg contains 520 kcals. So with the 3 Wipsas that come with it, it's a colosal total of 1,620 kcals! Galaxy Minstrels is roughly the same total, but Mars are quite coy about admitting just how bad they are for you and print the calories "per 40g portion": the egg is 119g and the 2 bags of Minstrels inside are 115g each - so around the box contains around 1,900 kcals! DON'T DO IT!