I recently wrote an article claiming that the biggest secret to my success in weight loss was meal planning.This is a key component to my success long term and is a simple adjustment you can make to have a big impact.
However, the biggest work I have done, (am still doing) is around healing my relationship with food. It should come as no surprise that in order to get to the size I was, I was eating too much. I was eating too much, way too often. Even after I lost over 100 pounds following WW, I still struggled with binge eating episodes that left me feeling broken and frustrated. In reality, some of what I had done to lose the weight was actually contributing to my disordered relationship with food.
I heard Jordan Syatt say something powerful on his Personal Trainer Podcast. He said:
“Just because nothing is off limits, doesn’t mean there are no limits.”
– Jordan Syatt
Have you ever tracked food, either calorie counting or through a program like Weight Watchers (WW)? If so, have you had an off-track day or “cheat meal” that you just don’t track? If you don’t track it, you can pretend it didn’t happen, right?
I used to do this with WW and I carried it with me into calorie counting. I knew that being about 80% consistent with my calories would lead to success. Therefore I had about 5 days a month that I could view as “off-track”. If a meal was going to be “off-track” then I literally did not track it. This would often snowball. If that meal was going to put me over my calories for the day, then I might as well not track anything. This in turn became permission to eat all the things I had been restricting on all the other days.
How tacos changed everything
For some reason, one day I decided to track my calories even though I knew I was going to be over my calories for the day. It was a night we were having tacos for dinner. In my mind tacos were a “bad food” that could not fit into a weight loss plan. On this particular day, I tracked the tacos. What I discovered was that my “off-track” meal only put me about 500 calories over my target for the day. 500 extra calories, in the scope of a week of staying within my target range, is nothing! It would not ruin all my progress or defeat all my efforts. I had the same experience when I started tracking pizza. A slice of pizza is around 2-300 calories depending on the crust and toppings.
You might be thinking, yeah, but if I am eating pizza I am eating at least half the pie, and breadsticks, and dessert. I used to be the same way. But the crazy thing is, once you give yourself permission to eat anything, you no longer need to eat everything. Once pizza is not off limits, you no longer need to eat it all in one sitting. The idea that you have to eat it all that day because you are not allowed to, or shouldn’t have it, becomes non-existent.
Different ends of the spectrum
I have experienced two conflicting reactions to my practice of including treats while working on losing weight.
“You can eat that?”
A friend asked me this once as I was about to eat a chocolate Rice Krispy treat. This pre-packaged treat was 80 calories. For context, a medium sized apple is around 95 calories. This question tells me that the asker has put food into categories. Things you can eat and things you can’t eat when trying to lose weight.
“That’s all you’re going to have?”
Likewise, this question was asked of me as I cut myself a smaller than average slice of apple pie. This question tells me that the asker believes that if you are going to indulge in a “bad food” you might as well have a lot of it because you definitely shouldn’t have more of it, ever.
All or Nothing
While these two reactions appear different, they really stem from the same “All or Nothing” mindset. If you have similar thoughts around foods that feel off limits I encourage you to start paying attention to the calories in some of the foods you feel you should avoid. In both the case of the Rice Krispy treat and the smaller than average slice of pie, I was able to fit the treats in my calorie range for the day. Had I not known how many calories were in the pie, and had I fostered the idea that pie was bad, I likely would have eaten way more than I did. The small slice was enough of a treat on that occasion. I knew I could have more another time if I wanted it. I had zero guilt about eating it or ruining all my progress.
Back to the quote from Jordan, “Just because no food is off limits, does not mean there are no limits.” The key to finding that balance is in giving yourself permission to enjoy foods you love, but don’t do it blindly. Find out how many calories are in your favorite burger. Determine what an actual serving of ice cream looks like. Then enjoy those foods on a more regular basis. Measure the ice cream in a nice bowl. Sit down and actually enjoy it. Don’t shovel it in from the carton while standing in front of the freezer like you are Goldilocks hoping the three bears don’t come in and find you. Give yourself full permission to enjoy the food. Eliminate the guilt so that the guilt does not drive you to eat more than you need.
Questions?
Do you have questions about how to make this happen for yourself or want support on your own journey? Post a comment below or sign up for my email list! I am here to help.
