Changing the ‘Treat Day’ Mentality…

Oh yes, we all love a good ‘Treat Day’…admit it, you know you have had one or have a weekly one.  I usually have one on Saturdays….or it starts with a Friday night treat and then leads into the full ‘Treat Day’ on Saturday.  So what could be wrong with allowing yourself a day to truly indulge in the tasty wonderfullness (not really a word) that you deny yourself the other 6 days a week?????  My answer to that is based on my experiences, this is not to say what others should think…..the answer is moderation!!

Today I have to learn to eat in moderation.....Oh, no!!!

Oh moderation, I loathe you, I struggle with you, I have a hard time keeping up with you!  I usually start out with the best ‘moderation’ intentions, but then my belly starts doing the thinking and it usually ends up with the inner monologue that goes something like this “Really, what is it going to hurt if for one evening you want to eat 12 girl scout cookies?  Having 4 bowls of cereal is not going to make you gain 10 pounds.  Eating those spoonfuls of peanut butter and then devouring Ritter Sports like they are going out of business is not that bad…it is only once”.  WRONG, so wrong, so so wrong!  I realized that in past weeks, I would do my little go ‘all out’ Saturday night.  That included me standing in the shoppette wondering what I wanted to ‘treat’ myself with.  I would usually go for Peanut M&Ms everytime, then some twizzlers, then a single serving bowl of Froot Loops and probably have some sort of fast food as well.  It never once made me feel good, in fact it made me sick for a couple of days.  It would make the number on the scale JUMP and it would make my stomach a complete mess.  It was never satisfying because I was not taking the time to enjoy the treats, I was just inhaling them as if someone was about to snatch them away.  All in all I decided to make one of the goals for this past week to NOT use my extra points+ for the week, and NOT use my activity points that I earned.  I would stick to my daily allowance, give myself treats in moderation and then see how I felt.  So here is how it turned out!

Woke up super early (are you really surprised?) and decided to make a fried PB and Banana sandwich…it was like French Toast, with cooked bananas and then melted PB on top.  All of this was 4 points+

Sooooo yummy!!

I indulged in some Blog browsing, laundry folding and dish washing before it was time for a snack.  I used the Youngin’s’ colorful little plastic dishes so it would brighten up snack time (it was raining outside, I make my own sunshine).  Snack was a sliced apple with homemade trailmix: 1/3c Total Raisin Bran, 1 tsp raisins, 1tsp mini chocolate chips, 14 almonds and then I made a Cherry Chocolate Smoothie (1 packet SF FF cocoa packet, 1 cup frozen cherries, 1/2 banana, 1.2c water).  Oh yes, I was hungry at this point…my whole snack was 4 points

Love the crunch!!

"I get my sunshine where ever I can!!"

By this time afternoon is rolling around so we need to get our daily errands done, grocery store, post office, fresh market.  I got tons of produce and then Eric got some banana bread.  Note: NEVER go out shopping for food when you have not eaten lunch.  By the time we got to the market and the Banana Bread was bought, my hunger signals were in over drive…so I broke off a little piece and ate it nice and slowly…..oh luscious nutmeg, banana, and cinnamon!!! 

It looks like a warning label..."Back OFF, Amanda!"

It held me over until I got home and made what I was really craving a new take on some southwestern egg rolls I had at Chili’s last week.  I included: chicken, egg-plant, tomato, yellow pepper, green pepper, spinach, corn and cumin!!  I put it all on a Low Carb Whole Wheat Tortilla, so good!!!

My Southwestern Wrap that I whipped together

I decided that “treat day’ also meant another kind of treat that I love, naps!  I took a nice nap after reading some of my Oxygen Magazine and woke up in time to see the grill being fired up for Shish-Kabobs!  I love some good, grilled, juicy shish-kabobs!  We had chicken, acorn squash and some yummy yellow carrots that we picked up from the market!  I ate all of my food, but I just could not get down the acorn squash…not sure if it was a texture thing or a taste thing, either way 1/2 of it stayed on the plate.

The yellow carrots and chicken in the background

My wonderful grilled dinner

I was very satisfied after my meal (with the chicken and yellow carrot), but I was getting a kick from my sweet tooth.  I had 10 points+ left over for the day!!!!  So since the Hub decided to make a fire in our fire pit outback, I decided to whip out the skewers for a good ‘ol s’more!!  I got creative here because I was really wanting a Girl Scout Thin Mint, but I didn’t want those AND hershey, so……I used the thin mint (1pt+ ea) as the chocolate in the s’more.  For 2 s’mores it was 5 points (graham crackers 2 pts, 2 marshmallows 1 pt, 2 thin mints 2pts).  They were SO delicious, I savoured every bite.  I let myself enjoy the gooey goodness rather than just shoving it in so I could quickly have another.  I stopped for a good 10 minutes in between and then felt completely satisfied after two.  I felt I had treated myself, I had eaten what I wanted as a treat instead of just gathering whatever was around me.  I even had points left over afterwards!  The one thing I learned and really tried to focus on for the day was to see if I could really tap into what I was ‘wanting’ instead of going with the idea that I better get all the junk in that I can for one day!  Being able to say that I was satisfied and not over-gorged at the end of a ‘treat day’ made me really happy.  I think I might just be  starting to learn a few new things on this journey!!

Do you have ‘Treat Day”?  Do you struggle with eating in moderation?  How do you keep within your limits?