This weekend I was at a Caribou early in the morning picking up coffee on my way out of town. I ordered my usual black as I saw my guy eyeing the pastry case. He ordered his coffee and then an almond scone. The barrista looked at me and said, "Just one"? I said, "of course just one; have you seen my butt"! She laughed and said that it would be a good idea to treat myself. Just a little something. In my world of counting points, an almond scone is not a little something. Then another guy in the coffee shop came by after overhearing this conversation and chimed in about having balance. Sometimes you treat yourself and sometimes you don't, but now seems like a good time according to him.
What is the harm in indulging? Well, the biggest problem is that it never is "just this once." "Just this once" leads to sloppy tracking, regret, unplanned high point treats and frustration later when there are no more points plus values left for things like lunch.
Driving along on this same road trip, I saw a few signs in small towns advertising weight loss businesses. My guy jokingly wondered why there are no signs advertising weight gain. In actuality, the road was littered with weight gain signs. As far as the eye could see, it was Denny's, McDonalds, Culver's, DQ....Wendy's...Chinese Buffet...Outback....sound familiar?
This reminded me of the challenges we all face on the path to weight loss, weight maintenance and good health. We do not have nearly enough support. This means we have to create the lifestyle where we want to choose healthier options more often than not, as in most of the time. We do this one day at a time, one meal at a time, one frustration at a time. Our challenges are actually great life lessons if we choose to see them that way. We won't be making that silly and oh-so predictable mistake again. We will endeavor to find ways to succeed, healthy places to eat, ways to make a road trip or any trip something we can enjoy and be proud of. If an indulgence opportunity arises, and we all know it will, we can stop and ask ourselves if this is the time for a treat, or is this the time to stand tall and firmly say no?
In the end, the Caribou people were right, and so was I. Yes, I can go ahead and treat myself, because treats are part of life. But for me, at that time, in that place, that almond croissant didn't mean anything to me. However, the drinks that came much later after a 50 mile bike ride certainly did.
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