Getting Healthier - Oops, I Ate it Again

Anyone who's ever tried to eat right hasn't done it all right every single day.  Life intrudes, stuff happens, the holidays attack.  In a few days time, Easter will hit and along with it the bags of jelly beans and the chocolate bunnies and the :drool: Cadbury Eggs.  I'm guessing we're all going to fall off the 'eating healthy' wagon at least a little bit.

Which bring me around to the topic of today's post - those little 'oops' moments.  Personally, I've had a few of those just this past week alone.  Stupid me bought brownie mix a few weeks ago.  What can I say, I had a chocolate craving.  When I got home, though, I was so guilty about even buying it, it sat in the cupboard - staring at me every time I reached for the canned fruit.

This past weekend I fell off the wagon and had Daughter make the brownies, and I've been noshing on them ever since.  A good sized brownie with a cup of ice cream and a squirt of chocolate sauce is about 560 calories.  :thud:  Yeah, I know.  Bad bad bad girl.

Except you can't think of it that way.  If I start berating myself for eating a brownie, pretty soon I'll just give up on the idea of dieting altogether.  Why bother watching the rest of my food this week, since I already screwed up.  I'll just start over next week.  Right?

Wrong.  If you fall off, get right back on.  Admit you made a mistake, and do the best you can to rectify it.  Eat your brownie and relish every morsel.  Then eat a salad for dinner.  Or, if you're like me and ate the brownie after dinner, eat a big bowl of fruit for breakfast.  Don't whip yourself over your mistake - it never helps anyway.  (Like the time I sent a query but forgot to change the address from the agent I'd sent to last... I screwed up.  Stuff happens.  Get over it and move on.)

This weekend, though, isn't about 'Oops' moments.  It's a holiday.  Give yourself permission to enjoy a little more than usual.  I don't mean stuff yourself until you're uncomfortable.  But for godsakes, have a piece of pie.  No one is going to keel over if you do - including yourself.  Eating a chocolate bunny doesn't make you evil.  It doesn't even really make you bad.  If you spend your whole day worrying about every little calorie, you're not going to enjoy yourself, and then you'll regret your crappy holiday experience - which will make you feel bad.  I don't know about you, but when I feel bad, I eat.  Where's the logic in denying yourself then?

Now, having given myself permission to eat without guilt this Sunday, I'm still going to take it easy.  One piece of ham, instead of three.  A small helping of potatoes.  I'll eat more corn.  I'm even playing with the idea of making a fat-free, sugar-free dream pie.  All the flavor, almost no guilt.  And Monday, I'll be back on track.  (I'll also be exercising more to burn those extra calories.)  Oh, and with regards to the chocolate?  If I only eat a small piece once a day, that stuff should last me a whole lot longer. 

Guilt can be a great motivator.  But it can also be anti-motivating.  Don't let guilt over one mistake ruin your chance at being a healthy, happy person.  Don't be like the t-shirt (image courtesy of Zazzle - buy the t-shirt here).  Don't let overeating make you feel hollow inside.

Enjoy your holiday, everyone.  Personally, I can't wait for that ham.  I love ham... with candied pineapple... and mashed potatoes... and rolls...

Pardon me while I go inhale a cup of fruit and some rice cakes in preparation for the feast.  =o)

Next up for Getting Healthier: Exercise.  (Especially necessary after all that stuff I'm probably going to eat this weekend.)


(Sorry about the irritating Britney Spears reference, but it just seemed to work for today's post.)

 *All images deleted to avoid any chance of copyright infringement*