Cool trick for stopping temptations dead in their tracks

OK in a nutshell: as soon as an off-plan food decision is presented to you, or someone offers you something, LOG it in your “Things I didn’t eat” log. It’s as satisfying as logging the food you do eat. You also get instant credit for making a good decision. Good kid!

How to: Open a simple note page on your phone. Add the date, and just capture when you catch yourself considering having something off-plan. Write it down. You didn’t eat it. Give yourself a pat on the back.

See if you can relate to me: I’m 1/3 the way on my weight loss journey. Making good progress. When everything is planned and controlled (like at home) I can do really well. When I’m out in the wild: It’s like what will I eat next?? If you’re like that, try that trick! I’d be surprised if someone didn’t think of this already, yet I hadn’t seen anyone mention it before. And I struggled pretty bad with it.

Long version:

I started tracking mid-March, and mostly I’ve found success from planning ahead. I meal plan on Sundays with my husband, and then every night, I log what I’ll eat the next day. Honed down to a breakfast and lunch that is roughly the same all week.

Less decisions to make means more success. I just don’t have to think about food, and it’s completely changed the game for me.

However, when I’m out and about, there’s a whole world of temptation. FOOD absolutely everywhere. Airports, train stations, events, friends houses. It’s like some Will Wonka wonderland with lick-able wallpaper.

And this starts the whole cycle that wears me down. “Will I? Won’t I?” Turns into “Which one?” The decision to even have food is one open question all the time when I’m out and about and my plan is out the window.

I should say, when I eat ”whatever,” I don’t feel guilty. That was a big breakthrough for me. I log everything and correct myself, get back on track. But I have to do that whole dance again. As someone said, it’s like dropping your mobile phone, you don’t STOMP on it, you pick it up. But it’s hard. It’s extra calories, it slows you down.

It also makes me feel like, how can I live like this? I really felt out of control and confused. I can’t live like a hermit in my refuge of orderly meal planning.

Then this tactic revealed itself to me, as I texted my husband from the airport: I sent him a list of all the things I didn’t get at the airport. I wanted credit, I think, for being a good kid.

And it felt good. I copied it into a note on my phone and since I’ve been on holiday, I’ve been keeping this running log of all the things I would normally be tempted to get.

Say out of 5 things i came across, I would probably have chosen ONE and felt good that “at least I’m only getting a donut,” and I didn’t also get - the bar, the bag of snacks, the pastry, the fancy coffee, the ice cream, whatever! The mind is amazing at rationalising anything.

Now, with this trick, I am finally able to stop myself in that moment. I pop out of the will-i-won’t-i trance. I log it. And the bubble is popped.

I’m getting better too. I avoided walking down a whole food aisle in a shop recently. Because, I didn’t want log like 6 diff things. And when I was visiting my friends place she asked “Did I show you where all the snacks and sweets are?” I said NO! Don’t even show me :)

It feels like a next-level magic trick has unlocked for me.

I hope this helps you.

submitted by /u/nearlythere
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