Feeling drained and “brain-dead” by the end of the day? You may have made too many decisions!
Feeling drained and “brain-dead” by the end of the day? You may have made too many decisions!
It’s that time of year. It’s inevitable. Few people I know can resist having Hallowe’en treats in the house in October. Next to Valentine’s Day, more candy is sold and consumed than any other time of the year.
All those little delectable goodies… so tempting…
What if you could enjoy the Hallowe’en treats you love without gaining weight? Well, you can!
First thing to do is RELAX!!! Keep reading to find out how many treats you would have to eat AT ONE SITTING in order to gain a pound of body fat. I don’t know about you, but the mere thought of having to eat 58 chocolate bars or 489 pieces of candy corn makes me more than a little queasy!!!
★ To gain one pound of fat… you’d have to eat 58 Hallowe’en chocolate bars in one sitting. ★
It takes eating 3500 calories of EXTRA food – food your body doesn’t need – to gain one pound of body fat.
Second, give yourself permission to eat one or two of your favorite Hallowe’en treats every day until Hallowe’en AND—this is IMPORTANT—every day after Hallowe’en (until you no longer feel like it). If you do this, you will not gain weight from those Hallowe’en treats.
Why is it important to give yourself permission to eat them after Hallowe’en?
Because when we fall into the dangerous trap of setting a cut-off date to stop eating the foods we love – i.e. I’ll stop eating this the day after Hallowe’en – it often triggers a binge the day before the cut-off date. For some of us, it can trigger many binges on the days leading up to the cut-off day.
This was the case with “Cathy.” In the past, when she was going to start a diet on a Monday, she always started about 5 pounds heavier because of all the foods she’d eat on the weekend prior… the very same foods that she was going to give up on the Monday… and some more for good measure!
When we reach for what we think is a forbidden food, we don’t give ourselves total permission to eat and enjoy the food. We think we have, because, after all, we ARE eating the food. But usually, there are “conditions.” What are these?
Conditions are thoughts like; “I shouldn’t be eating this,” or, “Okay, just this once,” or, “I’ll get back on my diet tomorrow (or Monday—or after Hallowe’en).” These thoughts, these conditions, often trigger you to eat more, and may even trigger a binge. (Further, they cause low grade stress on your body… which has even more negative effects.)
And so, instead of eating just 1 or 2 pieces of Hallowe’en treats, we stuff ourselves! We might also think something like, Well, I’ve blown it now… so, I might as well stop and eat a whole pizza on the way home from work… or get a box of donuts to eat on the way home.
So, let me restate…
It takes eating 3500 calories of EXTRA food – food your body doesn’t need – to gain one pound of body fat.
Reality Check: If you gain a pound overnight unless you ate 3500 calories of food the day before – above and beyond what your body needs – then it’s not a pound of fat. It’s usually water retention. It could also be inflammation from food that did not agree with your body. Avocado causes my body to gain 3 pounds overnight! It could also be that you are overdue for a trip to the bathroom. The truth is that, at any given time, your body can fluctuate 2-3 pounds because of water and bowel retention. I checked out the calories of Hallowe’en treats the other day. Here’s what I found:
- Chocolate bars have 40-60 calories (depending on the type)
- Each small bag of potato chips has 90 calories
- 21 pieces of Candy Corn is 150 calories
- 6 Gummi Worms are 130 calories
- 1 Fun Size bag of M & M’s… 70 calories
So here is another reality check.
To gain one pound, you’d have to eat 58 of those Hallowe’en chocolate bars in one sitting.
Or you’d have to eat 38 bags of those little bags of chips in one sitting… or 489 pieces of Candy Corn…or 161 Gummi Worms… or 50 Fun Size Bags of M&M’s. Whew!!!
So what can you do???
Here are five steps for enjoying Hallowe’en treats without gaining weight:
First: Eat 1 or 2 treats every day… and only when you are hungry!
Second: Be discerning… picky, even, about the treats. Which ones do you enjoy the MOST? Eating only the ones you truly enjoy will help make you feel like you’re not depriving yourself. Depriving myself always caused me to binge. (Does this sound familiar?) I would be in all-out rebellion… and then guilt.
Third: Sit down and truly savor and enjoy them. This means to feel the smoothness of the chocolate, the crunchiness of the chips… Really TASTE the flavor… You get the idea.
Fourth: Pay attention while you are eating them. I repeat… Sit down to eat them. Put them on a pretty plate… so you can focus. WHY?? Because when you don’t pay attention, it can feel like you didn’t eat anything. So PLEASE do not go brain dead!!! Be present to the experience.
Fifth: Very important! Give yourself total permission to eat another one or two tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after… (well, you get the picture). Weight gain happens when you eat food (any food–even healthy food) when you’re not hungry. It happens when you keep eating food past the point of physical stomach satisfaction. So pay attention to being satisfied. Remember to chew slowly… every bite… 30 times. It takes your brain about 20-25 minutes to catch up with your stomach.
It’s much easier to stop eating a food when you give yourself permission to eat it sometime in the future. However, if in the first days, you end up eating several bars of chocolate, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, don’t punish yourself by denying yourself the pleasure of these foods. Think of it as a learning curve. It does get easier. I promise!
And a quick note about chocolate. I have found that when my magnesium levels are correct, I have NO interest in chocolate. Many of us are magnesium deficient. So, this month, get enough. My personal favorite is Natural Vitality CALM. I take it at bedtime. Check it out!!!
It is possible that emotional food cravings will kick in. If you think you got hit with emotional food cravings, book a complimentary Diet Freedom Roadmap session.