Gluttony

I have indulged in my favorite of the 7 deadly sins over the past 5 days. The Bar was Tuesday and Wednesday and Wednesday night Jason took me to one of our favorite places where I ate seafood mac and cheese and a chocolate pot de creme. Nothing redeeming in any of that, except maybe the seafood, though it was slathered with piles of fontina and mascarpone.

Thursday I got a big thing of Cold Stone ice cream (sweet cream with toasted almonds, Oreos and M&M's) and ate it all. Friday we went to Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island and I ate fried clams and I think two servings of ice cream*. Then we came home and got Chinese food. Saturday we went to the Texas Roadhouse and I ate cheese fries and rolls, among other things. Yesterday Jason and I scrounged through the kitchen and finally settled on potato chips and ice cream for lunch**.

So, yeah.

The problem with having a big thing like the Bar come along is that everyone (including me) keeps encouraging me to have a treat because I've worked so hard. Say no more. I am on top of the treats. It occurred to me yesterday that if I keep saying to myself, I just took the Bar, I deserve a treat, then I will rapidly gain back everything I've lost. I weighed myself yesterday morning and sighed at the unfairness of the universe. It is so hard to lose even a half a pound. Lots of eating strictly and exercising daily and such. Yet it is so easy to gain back that half a pound, plus a few more of that half a pound's friends.

Today I am back on task. Last night I spent about an hour prepping food to take for lunches this week. This morning I swam 80 laps. Tonight I am going to the grocery store and stocking up on fruits and veggies.

I've also been thinking about instituting a one-day-a-month splurge rule. I did that a few years ago and it worked very well. I didn't feel bad about not eating desserts because I knew come splurge day I could eat whatever. Right now I'm very good at saying to myself that I'll just have a treat this once and that will be it for the week. But then another treat opportunity pops up the next day, and the next. A positive side effect of splurge day was that I ate less of the splurge foods each month. In the first month I could eat a whole pint of ice cream, but by the fourth or fifth month it was just too much sweetness and fat and I could maybe get through half a pint. Splurge day works for me.


*In case you haven't noticed, ice cream is my Achilles heel.
** I have informed Jason that we just can't have that stuff in the house anymore. I will eat it because it's there and it's easy. That's why I don't buy it.