Weekly Meeting Topic : Trick or Treat

Another meeting to suit the upcoming celebration, Halloween.  I went to my regular Tuesday meeting and was a little disappointed with how the topic was covered.  I'm wishing I could go to the Saturday meeting this week to get a different take on the subject but I'm road trippin' to visit friends.

The meeting leader pretty much talked about sugar and glanced over a few things.  She reminded us that if our calories in = our calories out that is how one manages to maintain their weight.  That to loose weight our calories out must exceed the calories we consume.

The main focus was on consuming sugars, that eating sweets triggers you to want more.  I have to agree with this point, it is soooo true!  I fell into this trap today, I had one square of chocolate which lead to three, then an impulsive trip to the Bulk Barn where I bought a small amount of chocolate and jujubes.  The chocolate I must admit I ate in the car on my way home and the jujubes are now sitting in my glove box of my car.  One little Jersey Milk square lead me down a slippery slope tonight, one I'd care not to repeat tomorrow.  The day will be tough as its the annual cake auction at work... have I mentioned in the past how much I like cake?  I will do my best just to have a taste or if I feel like I have the fortitude have none at all.

So how can we deal with the sugar monster?

You can go cold turkey !!??!! However deprivation no matter how strong you are can cause you to overeat.  You will either overeat on that sweet you are craving or you will overeat other foods looking to satisfy that taste you really want (how many times have I done this?).  Sometimes you just have to give in and have a little.

How do I cope with that "having a little".  I make sure I buy a single serving and take it home and eat it... and don't eat it in the car!  I try to wait until I am home or my final location so that I actually enjoy eating it instead of scarfing it down while my mind is on something else (like driving).  Or I buy that single serving and half it with a friend or Todd (the other half).

We can also plan to have our treat, to eat sensibly that day so that you have enough points to afford that sweet.  Some people will work out to "earn" that treat but rarely do we earn enough activity points to afford that full treat.  For example the average chocolate bar is 5-6 points, for me to earn 5-6 activity points I need to go for a 60-70 minute run!  That's about 10K to earn/burn off that one chocolate bar.

No other tactics were really offered to deal with those tiny little innocent chocolate bars that are so abundant at this time of the year.  I am very proud of myself this year I've not bought a single bag or box of tasty little chocolate boobie traps (did you know one average snack sized bar is 2 points?).  I have partaken of a few in candy dishes and I'm hoping I'll work towards getting this need for chocolate/sweets out of my system.  I go through periods where I can easily ignore it and periods where I can't help but star ate and obsess about those little chocolate treats.

My tip to you, if you're going to have little Trick or Treaters at your doorstep is to buy something you REALLY don't like.  Or another trick is to buy some sort of alternative to candy, for example novelty Halloween pencils and erasers.  On Monday I bought a big bag of mini canisters of Playdough for my 4-6 year old Taekwon-Do class for a Halloween surprise at the end of class.  I know the parents really appreciated me for that!

Now how am I doing?  I'm coping lately, I've not been in the best of moods lately and a little nasty at times to those around me.  Unfortunately due to a little self sabotage at a party on Saturday night my weigh in was not what I would of liked it to be.  Also I find my weight does bump up a bit every 4 weeks and go back down again.  The result, I'm up another 1.5 lbs, those wonderful 4.5lbs I lost a few weeks ago... GONE!  Sigh....