Don't Cheat! Tame the tiger!

[gman]

When I went to the gym today, the guy at the front desk was studying an Ethics book - he said to get a jump on his college classes, which start this week. "I remember taking Ethics," I smiled.

Later today a magazine cover got the better of me so I bought it off the newsstand ....

In a PsychologyToday article on p. 68 of the Sept. issue called "Dieting gets a lot easier if you don't cheat, and such an absolutist approach helps you in the long run," the point of the article is: to beat our survival instinct when confronted with the buffet table, don't cheat!

The article goes on about our survival instinct and how even the smallest cheat on a diet triggers binging. Saying we need to "tame the tiger" of biochemical storms by using our evolved brains, this article lines up pretty well with the principles of doing an Atkins clean Induction and beyond.

As we start a new month tomorrow and of course some new committments to eat better and be healthier, this Don't Cheat motto will be good to remember...my thought anyway.

The sidebar of the article says to re-inforce positive thoughts, such as:
- "I enjoy life more when I stay away from empty calories."
- "Feeling fit feels better than a lapse of will."

And:
- It's not ok to cheat, it's harder on your body.
- It's possible to drastically change eating habits by using willpower through the first 72 hours...and then "it gets even easier once you've set a structure for healthy choices."

Sounds a lot like why we are here at ADBB.

[deiny]

Nice post gman! Sometimes it's really hard NOT to cheat but if we our thinking of who we will become in week/s or month/s or so, we could definitely tame the tiger! Let's do it!

[Neecy]

Great post and great insights. That's how I try to get by day to day. When I'm tempted to have a bite of that donut I ask myself if its worth the headache (from the sugar rush) the disappointment in myself, and the weight gain. Its NOT!

[gman]

Thanks deiny and neecy. Yes we need to tame the tiger!
I do not see this new issue and article posted yet, but here is their web site:
Psychology Today: July-August 2008

[shaunawa]

This was a great post. I think I know a girl that needs this today. I am going to send it her way k.

Thanks for the inspiration.

[eclectikat]

Wow... I missed this post last week and JUST LOVE IT...

I don't cheat. I am truly amazed how strong I have been, and with the logic you shared from that article... I really believe the longer I don't cheat, the less likely I will cheat.
I approach it this way. I think about " @&^$ " (meaning whatever evil carb treat that would be my cheat) and I carry on the thought of what it would be like to cheat, how it would taste, and even further to how I will feel physically afterwards and then how I might feel emotionally after I come down from whatever chemical high I am on. I realize every time that its not worth it. Then I started the inner dialogue of " if I am going to cheat I better make it TOTALLY worth it. It a restaraunt I would know most of what I would get would NOT be worth it... I think of the most extravagant thing I could imagine and you know what... ITS STILL NOT WORTH IT...I am perpetuating this NO CHEAT mentality by NOT cheating... ITS so cool!

I am seeing definition in my face I don't remember, I am seeing curves I just figured I was not blessed to posess... I am feeling freedom of movement I don't ever recall having, I am feeling free-er than ever in my life... a wedge of " &$&*^ " sure as **** isn't going to do all of that for me...is it?

Kathy

[gman]

Shauna and Kathy-

Thanks it did seem like a pretty good topic. I see the new issue is available on-line and you need to subscribe to see this article, which is on the newsstands now.

I think this is all about having a plan and staying on your plan. If you swerve off it, that's a cheat. So, while you progress you can add other foods (nuts, berries) which in the past were a cheat. At goal weight, toned up, feeling like a billion dollars and looking like a billion dollars, you can have other acceptable foods. It's in your plan. Not a cheat. Part of your plan.
So why cheat yourself?