I came away from this past week with two very separate yet related thoughts. You're very much allowed to treat yourself every once in a while, but it's so easy to fall back into old habits. I had to go to California this past weekend for work. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, so rarely does a trip to California go by without a trip to In-N-Out Burger. It's just so good! I strategically ate well all week looking forward to my burger. Now THAT is a treat.
The next day, I joined my co-workers for lunch at a place called Chubby Freeze. Yep, Chubby Freeze. Ironically, there was a giant banner advertising their "Delicious, Low Fat Turkey Burger" outside. That was the only thing on the menu I could even consider, so I got it. Sure I had to scoop off the lettuce saturated in mayonnaise, but the burger itself was pretty good.
After lunch and back at work, I discovered a giant plastic shopping bag full of Halloween candy. It had everything: chocolate, hard candy, gummy candy, everything. I found myself just falling into the trap of grabbing some sour gummy candy – every single time I walked by the bag! At one point, one of my best friends I work with stopped me and said, "Hey, hey, what are you doing?" He has a rule that he's the only one that can ever make fun of me, but of course a couple of other people chimed in and said they'd keep me in check if I said it was okay. I said it was fine, as long as it was within reason.
A little later on, I asked one of them for a single M&M out of his fun pack – he said no! But I gave up, and at the end of the day, I was the last person left in the room. All alone with the bag o' candy. I grabbed two fun packs (one plain, one peanut) and threw them in my bag for dessert later. That night, I ate them before I left my hotel room to go to a meeting and threw them away in the bathroom as I walked out the door.
Except I missed the wastebasket and they landed squarely on the scale. I didn't notice them until later that night when I came back, and I had to laugh. You can believe whatever you want when it comes to omens or signs but for me, that said volumes. I took a picture of it and it's now the photo I see every time I look at my phone, to serve as a reminder: You're allowed to have treats every once in a while, but it's SO easy to fall into old habits.