Moderation is key

I have this particularly embarrassing fault I will share with you to show why moderation in your diet is so important. Like I have said before, overall I eat very healthy. But when I fall off the wagon, I fall HARD. During gymnastics, I became rather addicted to baking…probably because I also became rather addicted to eating. I am a pretty good baker, if I do say so myself. I enjoy not only eating what I bake, but I also enjoy sharing with my friends and family…sometimes.

One particular day, I was home alone and decided to make this chocolate cheesecake. The crust was made from Oreo cookies and chocolate, and the cheesecake filling was the most rich, velvety chocolate ganache creation you have ever tasted. I’m drooling just thinking about it. After I made the cheesecake, I decided I had better try a sample of it. I couldn’t serve this to my family if it was bad, right? Well the first sample was so good that I decided I needed another…and then another. Before I knew it, I had eaten way too much of the cheesecake and was embarrassed for my family to see what small amount was left. So I decided to throw the rest away so they wouldn’t know about it and lectured myself to never do that again.

As I was cleaning up the kitchen, I kept thinking about how delicious that cheesecake was and how, surprisingly enough, I wanted more. I could see it in the trash, lying there right on top. “I shouldn’t…” I thought to myself, “but it’s lying right on top and you could just scoop some off that isn’t touching anything else”. Judge me all you want because I find it very hard to believe anyone, who says they have never done this…never eating an entire cheesecake in one afternoon, okay I believe that. But I know A LOT of people who have eaten out of the trash. I am just able to admit it. Yes, I ate the majority of the rest of that cheesecake from the trash. And it was delicious. I still have the recipe if anyone wants it. I wouldn’t dare make it again though.

I deserved my punishment. Cheesecake doesn’t taste as good coming up as it does going down. Normally when I do something like that, I am sicker than a dog for the rest of the day and have a migraine and joint pain for several days. I deserve it. As you can see, I seem to have a problem with moderation. I thank God for my high metabolism and sensitive stomach or I would be a much heavier individual. It became a tradition of mine, several years in a row on Fourth of July to stuff my face with bags of Cheetos and red licorice, while watching the fireworks, and to awaken in the middle of the night puking my guts up. Some of us never learn.

Just because you fall off the wagon, doesn’t mean you can’t get back on. Having a cheat meal every now and then is actually healthy because it lets you get over your craving and move on. If I don’t satisfy my cravings, I tend to go a little crazier than if I just go ahead and have that piece of cake instead of denying myself and then going overboard later. Over the years, I have come to the realization that I don’t agree with “diets”. For some people they may work, but not for me. I can’t deprive myself of all my favorite foods for very long. I get a severe case of “hangry” (so hungry you’re angry) if I do this. What I find works best is four to five small, healthy meals throughout the day. This keeps your metabolism running and keeps you from becoming “starving”, which then leads you to binge regret. A cheat meal once a week for me helps satisfy cravings and can be something like one to two slices of pizza with a large salad…not consuming the entire pizza in one setting, like we all have tried our best to do.

A cheat meal like this every once in a while, will allow you to satisfy your craving, without blowing your entire healthy lifestyle. When you blow it, you may feel disgusted with yourself, and will all of a sudden feel like you’ve gained a bunch of weight, and will lack the motivation to get back on your healthy wagon again. Try focusing on your health instead of making this lifestyle a “diet” to lose weight. When I reached my full-grown height of 5’9”, and was in the perfect shape of my life because I was in gymnastics, I wore a baggy size 0 in jeans, yet I weighed 125lbs…on my light days. Yea 125lbs sounds good, but not for a size 0. Because of this, I have never been a fan of scales. No, it’s not like I fear them; they actually have no meaning to me. Muscle weighs more than fat and if you look great, feel great, and both exercise and eat the way you should, the number on the scale shouldn’t matter. So stop being concerned about the number on the scale and focus on eating a lot more healthy food and get to the gym or go outside and move!