DO you ever feel like it’s just YOU! You just can’t go the distance without falling back into that trap of “ XXXXXXXXX” whatever that reads. The bag of chips, the pint of ice cream, the sweets on the way to work, the donut in the break room, the lunch special that smells so good, and on and on and on... we ALL have a trap. For some of us, it’s the familiarity of routine that included an old habit. There is some type of ‘emotional’ interruption, and what is familiar seems like it will be comforting. For some of us, it is the accessibility of ‘bad’ foods that becomes more loud in our lives than the time needed to PREPARE good foods. For others, it’s having been ‘good’ for a long time, therefore justifying a ‘deserved treat’.

In February, Angie and I both had some major ‘slip ups’ with food choices... fortunately NOT at the same time, but BECAUSE it wasn’t at the same time, there were interesting dynamics that unfolded as buddies. I had been on a particularly ‘good roll’ with food AND exercise AND tracking AND accountability, when all of the sudden, in Angie’s accountability, her weight went up. I’d have to review both text and email to give you the exact unfolding, but pretty quickly, she confessed... Krispy Kreme! (one of MY weaknesses). Well, the GREAT thing about accountability, provided that both buddies are serious about HEALTHFUL LIVING, LIFESTYLE CHANGES (over just motivated by losing weight) is that rarely are you both ‘off’ at the same time! Because I was ON and ON tightly, I decided to reel out for her what just ONE donut cost in the count... so I googled the numbers and shared them with her! One chocolate iced glazed has 250 calories 12g fat 3g protein 33g carbs and of course NO fiber. Now, you might look at that and say, “Oh, that’s not so bad”. BUT, it would be ONE of your entire MEALS for the day, and the nutrition VALUE of those numbers so very low! Remember (or review previous NL articles--- not all FATS or CARBS are created =!). Per donut, 21g sugar as well, so your insulin is going bonkers! Now, if one consumed, let’s say FOUR of these wonderfully warm, decadent treats... that would look like 1000 calories 48g fat 9g protein 132g carbs and still no fiber. Considering we’re trying to keep RAW carbs per day @ 40-50g, THAT is a major faux paus. We both knew from previous ‘mess ups’, it takes one day to treat and TWO WEEKS to take it off. Well, since this wasn’t our pattern (calling the other out by detailing the numbers, the consequences, and recounting what we’d learned from past), Angie got a little miffed with me J. BUT, quickly the tables turned.

For whatever reason she cheated, my temptations are often related to returning from travel... a little ‘comfort’ because I’m HOME not in the hotel eating! And, Krispy Kreme is located near the airport in Nashville where I fly in and out. So, shortly after this incident (warm donuts on my mind), I stopped to ‘get Thomas some hot donuts’. LOL! I spent too many days ‘delaying’ getting on the scale. Finally I confessed to Angie what I had done. She CHALLENGED me to the scale. I CHALLENGED her to harder workouts. We had a few days with ‘more quiet’ (even though steady) accountability. NOW, we are BOTH on it---CLEAN food absent of processed carbs or sweets/exercise/weighing/accountability. Before you give into a temptation that takes you off your ideal food pattern or workout
H-A-L-T! Ask yourself, are you H-hungry? A-angry? L-lonely? T-tired? The better you are FOR your buddy, the BETTER you both are! “As iron sharpens iron, so one man or woman sharpens another” Proverbs.

Having the RIGHT buddy is critical. Having a BUDDY is critical. People often ask us, “Can’t I do your program alone”? We can’t say “NO!”. But the truth is that the SUCCESS of what we do has VERY much to do with TRACKING and ACCOUNTABILITY! Our program is easy. EASY as ABC. So in our upcoming NEWSLETTERS, we’re going to begin to give you the ABC’s of what we’ve learned in the past 15 months about the WAY we are doing WHAT we are doing. Keep visiting the www.itsmynow.com site. We’re re-organizing facets of it to be friendlier when you go there. We want to keep FEEDING you great encouragement, recipes, information and testimonies of others that support you in your LIFESTYLE choice of EatingFit!