My favorite personal finance blog, Get Rich Slowly, had a great post yesterday about temptation. It proposes that humans only have a limited amount of self-discipline, and that this self-discipline will always run out! When I read this post yesterday morning, I thought it didn't apply to me. I thought "but I am good at breaking bad habits and starting good ones!" Last night, however, was a pretty good example of getting weak in the face of temptation!
After my daughter's strings concert, my loved ones went out for onion rings and hot fudge sundaes. Now I love both those things very much, and not eating either was outrageously difficult. To make matters worse, I hadn't eaten regularly yesterday and neglected my own supper before the concert. I ate exactly 1/2 of 1 small onion ring, and it was glorious, then reigned myself in on the forbidden foods. What I did instead was over-eat on low-carb foods, to the point where I was overfull. Now I don't think this is the right decision, but perhaps it was a better decision than eating a hot fudge sundae and onion rings.
Overall though, I felt my ability to resist temptation had failed me a bit, but not entirely. I would love to be a person who can effortless reject harm-causing pleasure-bringing foods and habits, but I think I am a person who has to work very hard at it. I don't know if "moderation" ever works for me, either. I seem to be an abstinence kind of person, which is why I think I am having some success with Dukan. It makes me sad to think about hot fudge sundaes. I miss them. However, I think when I see some tangible results from the weight loss (like new clothes!), I won't miss hot fudge sundaes nearly as much.
After my daughter's strings concert, my loved ones went out for onion rings and hot fudge sundaes. Now I love both those things very much, and not eating either was outrageously difficult. To make matters worse, I hadn't eaten regularly yesterday and neglected my own supper before the concert. I ate exactly 1/2 of 1 small onion ring, and it was glorious, then reigned myself in on the forbidden foods. What I did instead was over-eat on low-carb foods, to the point where I was overfull. Now I don't think this is the right decision, but perhaps it was a better decision than eating a hot fudge sundae and onion rings.
Overall though, I felt my ability to resist temptation had failed me a bit, but not entirely. I would love to be a person who can effortless reject harm-causing pleasure-bringing foods and habits, but I think I am a person who has to work very hard at it. I don't know if "moderation" ever works for me, either. I seem to be an abstinence kind of person, which is why I think I am having some success with Dukan. It makes me sad to think about hot fudge sundaes. I miss them. However, I think when I see some tangible results from the weight loss (like new clothes!), I won't miss hot fudge sundaes nearly as much.
I was just posting about some of these very things! It's definitely not easy. In the past, the moment I "failed" I would give up the ghost and throw yet another diet out the window...obviously I wasn't going to be able to do it. What I do find keeps me going with this plan is the fact that it does recognize we're human, and not about to spend the next 50 years on the planet without a hot fudge sundae! Keep at it, AB! I'm with you!
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