So what I eat is ALWAYS on my mind. I meal prep every single week and have my weeks very calculated already pre-tracked and I stay within my calories. I workout 6days a week.

But I am about 5 months post op and this weekend, hubs and I took the kids to Dave's Hot chicken, I ate the kale slaw and half a tender 4-5 fries. I felt so guilty! But at the same time it felt so good to eat with my family and it not be chicken and veggies while going out. I ate very small amount because I did not want to eat to restriction, but I was able to hang out with my family and not worry about food. Then that night we got Ice cream and I had 4 bites of hubbies delicious Cold Stone Chocolate Ice cream, those 4 bites I was satisfied and didn't feel like crap. I still woke up drank my protein coffee, did my work out and continued my normal diet.

In a way, I am happy that it didn't turn into a binge like it would normally when I would previously diet, then again I feel like I halted my progress.

Thanks for reading

15 hours ago, Arabesque said:

While I was losing I didn’t cheat. In saying that as I got close to my goal & then when trying to maintain, I stated developing a way of eating that would allow me to enjoy the foods I wanted to, enjoy my life & how I wanted to live it, and still maintain my weight.

Actually I don’t like the word ‘cheating’ in regards to eating. Too negative much like the word ‘diet’. To me they mean failure, weakness & punishment.

However or whatever you chose to eat now or in the future must be sustainable. It must complement your lifestyle and support your weight loss & long term maintenance. If you choose to eat in a restrictive way that means you can’t participate in social activities or makes you feel you’re missing out, it’s destined to fail. Especially if you are defining any diversions off that path as cheating. But if you adopt a way of eating that is flexible, means you can have pizza with your family or friends, or have birthday cake, or whatever & you accept this as just how you eat in your life, it will be sustainable and lead to long term success. You’ll have to consider portion size, frequency, alternative ingredients or cooking styles but it certainly isn’t cheating in my thinking.

Well that’s what I believe.

This really resonates with me ? Thank you for putt In to words what I would like to eventually achieve!