What? I Can Have Taco Bell For Lunch?

I believe that much of my 140 lb weight gain was due to eating fast food. Taco Bell, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut…the list goes on and on.

Confession time: At the peak of my self-sabotage, I would go through multiple drive-thrus to get exactly the food I was craving - rush home, sit in front of the TV and devour the food…stuff, stuff, stuff myself until I had that weird satisfied (full!) feeling.  I hated myself at those times but in the moment it was the only thing that I thought would make me feel better. (ok, consciously I may not even have been thinking about it at all…habits can be SO powerful)

Today I no longer feel the need to do a multiple drive-thru run but I do sometimes allow myself a bit of fast food or whatever it is I may be craving.

Before beginning my weight loss, I had tried to diet many times and I really believe that my all-or-nothing mentality is part of what led to failure during those attempts. When I set out to lose the weight this final time, I vowed to be more realistic with myself. Yes, I wanted to add good healthy foods to my diet BUT I really didn’t want to say goodbye to my favorite junk foods forever.

I did know starting out that for me I needed a period of time though when I would be very strict on myself with the dieting…I didn’t want to chance the pull of the habit. So I did give up all eating out for the first month or so. The more times I said no to my cravings during this time, the stronger I became. You’ll get there too, I promise.

2+ yrs into this healthy eating and exercise gig, guess what? I’ve discovered that I really can have pretty much what I want and am craving…ok, not allowing myself to go crazy or anything.

If I’m sticking with my exercise for the week/month and eating healthy choices 80-90% of the time, I really do find that if I’m having a particular craving one day I can plan for that meal and be perfectly fine.

Here are some planning suggestions…I count calories so that is what this is based on.

1. Know what you are going to order and what the calorie count will be. (roughly) Guess what? Taco Bell has their full menu online with all the nutritional information. I wanted to have 2 Volcano Burritos (I know disgusting! lol ), but since those babies were 800 calories a pop, I settled for 2 chicken soft tacos and 1 regular/beef soft taco - calories count 610…not bad and totally doable. (NOW if I had decided to have the 2 Volcanoes - which I might do on a given day, I’d try to eat 1200-1300 calories most days of that same week and definitely not forego the exercise!)

2. Plan your calories for the rest of the day. Big calorie meal out may require that you adjust your calories for the rest of the day - know what you’ll be having for the other 2-3 meals throughout the day.

3. Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! Don’t feel bad after you eat that pizza once a month that you’ve been craving! Commit to an extra great cardio day before, of and after! No sweat! No guilt! Trade for it! It’s allowed.

4. No guilt! Vow to enjoy the meal that you’ve planned for. Guilt is NOT necessary here. Do you know why? Because you are conscious…not eating on autopilot. You’ve made the decision to indulge and tomorrow you will make the decision to be completely on your healthy track.

I’m really trying to keep it real here with you all…hope you know that! I’ve been known to eat a small pizza and chicken wings (all of them!) on the 1st of the month after a successful weigh-in…and the next day, I get up do my cardio and plan a salad for lunch!

Enter the no guilt zone and enjoy!