Chocolate.
I don’t know about you but it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, as soon as I hear this word my ears perk up!
I’ve always loved chocolate – well that and anything sweet really.
Its been an addiction.
I’d sit in my bedroom and eat a litre of ice-cream in one sitting. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for me to demolish a whole block of chocolate and wish I had bought 2 blocks, as I still wanted more.
Milkshakes, hot chocolates, donuts, slices…the list could really just go on and on. It even surprised me now looking back, just how much I’d consume.
So what was I to do?
The saying is "Your wear your choices in public" and it's so true
Well the most common answer is to just cut it all out. No more chocolate. No more ice-cream. No more anything sweet and sugary.
Just say you do that. Now what? Just like any addict what do you think will happen?
Do you think you can go the rest of your life with nothing sugary?
I knew I couldn’t. I had tried and failed several times in the past, so I knew the ‘just don’t eat it’ approach wasn’t going to cut it. So what did I do?
I ate chocolate every day.
Yes – EVERY DAY!
And yes I still lost weight.
The first step was recognising the habit. I realised what I was doing- I would try my best not to eat chocolate for days at a time. Then, not being able to stand it anymore, I would binge.
So step 2 – Buy a block of chocolate and work out how long it would last me, if I ate 2 pieces a day
That was then the challenge I set myself. To only eat 2 pieces a day, and I could have an ice-cream once a week.
Depriving yourself leads to binge eating...so I choose not to deprive myself!
Then step 3 – Change from milk chocolate to dark chocolate. This was very hard. I thought dark chocolate tasted awful!!!
It didn’t take me long though to love the taste.
I realised that when limiting the amount of sugar, I was consuming I could handle more bitter flavours much easier.
To my surprise I took to it easier then I had expected. Of course I struggled at the start, and made many mistakes. Deep down inside I thought I would fail but wanted to try it anyway.
But I found I would be extra careful all day to eat the right foods, as I knew I had my pieces of chocolate waiting for me at home.
I would try extra hard to be on my game all week as well, that way I could enjoy my ice-cream on the weekend.
I told myself that if I cheated and had more chocolate during the week then I couldn’t have my ice-cream on the weekend.
Over time this new habit developed and gradually became second-nature.
Then I changed it up again; and made it 1 piece of chocolate, instead of 2.
Then I changed it to every second day.
These days? It's what I save for my weekend treat.
Now I’m not saying I never crave chocolate. I still have moments, where I’d give anything for a whole block of delicious 90% dark chocolate.
Yes, I’m obsessed with 90% dark chocolate now. Love it!
But because I’ve developed this new habit, I find it so much easier now to put it aside, as I know I’ll be having my chocolate or ice-cream this weekend.
I’ve never cut it out of my life all together and never will
We all need to still be able to live a life of balance!
To me, that’s what a healthy lifestyle should give us – balance, confidence, self-worth…and chocolate ;)
Speak soon
Court
