A lot of my clients have told me things like:

“I can’t have ice cream in the house because I’ll eat the whole container.”

“I can’t buy cereal because I’ll eat the whole box.”

“I shouldn’t buy peanut butter because I eat the jar in like two days.”

When you really think about it, we kind of set ourselves up for failure by saying we can’t or shouldn’t have something because saying such things make us want it even more.  On the other hand, if we let ourselves have that certain food, aren’t we risking that we would just continue overeating it?  Maybe, but you’ll be a lot less likely to overeat once I let you in on my little secret!

What if I told you I used foods like pop-tarts, trail mix, chewy candies and ice cream sandwiches to break free from the food prison and food fear I was living in, lost 20 pounds and found a way to love the way I eat? 

You’d probably be like “Ok, good for you but that won’t work for me.”

Well, what if I told you my clients did the same exact thing and got incredible results, too?

You’d probably be like:

“I just don’t believe I can lose fat and still eat mac and cheese.”

or

“Maybe that worked for you, but you don’t understand. I’m a chocoholic.”

or

“Once I start I really can’t stop… I really think I’m addicted to food.”

But what if I told you that each of these women who said these exact quotes to me (really, I found them in their emails.) was now living in a world where:

– She makes a box of mac and cheese and only has 1/3 of a cup (and has lost ~30lbs and holding) instead of the entire box

– She is now only having a few pieces of chocolate each night instead of 3 bars each day plus a cookie plus a hot chocolate (and has lost 15lbs and holding)

– She has cut out her nighttime snacking almost completely by adding a couple snacks at lunch where before she would be eating over 1000 calories at night alone (and has lost 12lbs and counting)

I KNOW! This sounds too crazy to be true, right?  How the heck can snacking on purpose lead to such amazing results? 

I can tell you from personal experience that I also lost 20 pounds by using my #TreatYoSelf Method while cutting down on my exercise and just calming the frig down, hah! I never ever feel deprived or restricted with food because I know I can have anything I want any time I want it and I know I won’t go overboard and this is my exact goal for all of my clients.

Because people are SO skeptical of using this method, I’ll tell you exactly how I started practicing this myself.

1. I would buy a few things at the grocery store that I considered a treat (ice cream sandwiches & dark chocolate covered coconut from Trader Joe’s). 
2. I would eat them as I wanted throughout the week knowing that if I wanted more, I could  because it was there in my freezer. 
3. I would also stop at CVS almost daily to get a seltzer water and I’d pick up some candy and eat that. 
4. Over time, I stopped buying the ice cream sandwiches and the extra candy completely because the novelty had worn off. I no longer considered them special or desirable because I had them all the time, whenever I wanted.  I kept buying the chocolate though because come on, a girl’s gotta live 😉 
5. Now I keep chocolate in my freezer which usually lasts me two weeks to get through and I get special candy when I find something I really love (hello, Whole Foods candy bar- I can thank my sister for that one 😉 ).

Just like anything else that actually works in the long term, learning this technique wasn’t a quick fix or an overnight thing.  It takes practice and patience and a constant reminder that restriction and deprivation is no way to live.  Allow yourself permission to have anything you want and trust that you’ll be able to handle it…maybe not right away, but practice, practice, practice.  It’s so worth the final outcome.  Your forbidden foods suddenly have no control over you and they are no longer forbidden.  YOU finally have control over those foods.

For those who need concrete facts to believe that this stuff actually works…

When I started treating myself on the reg, I was quite heavier than I am now.  This practice is not the single reason I lost weight but it certainly played a big hand in it.  Let’s do some math even though I hate it 🙂 …

Started with: A box of Pop-tarts (1600 calories)

Replaced with: Two pieces of dark chocolate (105 calories) + an ice cream sandwich (440 calories) + my candy (220 calories) = 765 calories

1600-765 = 835.  This meant over the course of most days, I was consuming 835 less calories while STILL having lots of treats.  And remember, I didn’t have the ice cream sandwich or candy every day so the deficit was even higher on those days.

Bottom Line

If fat loss is your goal, you can still treat yourself quite a bit and lose weight. 

If you just want to gain control over what you eat and how much, you can learn to have that control. 

Both goals just takes some trial & error.  You might still over eat something from time to time, especially in the beginning, and that’s ok…expect that to happen every so often. When you’re practicing the #TreatYoSelf Method, you need to have patience and you need to trust yourself.  Trust that you DO have control over what you eat and how much you eat. 

If this is just all too much, too scary and you’re too skeptical, let’s give it a try for 10 days TOGETHER and I’ll coach you through it! I want you to join my FREE #ChocolateChallenge where I’m going to show you exactly how you can eat foods you love without going overboard, how you can #treatyoself every day without having an adverse effect on your physique and how to really begin to love the way you eat without restriction, deprivation and guilt. CLICK HERE for more info on the challenge, sign up and let’s get goin’!