Plop plop, fizz fizz, what a relief it is!

Indigestion! It's not like we don’t know that’s how we are going to feel. It's not as if we have gone temporarily insane and we forgot everything we know. It's not as if we didn’t think that eating an entire plate of macaroni and cheese topped with a double fudge ice cream sundae was not going to make us not only “fat” but that we were going to feel sick too. You know the kind of sick that I mean, that kind that makes you feel nauseous and of course bloated; when you need to unbutton the top button and zipper of your pants. Where your stomach aches with the amounts of food you just stuffed into it, so much that it is stretched way beyond what could possibly be deemed as normal and almost quite miraculous that it can actually get that big, pretty amazing.

But still, you may sit there thinking, mmm I wonder what is for dinner later on. Have you somehow talked yourself into thinking that this is a normal state of being? That this is the normal way to feel after consuming a meal? That everyone feels like this? I mean you hear it all the time, everyone is always complaining that they ate too much, isn’t that normal? Aren't you supposed to eat that way?

Then again, maybe it's just something that you ate, not how much you ate. Maybe it’s the combination of foods that is making you feel so sick, or maybe it’s a stomach bug? Maybe, it's possible, isn’t there something going around? Oh, the games we play. We can talk ourselves into thinking and believing just about anything. How about this one, this is actually one of the best ones going. Think back to the last time you ate like this, while you were eating and enjoying your incredibly decadent meal, very well knowing that when you are done with that meal you are planning on having a very decadent dessert or perhaps two, you know you are doing it for whatever reason or for whatever got into your head today that you will, its there and you do.

Ok, so how many of you have actually thought, “Well, that’s fine, it's ok to eat like this, I mean I deserve it, don’t I? I have been so good and I just need it! “ There are all those books out there too, supporting this kind of thinking, ‘don’t deprive yourself! If there is something that you really want then just have it and be done with it and then get right back on track!” HA!! That’s what I have to say to that, HA!! Who are they talking to? Are they talking to the person that just stuffed her face and is about to have just a little bit more just to make sure she gets this craving out of her system once in for all? Is this healthy? Healthier than depriving yourself? Is it? Really? Does anyone know what happens after stuffing one's face like this? Well, I do. First of all, you will grasp hold of all of the people that have said, “It's okay honey, just give yourself a break and eat whatever you want and don’t deprive yourself since eventually, you're going to eat it anyway, so better to just have it and get rid of that craving once and for all!” HA!!!

Or, perhaps you do what I do? Perhaps while you first tell yourself that this is a good thing, a healthy thing mentally to do, you then think, “Well, now that I have distended my stomach to grand proportions I will now decide that I have had it and I will definitely start my new work out regime first thing, well at least as soon as I can button my pants again and walk without hearing everything inside of me slosh around a bit. Kind of makes you feel dizzy too, huh? Well, right after that feeling passes, now that I got that craving out of the way, I will get up early and start to walk, or even start jogging, or if it's raining I am going to finally get to that gym! Take a spin class, that’s it, boy oh boy, good thing I did this, got it out of my system and now I can concentrate on “me”! But, right now I think that I am going to lay down for a moment or two, ugh, feeling a little tired too, really tired, soooo sleeeepppyy…………….zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What happened? Its morning? Didn’t hear the alarm? Have a headache? Still in your clothes from the night before? So now what? I guess you better get out of bed and get to the gym, let's go, go, go, go!! What? Not enough time, got up too late? Tired? Still, feeling tired and crabby? Maybe after a cup of coffee and a Tylenol? That’s the ticket, then you can get started, once again. What? Really feeling crappy still, just going to take it easy, no need to push, right? Take it easy and see how it goes, maybe later after work, you can hit the gym then, after a day of good eating and a nice healthy salad? That's the ticket, but boy oh boy, somehow you woke up hungry too? How is that possible, well really after yesterday what is it going to hurt to start the day off with a buttered bagel, toasted, yum, that will make me feel better than a nice salad and the gym, feeling better already?

Well, here is the thing. Rather than to continue to take you through this entire scenario of the rest of this day that will never, by the way, end up at the gym or with a salad unless it is in accompaniment to something else. Of course, it won't, because if you were going to go to the gym, you would have before you overate in the first place. True. Did you really not know that eating all of that food wouldn’t make you feel sick? Did you really believe that after eating it all you would all of a sudden straighten yourself out and the world would be in order again, and all would make sense? Did you really not know that eating a ton of crap would not make you feel super sick? Do you really believe that it's healthy to do that to your body every once in and while just to satisfy your cravings? In theory, it would be great if it were true, it would and I wish it were. I wish that we could eat really well all the time but when our cravings come up like gangbusters I wish that all it took was to eat whatever it was we were craving and get it over with, right? Sounds great! So, how often has that actually worked for you? Well for me? How about 0?

Yes, one hundred times I have thought, “Well that’s a great idea, why haven’t I thought about that?” Well, that’s because it really doesn’t work. If you could stop at that one meal, if you could do that and there would be no other repercussions then of course, knock your selves out. But as many times as we have read or been told that it's not healthy to deprive yourself of the things you are craving and just to have some and get it over with, it's equal amounts of time that it hasn’t worked. We just feel sick, and you must have known it was going to make you feel like that! Especially if you have been eating well, you would feel really sick, then you would naturally tell yourself that it’s a good thing, you got it out of your system and now even better you feel so sick that the thought of food makes you even sicker, and thoughts of the gym actually feel like reality. Life is beautiful.

If weight loss was easy, we would all be thin! I have said those words thousands of times and will say them a thousand more times. It doesn’t work like that, eating like that will always make you feel sick, and then will generally always make you crave more food like that. It will make you tired and lethargic and what makes you feel better when you feel like that? Well, more food.

We know what good eating is, at least most of us do. If it sounds too good to be true well then it usually is. You can of course overeat like that any time you like, just don’t talk yourself into thinking that you are doing something emotionally healthy for yourself because you are not, and don’t talk yourself into thinking that after you will get it together, that it was just the thing you needed to make you realize how sick you feel and how much better you will feel once you head to the gym. You won't, you won't go to the gym after because you never go to the gym. We just tell ourselves these lies and believe the ones that are told to us by perhaps people that mean well but have not really been there. You can’t stop once you start, if you crave potato chips you can appease yourself with a few but who are you kidding, you are not stopping at a few, you will finish it off since you haven’t had them in ages and then you are hitting the gym anyway! Well, maybe tomorrow.

I know this is hard work, and I know that often it doesn’t feel fair and it seems like the whole world is out there enjoying themselves, eating whatever they feel like and never gaining weight. They aren’t, by the way. I know it seems like a never-ending journey, but the way to get there is not through eating your way through your cravings, sorry, they only get worse then. It's by putting on your “big person's pants” (not big as in large but grown up, lol) and doing it the only way there is to do it. One day at a time, cravings will go away within 3 days if you stay away from whatever it is your wanting. The better you eat and the healthier you feed yourself the less you will crave other foods. It's true, it is the only thing that works, the other stuff is a game and your mind is way too sensitive to be playing them.

Hang in there, work through it, and the more steady you are the faster you will get there. Promise.