Set up mental barriers

It was 3:30pm.  Time for my mid-afternoon snack at work.  I went to the fridge and grabbed a part skim mozzarella cheese stick and a small protein shake.  Then the snack shelf caught my eye.  It was filled with many treats - pop tarts, chocolate candies, bags of cookies.  Then there were the treats masquerading as healthy food - like granola bars, nutri-grain bars, and juice.  Then my eye spotted a bag of HI-CHEWs.  Hmm.  I reached my hand in, grabbed one little mango HI-CHEW and brought it back to my desk with my other snacks.

I had a great status check-up with my personal trainer this morning.  Weight is the lowest it's ever been in many years, as well as fat percentage.  In fact, the high-tech gadget they put me on to measure my stats said "based on your measurements, you need to lose 0.0 pounds of fat and gain 0.0 pounds of muscle."  Am I at my perfect weight and body fat percentage?  Well if not, I'm close. Wow.

Back to the HI-CHEW.  Nutritional facts for ONE mango HI-CHEW are - 21 calories, 0.5g fat, 3g sugar and that's pretty much it.  I could eat 10 of these things and have no impact to my health or diet.  I deserve it, right?  For the last 10 months I have completely ignored the bad food on the snack shelf, haven't had a single piece.  And I lost 70 pounds (in conjunction with daily exercise).  Now before you think I'm claiming to be perfect, I'm not.  I give myself a cheat meal each week - I can have whatever I want (in moderation), and I have been known to consume some "healthy" treats (like dark chocolate, the brownies or cookies I posted about). 

The thing with the HI-CHEW is different though.  Think about it.  If I eat this little piece of candy, what will happen the next time it's time for a snack and the snack shelf catches my eye?  The HI-CHEW's friends are all sitting there patiently, eagerly, innocently.  I can't open that door.  A single HI-CHEW today, a few pieces of chocolate tomorrow, some cookies, doughnuts...arghh, that's how I got in this mess to begin with!

So the little mango HI-CHEW just went in the garbage.  I didn't even dignify it by putting it back in the bag with his friends.  I chews (haha) to celebrate my fitness success by keeping up the good mental barriers and sticking to what got me here.  I'm never going back.