This past Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. It’s a pretty big party day and one that’s usually filled with “game day snacks.”
I didn’t go to a party this year, but I did watch the game, commercials, and halftime show by myself at home. I’m not a huge football fan, but to my surprise I actually enjoyed all of it!
I was having my own personal party at home and throughout the game, I had some food cravings.
It was Super Bowl! So maybe I should go buy some snacks. Maybe I should order a pizza. These are things we do on Super Bowl, right? So, it’s no big deal if I indulge.
But really, it is a big deal. It’s a big deal because it’s not how I honestly wanted to be eating that day. I had a plan for what I was going to eat, as I usually do, and my plan for that day didn’t include those foods.
The decision I needed to make came down to was whether or not I wanted to break away from my plan to eat them just because it was a special day and I was having cravings.
This is something we do all the time. We make up reasons to justify why we should overindulge in foods we don’t normally eat.
It’s Friday, it’s Monday, it’s my day off, it’s the middle of the week and I should have something to get me through the rest of the week, it’s the weekend, it’s my birthday, it’s so-and-so’s birthday, I had a bad day, I had a good day. Any of those sound familiar? Literally any day of the week you can come up with a reason to go buy a big bag of chips and eat the whole thing.
I didn’t want “it’s Super Bowl” to be my reason for overindulging.
Every time I considered walking to the 7 Eleven around the corner from my home and buying popcorn, potato or tortilla chips, something sweet, or pizza, I would tell myself, “I’m just justifying giving in to these cravings because it’s Super Bowl and I don’t like that reason so I’m not going to do it.”
It can be hard to figure out whether you like your reasons or not, especially when a craving hits hard.
But if you’re clear about what you want for yourself long term and what’s in line with your goals, it’s easier to see what the wrong reasons are.
I’ll share with you a trick I used to help me see more clearly.
I told myself I could have anything I’m craving now tomorrow. When I told myself that, my first response was that I don’t want to be eating those things tomorrow. That right there, told me the truth about what I really wanted.
If you find yourself justifying reasons to overeat or binge, challenge those reasons.
You can come up with reasons to give in and reasons not to and it’s up to you to decide which you’re going to go with. Think it through and be honest with yourself.
