After some consideration, I have decided to allow myself a monthly cheat day. The idea was posited to me by Quirky Chrissy of the blog of the same name. She suggested I allow myself a weekly cheat day, but I've decided to make it a monthly thing and see how it goes from there. This month's cheat day will be January 30th when my husband and I see Shen Yun at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. My cheat will consist of one alcoholic beverage and one serving of desert. The desert can not have chocolate in it. I just can't control myself around chocolate.
Speaking of cheats, earlier this month I promised to show pictures of food items that went off my diet. This has raised certain questions I'm still trying to answer. I did go off my diet once or twice these past few weeks, but not in the sense that I ate a mountain of potato chips or whatnot. Basically, I've either been forced to eat something I probably shouldn't due to lack of an alternative or I've gone over my calorie limit because I ate too much of what I'm allowed to eat. Here are a few examples:
This was the day I forgot to bring my lunch to work and all they had were burgers and hotdogs, and they were out of the fat-free dressing. Beef is considered a "red" food on my Noom and so are most salad dressings. I'm only allowed around 15% of red foods, and this put me over my percentage limit. Ironically, I don't think I went over my calorie limit for the day.
I did go over my calorie limit the day I ate this totally benign and Noom approved whole wheat bread slice. I was desperately hungry that day and feeling like crap to the point that if I didn't have something in my stomach, I felt like I was going to dry heave. It was around this time that I started wondering if I shouldn't up my calorie limit or at least check to see if I had been depriving myself of some necessary nutrient. I also started taking vitamins around this time.
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| It's not what you're thinking... |
No, those aren't droppings from some mysterious animal. Those are almonds and, according to Noom, a red food. I was feeling low on energy and desperately needed a boost. This is what I used to eat when I was low on energy (also when Noom used to include this as a yellow food), and it did the trick, but it also put me over my calorie limit for the day.
These are just a few examples. I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it to include these as cheats. I haven't gone too far over my limit, and to be honest, I felt I needed the extra food. Either my body isn't used to the calorie cut or my app is wrong about my limit. I want to lose weight, but I don't want to risk my health in the process. In the future, I might only include these over the limit cheats if I go over 200 calories or more. After doing a little research, I've come to the conclusion that as long as I exercise and stay within a 1,300-1,400 calorie limit, I should be fine. I'll decide at the end of the month after I've weighed myself. I'll probably be in a less than generous mood by then, but what can you do?
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