Waffle House Was Yummy

I went to a diner last night – a Waffle House that just opened near me.

Years ago, when I was a dieter, I would have had to negotiate this meal very carefully.  What can I eat that isn’t “bad.”  I would have had plain eggs, fruit,  dry toast and diet coke.

This is how it works for me now, with a thin mentality.

I ordered two eggs, ham, and a  waffle- because it was a new Waffle House and I had never had one of those famous waffles.  It came with hash browns.  It was a big plate of wonderful food.  I also had coffee with cream.

I ate most of the eggs and ham.  Then I ate a bite or two of hash browns and about one quarter of one waffle with syrup and butter.  I enjoyed every bit, had a wide variety of flavors etc. and it was great.

I took home a doggy bag.

If you added up the calories in what I ate, they probably would have been about 600-700.  I didn’t think about the calorie count last night.   I just am letting you know approximately how much food we are talking about here.

If I had eaten a “diet meal” like I used to, the calorie count would have probably been about 500.  I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much.  And then you know what I used to do?  When I got home after having a meal I didn’t love, I would have a bite or two of some treat when I got home.  That would easily have added another 200 calories to what I ate.

So, the point is, I would have probably eaten about the same amount of calories as a dieter as I did eating what I had last night.  But last night was way better.  I felt completely free, satisfied, experienced a fun meal, and when I got home, it didn’t even occur to me that I needed a little “treat” before bed.

You can say that fruit and dry toast would have been more healthful.  If you examine one meal of mine and compare it to a diet meal, you could make a case that that individual meal was less fatty or sugary or whatever.

But that is not how nutrition happens!  You have to look at the whole picture.  What is your next meal, and your next and your next.  And I know that my body, which is “on my side” will request that I eat some vegetables and fruit some days and waffles and syrup on others.

Yours will too!  Free yourself from your diet mentality and trust that your body wants good nutrition and will guide you to it.

As you get your thin mentality going, I know you are afraid that you will gain weight, not lose weight.

But you will never gain weight if you eat only when you are hungry, and stop when you aren’t hungry anymore.  Remember, you didn’t get fat eating when you were hungry!!

And say to yourself, as you look at the second half of the hamburger that you ordered, ate half of, and aren’t hungry for anymore, “Yes, it still looks good.  And I can eat it all- just not all at once!  When I get hungry again, I can finish it.”

It really is a fun, nice way to live-  I promise.  And way “cooler” than being a stoic dieter.  ugh-  or constantly struggling with being overweight- ugh.