Do You Know Where Your Children's Candy Is?

Have you staked claim to your children's Halloween candy score? Are you doing it "for their own good?"

Did you buy only candy you hate so you won't eat it? Or did you buy your favorites and secretly hope no one comes to the door to take it away?

Did you buy an extra bag..."just in case"...and did you already eat it?

Heck, did you buy your "Halloween" candy back in September and have to replenish the supply two or three times already.

I've been there, done that...well, except for the kids...I don't have kids so I couldn't even use them as an excuse for having candy on hand!

This year is different. I won't be in town for Halloween, so I didn't buy any candy for trick-or-treaters. Let's face it...we don't really have many in our neighborhood...maybe 3 last year...so what's the point.

However, I did buy candy for me. Not because it is Halloween...because I wanted some. I bought a really good dark chocolate coated treat. And I let myself eat it all.

You know what? I still have some left!

By giving myself permission to 1) buy it, 2) buy something I really like and 3) to actually eat it, all the "naughtiness" is gone! So I had a couple bites and really enjoyed it and put the rest away.

Will I eat the rest...oh, I'm sure I will...but the point isn't that I don't or won't eat chocolate...it is that I CAN and still be healthy.

This change in mindset has been the key to my weight loss success. I have declared that no food is off-limits, thereby taking away the power of the food to suck me down the sugar abyss. It no longer calls my name. Oh, I hear a whisper now and then, but like any "normal, thin person" (words I NEVER thought I would be able to say in reference to myself) I can enjoy some of my favorites now and then...without being a slave to it! Hurray!

You can choose to continue raiding your kid's stash...you can mete out their treats while you secretly eat your favorites...and you can feel bad about all that...or you can decide, like I did that you are going to give yourself permission to enjoy whatever foods you want...

Nope, this isn't a trick. The real treat is that you CAN have weight loss success...and enjoy your favorite foods--and still look your kids' in the eye!