Just One Bite—Destruction Testing

“One bite won’t hurt.”  Well maybe, maybe not.  The problem is, you can’t know if it will hurt until it has already hurt you.

You’re on your plan, you’re through the worst of the withdrawal, and you’ve lost some weight.  You’re starting to feel like you’ve got your legs under you again and you can do this.  Then there’s that food.  That delicious food.  One bite—what could that matter?  It’s hardly worth putting in your food log it’s so insignificant.  You eat it, and it’s delicious.

What happens after that?  For a small percentage of people, you say “yay, that was good, now back to my food plan.”  I won’t say there aren’t people who can handle one bite like it didn’t matter at all.  But are you one of them?

What if you’re not?  What if instead you’re one of the majority of people, for whom one bite can shatter their serenity?  Now that you’ve had a bite, you’re back in the world of choices.  You’ve thrust yourself out of commitment and back into will power, pushing that boulder up a hill.  With every moment of the day, every time you’re around food, you have to ask yourself, “Should I have some?  How much?  One bite?  One small piece?” 

The rationalizations are constant:  “One bite didn’t hurt before, I still lost two pounds that week.”  “It’s my birthday.”  “I’ll hurt her feelings if I don’t try it.”  “I can handle it, I can stop anytime.”

Will you?  Will you stop anytime?  You can’t know for sure until you try it.  For most people, a bite is the first step to a binge or a slide.  Once you’ve let yourself know you can cheat, you’ve strengthened the greedy inner brat.  You’ve fed the beast, and the beast is now stronger.  Can you shove it back in its cage and lock it down?  Maybe.

Maybe is the problem.  Maybe you will, maybe you won’t.  Most people won’t, and then they’re off the diet, getting fatter again, and working up the will power to restart in a month, a year, a decade, or never.  Why engage in destruction testing if you don’t have to?  The only way to find out if it’s going to derail you is to get derailed.

It’s a useless, pointless, self-destructive experiment.  If one bite of food is so important, perhaps that’s what you should be looking at instead.  Why is one bite so important I’m willing to risk my health and my future hotness?  What does this bite of food represent?  What feelings am I trying to feed?

Stay on your plan.  Give it everything.  So what if you’re a little obsessive about it?  You’re yanking the pendulum hard to the side of sobriety, and yes, later you will let it swing back to the middle and find whatever degree of moderation works for you long-term.  But now, in the weight loss phase? 

Strict.  No bites, licks, or tastes (BLTs).  Following a plan 100% works.  Half-assing it never works.  Will 95% work for you?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Don’t risk it.