Eat Everything You Want: Pleasers and Teasers

I can’t count how many times I’ve heard people say, “Oh, I can’t cut back on what I eat. That's because I love to eat. I love ALL kinds of food.”

They say it in that tone of voice that seems to accuse me that the only way I’ve been able to maintain a normal weight is that I DON’T like food…which isn’t true. I do enjoy eating. In fact, I eat chocolate every single day of my life!

It wasn't always this way. In fact, if you didn't know, I used to have a serious weight issue - and eating disorders. If I overcame it, so can you. 

Normal-Weight People Love to Eat, Too

So how do people who love to eat maintain a normal healthy weight? There are a lot of reasons:

• They do more aerobic exercise …to burn more calories, just so they can eat more. It’s like working overtime to get more money to buy more of what you want.
• They lift weights…because that builds muscles. And, more muscles increases your metabolism, so you can eat more calories
• They’ve strengthened their "willpower" by using some of the tips mentioned in this blog so they don’t get overly hungry. That overly-hungry state tends to increase cravings significantly.

In addition, it helps to learn to be more selective about which foods we eat...in the same way that we spend our money.  

How Do You "Spend" Your Calories?

Can you afford to buy everything you want? I’m going to guess that the answer is NO. 

So we look at price tags before we buy. Why? To see if we think it’s worth the cost of the item.

We spend it on the things that are the most important to us. Some of us drive fancy cars and then live in simple homes. Some of us spend lots of money on clothing, others spend it all on vacations.

There’s no one right way to spend our money. It’s based on our priorities.

I like to think of food in the same way. Very few of us have a metabolism that allows us to eat everything we want. Am I right? Do you want to eat MORE than what your body needs to stay healthy?

So we don’t feel deprived, it helps to be a bit more discerning about what we eat – and not waste any calories on foods we just don’t absolutely love!!

Eat Your Pleasers, Skip Your Teasers

For that reason, I refer to this philosophy as “Eat your pleasers, skip your teasers.” 

Once you can discern which foods are your absolute favs (your pleasers) – and give yourself permission to have them on a regular basis, then it’s easy to avoid what I call “teasers”.

Teasers are the foods that you eat because they’re around, but it’s just not as good as your pleasers. These are different for each of us. My teasers are the chips in a Mexican restaurant, the candy on someone’s desk, and most of the desserts in restaurants that never seem to taste as good as they look.

Discover Your Favorites (Pleasers)

What are your pleasers? If you think you love all foods, ask yourself what do you crave the most? Sweets? Salty? Crunchy? Fried? Liquid calories?

Then once you have the category down, work on narrowing down what kinds of foods within that category are your favorite.

For example, I love ice cream, but if they don’t have chocolate chip, well, then forget it. I love French fries, but I only eat them when they’re hot and crispy – not cold and soggy.

As I mentioned before, I eat chocolate every single day – about 4 Dove chocolates. Not big bars of fancy chocolate…because I know myself I’d probably eat way more of a big bar. And, those four Dove chocolates really satisfy my need for chocolate.

It’s really quite easy to say no to the teasers, when you give yourself permission to have your favorites (pleasers).

What are you going to save YOUR calories for...so you can enjoy your pleasers? Your very favorites. Keep reminding yourself that you deserve the very best - and then wait for that!