1. Chocolate does not satisfy. At least not for me. I love chocolate, but when I get a taste of it, I'm not done. I want more and more and more! Maybe that's why Yorks have been my favorite for my whole life. You really can't eat more than a few bites of that minty goodness before you've had enough. So I've learned that I am more of an abstainer than a moderator. I'd rather eat a good big piece of cake once a month than one small piece of candy every day.
2. Like I mentioned before, I didn't take anything off the table during the challenge (expect sweet, blessed warm chocolate chip cookies... or anything that was made up mostly of sugar and butter.) But I did bake three or four times, and some quick substitutions helped keep the calorie count lower while still enjoying some comforting and delicious treats. I made these black bean brownies a few times, and everyone was so thrilled to have a baked good in the house again that they didn't think twice about the taste, which was actually really, really delicious and satisfying. Both on the tongue and in the tummy, since you can only eat so many beans before your body recognizes what exactly you're eating. I've still kept the overall baking in check though, since even substitutions aren't the best compared to vegetables and fruits.
3. Planned treats just don't taste as good as an impulse indulgence. We picked out our treat of the week at the beginning of each week, which gave us plenty of time to think about the taste and smell and texture of each one. More often than not, by the time we actually ate the treat, it tasted okay, but not all that amazing. That was a bit of a letdown, but it was still better than constantly indulging and not making any progress.
4. A lot of people say that before they started eating healthy, they thought about food all of the time. That was not the case for me. Rather, it was once I started the challenge that I started thinking about food all the time. Instead of mindlessly eating the crusts of my kids sandwiches, polishing off the leftovers from their dinner plates, and popping bits of chocolate in my mouth incessantly then wondering why I'm still hungry when I've been eating all day long, I became much more intentional about the three meals and two snacks that I ate each day. Lots of protein, lots of fiber, lots of fruits and vegetables took more planning and preparing than before, but I was thinking about food in a good way. And once my body realized that I didn't need to eat every 30 minutes (I'm not sure if I'm exaggerating there) or after 7 PM, it became even easier to stick to a healthier eating pattern.
5. Having a goal to work toward is hugely motivating! I didn't realize how much I enjoyed working toward the FCC finish date until it passed. Now I'm working toward a 100 day streak of exercise and eating right. And who knows what will be next? But it's nice to have something in mind to keep moving forward.
I don't expect that I will ever become a health nut exercise fanatic, but I am enjoying the healthier version of myself that I have become!
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