Woah, powerful heading, right? I'm quite proud of that one. Today we're going to talk about the "No List” - and the reason that the majority of people should have one.
If you've been following along for a while (then hi again!) - you'll know that I find that I've got a bit of an obsessive and addictive personality. Not in the "I'm going to stalk you and you're going to love me" sort of way (although I wouldn't put it past me, I am kind of weird like that. Joking, joking.) but in a - I will repeatedly do something until I get the result I'm after - even if that is a negative thing.
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I've never won the impulse game
Food has always been an enemy to me. I really wish this wasn't the case - because I love food. I love sweets, I love treats and I just have a palate for all things tasty as long as they don't contain dairy or nuts. I have a very strong tendency to stress eat, which is quite often, so when I go into calorie counting mode - I can start to do the polar opposite and minimise the eating, which is also super not healthy.
The one major problem that I face is that if I go to stress eat, or if I'm presented with something in particular and I start eating it -
I CAN'T SAY NO.
Like wholeheartedly, I have no off switch.
There is no self-control.
My impulse game is too strong and BANG
- just like that my whole diet can be out in a matter of minutes.
The No List in an actual example
A few weeks ago, my housemate and I were deciding on dinner and we both settled on pizza. Now, for the record, this wasn't my ideal choice as pizza is a trigger food (aka, a No List, food)
However, being the genius I was, I decided to get a smaller sized pizza.
This was so in the highly likely event that I was going to binge, I was minimizing the impact. (It was a great plan, in theory)
Fast forward to the time where said pizza was picked up and delivered, aforementioned housemate and I got into a fight and I decided I was going on a hunger strike as that's my body's chosen refinance stance (Not a great one, mind you.)
This lasted the whole of an hour. Now, I had predetermined in my brain when I was picking up this pizza that I would only be consuming two slices. To my success, when I decided to finally go eat after realising it was a horrible decision not to - I was pretty happy.
... Unfortunately, that lasted probably ten minutes before I was slinking back off to the kitchen for a third, and then a fourth slice. Now - I don't have the actual calories for it because it's a cool pizza from our local shop and they obviously don't list their nutritional value, but if we go 400 calories a slice-based off similar dominos and pizza hut pizzas - there was my WHOLE DAILY CALORIE INTAKE IN LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR.
And seriously - I could not stop myself. Not for lack of trying but it was there - and I just had to eat it.
So that is highly the reason that pizza goes on the "No List."
Other foods that appear on the No List are:
- Chocolate
- Chips
- Lollies
- Biscuits
- Take away food*
*Now, I know what you're thinking about the last one like duh, that shouldn't be on there anyway Claire. But see my problem is that I could balance a macro out with takeaways such as Macca's or KFC - but I'm hard-wired to always want the upsize, and every time I swear I go through the drive-through I have a conversation with myself that goes
"Yep, this time you're just going to get the regular."
"Hi, may I take your order please?"
"Yeah, sure! Upsize Zinger box please!" DAMMIT. NO.
It's the same with biscuits, I say I'm only going to have one - and then I end up eating half the bag which for portion sizes is absolutely nuts.
I did work out that if I go for dark chocolate, and that if it's in the freezer, I'm much better in keeping to what I need to eat as it's so much stronger, and I know I'll get sick if I eat more than two pieces in one sitting. It's all about balance and knowing where you're actually comfortable.
Wrap Up Time
I don't think it's a bad thing to understand where your limitations for self-control lay. If you're confident that you're not able to say no to certain foods, then why in the world would you subject yourself to it? You don't have to sit there and play a game with yourself on your self-will if you don't have to. In fact, I highly discourage it. It's a stupid thing to do and then to deal with the self-punishment afterwards - why would you even think about it?
What are your trigger foods? What can you not say no to?
Have you tried a "No List" before?
Let me know in the comments or send me an email ♥
