*LAST cheat meal*

...was devoured and enjoyed yesterday! I had already planned it so I'm very glad Jon gave me permission to eat it at our last appointment lol. 'Last one!' he says!

It was pretty good timing though, its my birthday this Wednesday and before we started out 20 week out comp diet countdown, I never dreamed I'd still be allowed an all out cheat meal at this stage in the game! So I was able to go to one of my favourite restaurants, Sizzler :) with my family. The inner fat girl in me used to love Sizzler simply because it was, all you can eat. However, over the last twelve months, I've gotten more and more used to the idea of having one cheat meal every so often (eg once per week) without this meaning that I have to absolutely guts it! At first I was just binging, ie eating past the point of pleasure and feeling a loss of control. But with practice, the last few months especially I have really noticed the difference in how, when I eat slowly and mindfully (actually enjoying the food) I need less of it to feel satisfied. I'm also not really craving any junky foods during a period of just a week, which helps. I can still put away a bloody lot of food for my size though (haha!) but now I can honestly say that I enjoyed every bite :) Now, I like Sizzler for the variety- you can have a little taste of so many things without ordering everything and then wasting it!

At first I was quite disappointed when I couldn't get the meal I had planned to.. the mega bacon cheeseburger deluxe (with grilled chicken instead of beef patty- Definately NOT anything like the one pictured above!!!)- I tried to hide my disappointment to the poor cashier but I felt like saying to her- this is kind of a big deal, you don't understand!!!! My substitite, grilled chicken with bacon and melted cheese served with chips (and of course, tomato sauce) more than compensated though cos I just had a couple of those yummo dinner rolls on the side ;) Good karma also rewarded my effort to be polite when they happened to have my TWO favourite desserts, dessert being an essential element of any good cheat meal. Sticky date pudding and apple crumble, both pretty good with custard and vanilla icecream!

I love that this post is just all about that meal, I really do love food, healthy and otherwise! AS you may know, I struggled with the concept of the cheat meal for a long time, wondering why I could not have smaller portioned treats more frequently. I am now completely satisfied with my approach which works for me, being 98% clean (1 cheat meal as much as I like, out of 42 meals per week)... I will post again with other details of birthday fun :)

Well and truly got my game face on now and ready for fat to fly!

ps. if you love being grossed out by OTT food pics like above, its from here