If you are trying to lose weight, why are you cheating so much?

Not the intended individual, but I would guess because not everyone is perfect and sometimes we make bad choices even when we know we shouldn't?

I believe half of dieting/exercising is mental rather then physical.

Don't beat yourself up lonewolf, we all fall short at times, with the exception of wlfdg who has probably not eaten something sweet for 10 years. Just get back on the wagon, and pat yourself on the back when you do good, and sort of slap yourself in the forehead when you do bad, but try to remain mostly positive when I eat cookies I just say well I shouldn't have, but I have been rather good with exercise and eating of late.

@ Garrulous -- Quoted for truth. I would say it's mostly a mental game, and an emotional one.

But Aurthur999's simple question got me thinking.

What I need are some other options than my old standbys.

Re-pattern my habits by engineering things so that something else good is going on at the same time I'm eating paleo. That way, if I'm going to be an emotional eater, I'll have some paleo soul foods. And compile a list of other stimulating activities that are already set up and I can do on immediately--this would also require me to have the inner fortitude to put aside my cravings and be willing to try something else first.

I'm beginning to realize that cheats should really be no big deal. Instead of, "Okay I cheated, that was fun but I now I have to be serious about this and never have it again." Some part of me freaks out. Instead I'll try saying, "I can cheat whenever I want." Reverse psychology. And when I do cheat, do so with a critical pallet. I'm hoping if I can stay with the way of eating most of the time, my palate will change and eventually I'll prefer paleo foods over junk.

I tried this on Monday, I went into the theater and smuggled in a bunch of g00dies.  I would take a bite out something and it tasted bland to me and really wasn't worth finishing. This way, I ended up throwing out half of what I brought. This is an improvement, in the past I always felt compelled to "save the best for last." I figured this out eating a rib eye steak. I had all the lean part first and when I was done I had no room for the part I liked, the fat. And steak is not like carbo-f00d. It was impossible for me force myself eat more, I would get sick. I realized I was doing this completely backwards, eat the good stuff first THEN eat the rest to round out the meal. Before this discovery, I would literally put my candy bars and whatnot in order from least tastiest to tastiest and start with the least. I'd feel pretty sick near the end but now I had the good candy which made eating it all easier.

"Clean your plate" died that day, too.

It may be a winding path, but I know I'm on the right one as long as I'm getting these sorts of revelations.

I'm hoping if I can stay with the way of eating most of the time, my palate will change and eventually I'll prefer paleo foods over junk.

Yes! that's a good plan!
I used to eat pasta ~ 3 times a week. When I went paleo I did not cheat for almost a month. I had a few cheats the 2nd month and then on the 3rd month decided to cook some pasta as a planned cheat. It tasted quite bad! I cannot describe it well, but it was chewy and bland.

My suggestion:

- Set an objective of 4 weeks on paleo*, at the end of which you will have the cheat of your choice (in moderation, not just a full weekend of every possible cheat but a snack or at the most 1 meal).
- After those 4 weeks have passed go for the cheat and honestly assess how you feel about it. You will most likely be "disappointed" that it does not taste as good as it used to, but you will then know that you were not missing that much.

To stay on track until then:
- Do not eat out under any circumstances. Cook all your meals yourself.
- Do not attend any event that you know will make you eat garbage. If it's the movies, then don't watch movies; if it's something about family, spend time with them outside meals. Tell your loved ones that you are in a bootcamp or something for the next 4 weeks. If they care about your health they should understand.
- Keep paleo snacks always handy. If you have to carry a dozen boiled eggs and a few bananas and carrots around, then so be it. Whenever you feel like eating non paleo foods, eat an egg. I can assure you that after the 4th egg in 5 minutes you won't be able to eat other stuff even if you want to. If you still want to eat other stuff, force yourself to eat the apple or the carrot. It takes ~ 10 minutes to properly chew a large carrot.
- Drink a lot of water, sleep enough and exercise.

Just snack on paelo foods... like almonds, fruit and veggies... it's that simple.  

If you don't buy crap, you won't have it around... therefore, you can't eat it.  

You are where you are based on the choices you made... when you look in the mirror and see an overweight person, say to yourself, "well... I chose to look like this."  If you are not happy with what you see... then you NEED to make the choice to change... do I choose to stick with the nutrition plan or do I choose to be overweight?

Every time you think about cheating... say outloud... I am choosing to be fat.
I bet you won't cheat then

2/7/10

Weight: 169.6lb (76.93kg)
Fat:         41.8%
Water:     37.1%
Muscle:    32.7%

Not bad. Mostly water I think. In menses starting yesterday, so I'm still probably still retaining.

Thanks for your advice and support, everyone! I plan to stay away from the Chinese Buffet, and have boiled a dozen eggs. I plan to make jerky using Lex Rooker's Jerky machine.

http://www.rawpaleodiet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/jerkydrierinstructions.pdf

Has anyone tried this? I was thinking of using wood dowels instead of PVC pipe -- I don't want PVC anywhere near my food, if I can avoid it.

heres a thought get rid of all of your cheat foods just replace everything with the paleo diet that is what i had to do I had to take everything non paleo out or otherwise i would not be doing as good as I am.

That is a slippery slope in my opinion. Firstly the telling yourself cheating isn't a big deal with regards to your goals, and secondly the paying off bad eating with exercise.

If you cheat you shouldn't just go 'oh well, these things happen', you should look at the situation and find out why it happened and take steps to prevent it happening again. Beating yourself up about it is counter productive, but so is just accepting cheating as something that will happen regardless of any other factors.

Different strokes for different folks. Some people respond better to positive reinforcement and some to negative.

Here's a question that is a good indicator of which side you're on: Do you think the universe, as a whole, is a friendly place?

Me? I think not. We're one tiny spec of "the universe". Everywhere else is exploding, burning at thousands of degrees C, and hurtling through space at hundreds of miles per hour. Even here people get stabbed, shot, wars are going on all the time, bears kill things, car accidents happen, cats eat mice, etc etc

So yeah, negative reinfocement works for me. Positive lets me cheat too readily. The thinking that "Oh, that's ok. It happens, I'll move on" gives me an EXCUSE to do it in the future. I begin thinking "I can cheat because then I'll tell myself that 'it happens' and just move on!"