Cheaters can win...

Most people cheat, and those that do can still win. I cheated tonight.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am on vacation. But, vacation is no excuse to forget about training, clean eating, and your healthy lifestyle. As you now know, when I travel I always find a gym. This vacation was no different, I kept to my regular training schedule. I did get to take advantage of a few novel pieces of equipment, but everything else stayed the same.

I also managed to stick to a relatively clean eating schedule. We grocery shopped on our first night here, buying our normal complement of foods. But, it's hard not to cheat with temptation staring you in the face. A temptation that is inescapable, as others poke and prod you to break down. Perhaps this poking and prodding is nothing more than a desperate search for a sinful cohort, or perhaps it's nothing more than another's genuine benevolence, an attempt to share something they love with someone they love. Whatever it may be, I broke down.

We've been away for over a week now. A week filled with solid food choices; on the night I ordered a cheeseburger I opted out of the mayo, french fries, and desert. Simply enjoying one of my favorite meals. Normally, I would consider a cheeseburger a hearty cheat meal. But this was a burger made of top grade beef, on a whole wheat bun. So really, this wasn't even much of a cheat at all. The other nights found us eating grilled chicken, salads, sushi, lean steaks, and lots of seafood.

Tonight...that all went out the window. Dinner started off innocently. We ordered a glass of red...antioxidant rich, shown to lower blood pressure, boost immune response, tastes great and tends to lead to a sense of (after a couple glasses for most, one is usually enough for me) decreased social inhibition and heightened social merriment.

This led to a small appetizer of scallops, which led to an even MORE innocent main course; consisting of a seafood sampler. A shared seafood sampler. Nothing more than shrimp, lobster, crab, mussels, and scallops. No cream sauces, no butters, nothing but cooked, chilled shellfish. I was like a pig mucking in his own slop. To me, this was a feast.

It wasn't until the plates were cleared and Anna, our friendly, cunning, sly, "could sell KY Jelly to the pope" waitress suggested we order the "ultimate sin". As soon as she said the words, I should have done something...I should have run out the door, started sawing at my wrists with the butter knife, broken down crying, or maybe I should have asked for the check. But no...I didn't have any of these thoughts. My mind chose to wrap around her description of the ooey, gooey, ohhh so chewy freshly baked chocolate brownie covered in ice cream. At this point, I was intrigued...Anna piqued my interest.

The contract was signed after she mentioned the SIX individual toppings that came separately. I could have control of my topping distribution (melted marshmallow, chocolate, strawberries, caramel, whip cream, and pecans). I could no longer be saved. I looked at Stef, she looked at me...we both looked at Anna. I'm not sure if we even said anything...we didn't have to, our eyes said it all. Anna trotted toward the kitchen. My mind filled with the possibilities.

The Ultimate Sin arrived. I'll spare all of you out there the details of how amazingly wonderful each bit was. I applied toppings carefully, I chewed slowly, I savored every bite. This was the epitome of decadence and gluttony. We ate every morsel. Had I been raised differently, my tongue would have wiped the residue off the plate.

As we got up to leave, pangs of guilt worked their way into my belly. At first, I thought it might be a reaction to the lactose. But no, it was guilt. I felt badly, for straying so far. At least a cheeseburger is not completely nutritionally void. As I reacted to the guilty I started talking to myself as if I were one of you, I was now my own client.

"Look B, you'll go crazy if you eliminate everything. You can't work hard and reward yourself with nothing but boiled chicken and more hard work. You work hard so you can occasionally treat yourself to things like this. You won't, can't and don't get fat in one day. Tomorrow...you're back on track."

It worked. I took my own advice. You see, we'll all turn into Nicholson in The Shining if we look at clean eating as deprivation. We need to reverse our thought process. Cheating is our reward for clean eating. The Ultimate Sin is a reward for months of hard work. Wings and Beer is a reward for months of a clean diet. ColdStone is a reward for losing that last 5 lbs.

I promise each and every one of you...an occasional cheat day, meal, snack will not hurt you...it will help you. You will see the light at the end of the tunnel, a break in the monotony, a trophy that you can enjoy.

Go ahead, order the Sin, drink a beer, call in a pizza. Don't make it habit, don't make it a routine. Make it something you can look forward to, after the hard work, after the sacrifice. Tomorrow, forget about yesterday...all you focus on now is your own goals, all the hard work you've put in, and all the hard work you still plan on putting in.

Like I said, most people cheat...and those that do can still win. I cheated tonight, and I'm damn happy about it.

--BA
Fit2You Fitness, LLC
www.fit2youfitness.com
Philadelphia and Main-Line In Home Personal Training, Yoga, Nutrition and Corporate Health and Wellness