Ohhhh boy.... I cheated today!!! Question...

[ItalianBabe7]

I cheated today....... I had a couple fruit popsicles and taco bell!!! BUT I was going to dairy queen and I had a sugar free pudding instead!! lol... I figured one day wouldn't be bad if I cheated... or am I wrong??? This is my 2nd week on phase one... I've been doing very good and really sticking to it so I didn't think it would be so bad if I ate something I wanted. I still feel great.... but I'm sure this has put a block in the road? I'm back on~ just wondering if this is going to be a huge set back. I'd love to hear feedback from more experienced south beachers!! Thanks!!

[RedRox]

I think a clean P1 is important and I think "treating" can be a slippery slope for some. The key is to just consider it a speed bump and keep going. It's a consistency and longevity based program. As I like to say, if you're still eating according to SB principles 90%-95% of the time a year from now, it won't make a bit of difference.

The flip side of shooting for a clean P1 are those who restart it every time they treat in P1 and just get stuck in a P1 spin cycle and burn out and never make it to P2 which is the real weight loss part of the program and where you really learn how to eat well and make the program your own and find what works for you. So that's no good either.

So IMO the best case scenario is a clean P1 and early P2 and no treats until you have a good handle on the basics and how to put together a sound P2 meal plan day in and day out and then you can start experimenting with off plan treats and see how they affect you. Worst case are those who are so obsessed with an unattainable level of perfection that they feel like they "fail" at every morsel of off plan food that passes their lips and simply give up because they can't "do it". Everything else is more or less a gray area and just depends how you do in terms of staying with it for the long term and not letting the treats become too regular. You are shooting for 500-1000 net calorie deficit per day. If you were on track to achieve that and have a 500-1000 calorie treat (and taco bell can wipe all of that out and more) you've wiped out all the good things you did that day.