I had a client ask “I ate chocolate today, should I skip my joy food this weekend?”

Oh HELL NO!

Here’s why.

You need to figure out why you ate off plan to start.

You likely ate because you felt bad or you wanted to feel good.

Looking at why you overate or ate off plan is always the BEST FIRST STEP.

But an off plan eat should not be PUNISHED.

Eating off plan doesn’t mean you give up something you PROPERLY planned for. You’ll end up teaching yourself that the foods you enjoy are only ate when you are “being bad.”

It’s fine to skip joy because you don’t want it. But telling yourself you can’t have it because you screwed up today is, well, a recipe for weight gain and giving up on yourself.

Joy food is all about planning for, anticipating, and enjoying the foods we love intentionally, rather than scarfing them down when we’re angry, frustrated or sad. There’s no joy in eating ice cream while your pissed at your husband!

Incorporating joy food in your weight loss plans is essential to learning that you can eat the food you love and still lose weight. That’s how you will feel CONFIDENT in maintenance, too.

So don’t punish yourself for overeating by eliminating your joy food. Remember, the goal is to lose weight the way you will live it.

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