Have Your Cake & Eat It Too

by Kris Pitcher

From my office, I overheard her complaining that her "diet pill" had really amped her up. It was some kind of appetite suppressant. I stayed in my office...enacting the bystander effect as I usually do when people at work want to talk about dieting.

Later in the day, I couldn't help myself as I heated up a meal in the break room. There it was. The giant cake from the reception the night before. Cake never goes to waste. I took a picture of it, posted it to fb, and said I was going to have a piece. My facebook LIT UP! I am so funny.

Of course I wouldn't eat a piece of cake. I'm about to compete, I am in fact, dieting. But as the day came to a close the cake was still massive. "There's lots of cake, please feel free to take some home." my colleague chirped.

"None for me," said the diet pill lady, "I've already had two pieces." It was all I could do not to shoot broccoli out my nose (which hurts if it's ever happened to you). TWO PIECES!

Clearly, this gal believes you can have your cake and eat it too. Her appetite suppressant didn't quite do the job. Did it? That and she may not be fully committed to her new diet, or have any eating plan at all.

Wow! And this is what's intrinsically wrong. People think there's a magic pill they can take and eat what ever they want. It simply doesn't work that way. You can have cake and a big fat butt, or no cake and look different. But you can't have the rockin' body, and eat the cake. Simple.

You don't get to continue the same behavior (twice!) and expect a different result. Would that make any sense to a logical person? No, it would not.

It isn't about logic though. It's about cake. It's about instinct, and wanting what you want. Eating the cake is about emotion and association. It's about sticky, sweet, sugary muck. Then come the bad feelings. Following your caving in, you feel bad.

You started the day with good intentions...you even took the magic pill that was supposed to make this easy. But then you were faced with choices. Difficult choices. Ones you were not prepared or equipped to make. The choice you made didn't fall in line with your intention. Now you feel bad.

Guess what? Make a different choice next time! It's that easy. Decide to decide. People always say they don't know how I can do it, stick to it, eat what I eat...Well, I'll tell you how. I have decided that's what I'm going to do.

I've decided I will compete on June 14th at Jr. Nationals in Chicago and I have bought a plane ticket. I'll be dog-gonned if I'm showing up with a fat ass! Not me sister!

How do I do it? I do it because it's important to me. It falls right in line with my values, making the choices really, really, easy. Period. Done. I don't even take an appetite suppressant?! My mind is much more powerful.

You can get your mind around this too. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. It just doesn't work like that. You can make choices. You can fit things in. There doesn't have to be absolutes for the non-competitor. You certainly don't have to be me. Who would want to figure out this crazy hair?

It's simply hard work. Every day. You make choices one by one. You keep doing that whether there's a giant cake at work or not. Day in. Day out. As long as you want the results. Go for it! Have exactly what you want!