Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.

I'll try and make a quick point this time. Let's see if I can.

The jury's out on whether you should ban things from your diet or lifestyle. So often I hear people talk about things they ban for the slightest dietary infraction. Take chocolate. Apparently you can't lose weight if you eat chocolate. It's just impossible. The same goes for alcohol, sweets, desserts, the list goes on. To be blunt I say BULL.

The second I ever try and cut something from my diet is the second I find it almost impossible to think of anything other than eating or doing it. And boy once I've started thinking about eating chocolate or having a beer or something then it's only a matter of time before I do have it. You can guarantee that.

You see it depends on your personality. In fact I'm told I have tremendous will power but that's because I really need to control my self if I want to get some thing done. But to control it 24x7 for months on end. That ain't gonna happen and we all know it.

So the only thing that's worked like clockwork for me is to focus on reducing the things I don't want or should restrict and emphasising those I do want or should have. The gentle massage approach keeps me happy. I just distract myself with something fun like playing a game, reading a book or whatever just something to take my mind off things. Sometimes I do snack, obviously I try low fat things, healthier things.  Other times I just have what I want but I use strict portion control. Say I have a cake. I cut off exactly what I need, I actually cut a few slices from the portion I'm giving myself cos I find that it takes longer to eat and 3 slices seems like more than 1 slice even though it's the same amount.

So that's my answer. To ban something is to put it on my most wanted list and I feel trapped. To say I want to reduce it means I hardly notice and I'm happy to try replace it with other positive things to take my mind off what I am losing. So I don't feel trapped with a big list of things I can't have. I just try to add to the list of things I can have.