Restricting

Going back to that job shadow I had, the dietician had a interesting view on when enough is enough. She said you need to find a good balance between being not too restrictive, but also not too forgiving. She said she won't ever keep dessert in her house because she doesn't want the leftovers. Perfectly understandable. She won't keep ice cream in her house because she said she'd eat it every night if it was there. She won't bake a cake for her son's birthday because she'd have to figure out where else to put the rest of the cake. She'll only have one tiny slice of pie at Thanksgiving to avoid eating too much sugar.
To some extent, these are good ideas. Her reasoning for these approaches is "you can't celebrate life everyday". Okay that sounded incredibly harsh but those were her words, not mine. To me, even being that girl who used to restrict herself too much, thinks that her reasoning sounded way too overboard.
I think it would be fine to give yourself ONE small treat per day. If its' a holiday or you have a solid reason to have more than that, go for it. Have a cookie or two at the holiday cookie exchange. And yeah, I actually do think you can "celebrate life" every day. If you want a mini Reese's cup after lunch every single day, go for it. If one day you accidentally finish off the entire bag and eat 10, maybe you should hold off on buying another bag until you can trust yourself not to eat more than one. It takes practice, time and willpower. But not ever allowing yourself to bake a cake for your son's birthday because you're afraid of having leftovers is too harsh. Do you really think that you can't ever have cake for 3 days in a row? This would be a good time to practice adjusting and meal flexibility. Eat less carbs if you know you'll have cake at dinner. Don't go for the oatmeal that day but instead have a protein shake.
Life is meant to be enjoyed, not depriving yourself. I'm not trying to bash the dietician but all I'm saying is that you have to trust yourself enough to enjoy yourself. (380)