The No Exception Rule

The “No Exceptions Rule” is one that I learned the hard way.  I have read in books to take an off-day and to cheat on my diet.  I know myself well, so I never do that.  A few years ago, I had just lost 20 lbs. of fat and I looked great.  We went to visit my sister-in-law in Alabama for Thanksgiving.  I was very careful with my diet for the first day or so there, and then it happened.  My niece made a cheese cake.  To say it didn’t look right would be an understatement.  She was upset and all the other kids where having fun teasing her.  I wanted to ease her pain, so I made a fuss over how good it looked, and then she said do you want some Uncle John?  Did I mention before that I can handle anything, except temptation?  Now, I am a good guy, so I took a small piece of the cheese cake so my niece would feel good.  I made the exception and it tasted so good.  Well, to make a long story longer, I ate that whole cake, part of another and did not stop eating for a year.  I put on the 20 lbs that I lost and an additional 10 lbs.  I never should have made that exception during that part of my life, because I knew myself.  Back then, for some reason, I would make the “exception” day by day and promise myself I would start eating properly the next day, unfortunately, the next day didn’t come for a whole year.   Now I can indulge, occasionally.

just-say-no

Keep in mind that we don’t get fat, go broke or ruin relationships by the things we do once in a while. It is what we do consistently that counts.  Failure part of success, you are not a failure but maybe something you tried didn’t work.  But failures add up; the failure to not make the call, the failure to not eat properly, the failure to not say, “I love you” to your spouse and children, the failure to not go the gym.  These failures stack up on top of each other and over time they become overwhelming.  If you have a drinking problem, don’t ever take the first drink.  The exceptions will become the rule, not the exception.  So on the things that you know are difficult for you, don’t make the exception.

  • http://www.nextlevelblogger.com Christian Russell

    Dead on, man. There’s a certain mentality out there that in order to be “realistic”, you need to give yourself some room to cheat. I don’t buy it.

    Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve cheated! I’m just sayin…it’s either good for you, or it’s not! And if it’s not, it’s OK to simply decide you’re not gonna do it. Period. End of story.

  • John Rowley

    agreed. if you are going to be adversely affected by it don’t do it.

  • Tom

    Yep, I totally agree with this one. A woman at work looked so forlorn because no one was tasting her butterscotch cookies. So to make her feel better, the people pleaser that I am, I took a cookie. By the end of the day, I had 20 cookies, and was off to the races. I had just lost 24 pounds doing a food plan. I broke the rule. So, three Christmases later, I have finally abided by the " no cookie" rule. I have fallen one time, but this time I only did have 2 cookies over a 2 day period, and stopped. For me, feeling good and looking fit is the primary focus, so cookies don't feed me. I remember the MR Yuk commercials for labeling dangerous medicines. I have placed the Mr Yuk label in my mind on every sugary/fat laded product there is, and that is working. Now, Cheetohs do not smile at me and wave when I walk down the food aisle heading for the healthy stuff.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/johnmrowley johnmrowley

      Tom, that is exactly what many people go through. The key is being aware of it. With the holiday seasons it gets a little harder. Keep up the great work!
      John

  • Berneda

    Hi. I heard you this morning on Whole Living Sirius radio and thought your talk was interested. I have a question for you. I am a female, 5'6 and weight 155. I would like to get down to 143 where I was 4 years ago. I did the calculations that included my number for how much I workout per week and how much my ideal weight is with the 500 reduction. It came to be 2,217 intake of calories/day. Does that sound right to you? Thank you.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/johnmrowley johnmrowley

      Hi Berneda,
      I had a great time with Terri yesterday. This is a great question and the next time I am on you should call in with this because I know many people will have the same question.

      Answer: It depends. :-) Try working with that reduction and see how your body responds. A sure fire way to take the weight off would be to manipulate your carbohydrate intake. Take a peek at this post it may help. http://peakperformancelifestyle.com/eating-well-i…

      Make sure you are getting your protein ( I will do a post on this soon with a chart to help so subscribe to this blog and you will be notified) eat all the green veggies you want and one or two pieces of fruit a day. You may want to hold off on the fruit until you reach your goal weight. Do this for 6 days a week and then once a week have a victory meal or victory day. If you do a meal or a full day is up to what you eat on that day and how your body responds.

      Let me know if this helps and please let me know in a week or so how it is coming along.

© 2012 John M. Rowley