Rewarding yourself with treats?

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Chris Hobson

Chris Hobson

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I'm seeking the opinion of others on the subject of rewarding yourself with treats as I'm sure that I've read somewhere that it's supposed to be a really bad idea. I've never done the calorie counting thing but if you do then it seemed to me that straying just slightly off your diet after exercising makes a certain amount of sense. Obviously the treat would have to contain fewer calories than the estimated amount that you have burned off. You would also have to stick rigidly to any self imposed rules, no 'near enough is good enough' slacking allowed.

So, onto my personal take. My last review in November 2021 showed that I had gained a little weight, glucose levels down a little but could be better and I have slightly high blood pressure. Some of you may have read elsewhere of my plan to try to swim 500 miles in 2022. So I was already planning on upping my exercise levels. I had also been cracking open the beers a little too regularly so, once the booze ran out after Xmas, I got on the wagon. Now, about those treats. I decided that each time that I swim 50 miles I will have a beer and curry night. Now I have upped my fitness level, my weight is down from 80kilos to 74kilos and my blood pressure is lower. When taking on the swim challenge I worked out that I needed to swim at least 10 miles per week. I've been doing so by swimming 4k (2.5 miles) at least four times per week. I'm now getting close to 150 miles and my next treat so on my last three swims I've done 5k (3.1 miles) in order to get there quicker. So I would say that this is working for me and I would be interested to know if there are any pitfalls to the treats approach to weight loss and, if so, what they are.

I'm swimming for the guide dogs charity, if anyone wants to donate you need to go here: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chris-hobson9
 
Hi @Chris Hobson and firstly I must congratulate you on your endeavours in such a good cause 🙂

I think the trick is to not treat too often! I started treating on fun bags of maltesers (99kcal, 14g carb) but it got out of hand and I started treating myself every day, sometimes 2 packs 🙄 Realising it had got out of control (and per some sensible advice on this forum) I stopped buying them. On the very rare occasion I now treat myself to half a bun or something, I make sure I get straight out for a brisk 3 mile walk. Given the amount of exercise you are doing I really don't see that an occasional treat will harm you. And a beer and curry night sounds fab. I've had a couple of curries since diagnosis and just made sure I hold back on the rice and naan. I don't cut it out entirely, just have a smaller portion than I would have done pre-diagnosis.

I personally think it's all about being realistic. If you have to stint yourself continually you'll be a right misery (well I am anyway!). As long as you are weighing and monitoring regularly, where is the harm? Be kind to yourself 😉
 
I'm too scared at the moment to try even a bag of lowish carb crisps! I did have half a scone at a funeral before Xmas, though, and a few potatoes.

I treat myself to new records instead. I'm too worried that if I try a few 'treats' and don't see much in the way of a rise of BG (Which I didn't with half a scone) I'll back on the junk food and everything will go bad again.

I'm running out of house for records, though. Might have to sell the family.

That swimming is one hell of an achievement, well done. I am thinking of upping my 'brisk walk' into a jog or run, as I am finding that as my VO2 improves through exercise I feel stronger and also think BG control has improved.
 
The thing is, we are only human. When I was first diagnosed I was incredibly strict with myself. This did mean that I got things under control relatively quickly but that was over maybe a nine month period. I'm coming up to nine years now and to keep that kind of strict regime up year in and year out would be pretty disheartening. Fortunately I enjoy the exercise part of the equation and keeping that up allows me a bit more freedom on the diet side. The carbiest part of the curry is the instant rice at 67g, the sauce has about 25g. I make vegetable curries so the carb content of the rest of the ingredients is negligible. I'm not sure about the beer though. As mentioned above, the key is not to do it too often. It takes me several weeks to swim 50 miles so that isn't too much of a problem.
 
I've only been doing it for six months, but I fully expect to get the disheartening feelings every now and then. Next week it's my birthday and I'm contemplating going to a local restaurant that serves Madeira-style hanging kebabs (The Botanist) that come with a small portion of fries. I've found that if I see BG reading above 6, then a 15 minute brisk walk round the block brings it down very quickly to 4 or 5. So I'm thinking of having a birthday treat...
 
harbottle said:
I've found that if I see BG reading above 6, then a 15 minute brisk walk round the block brings it down very quickly to 4 or 5.
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A BG reading above 6 is completely normal.
Someone with a perfect fully working pancreas can experience spikes up to 9.
I would not be concerned enough to achieve better results than a working human body

Enjoy your birthday treat. And enjoy your walk if you chose that too
 
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Chris Hobson said:
The thing is, we are only human. When I was first diagnosed I was incredibly strict with myself. This did mean that I got things under control relatively quickly but that was over maybe a nine month period. I'm coming up to nine years now and to keep that kind of strict regime up year in and year out would be pretty disheartening. Fortunately I enjoy the exercise part of the equation and keeping that up allows me a bit more freedom on the diet side. The carbiest part of the curry is the instant rice at 67g, the sauce has about 25g. I make vegetable curries so the carb content of the rest of the ingredients is negligible. I'm not sure about the beer though. As mentioned above, the key is not to do it too often. It takes me several weeks to swim 50 miles so that isn't too much of a problem.
Click to expand...
I don't know if you buy curry sauces but Punjaban sauces are very low carb, a jar serving 4 has less than 20g carb per jar, so that could be quite a saving so the impact of the rice wouldn't be so much.
 
I actually made an error over the sauce because I only actually consume half of it. My wife doesn't like curry so I just make enough for myself and the chickens.
 
cheese is my treat although I do sometimes have 1/3 of a carbkiller bar.
 
helli said:
A BG reading above 6 is completely normal.
Someone with a perfect fully working pancreas can experience spikes up to 9.
I would not be concerned enough to achieve better results than a working human body

Enjoy your birthday treat. And enjoy your walk if you chose that too
Click to expand...

You are totally right, and thanks for correcting me.

This was in the early days when I was first diagnosed and had a figure of 5.6 in my head (For some reason - not sure why). I don't worry now if it's 6, I just follow those NICE guidelines. I tend to go for a walk 30 minutes after eating during the day (Sedentary work in an office).
 
Another 5k (3.1 miles) swim this morning so I'm over the line for my 150 miles. I'm well ahead of my target of 42 miles per month. Another 18 miles will take me up to 168 miles, which is the target for the end of april and over one third of the total.
 
I have revisited this thread because I am getting close to 250 miles and another beer and spicy food night. Today I did an epic 5 mile swim so that I will get there a day sooner. The beer is in the fridge but it is absolutely off limits until after tomorrow's swim gets me over the line. This time, instead of curry, I'm doing a Mexican style meal so that Liz can have some too. She likes Mexican but not curry.
 
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