How the Boyfriend Diet Works for Me

To look at me, you would think I avoid yummy foods like the plague. My weight is always somewhere around 100, and even occasionally dips into the 90s. Friends and strangers alike ask me how I do it. They want to know what diet I'm on. I tell them, it's the Boyfriend Diet, and it works like a charm.

See, I love treats. Not indiscriminately, mind you. I just can't bring myself to bed down with a Twinkie. But the deep, delicious darkness of Oreo cookies are another matter. Bars of dark chocolate. Cheesecake. Brownies. Ice cream. I love that stuff. I also love wine and beer and drinks with names I can't remember or can't repeat in polite company. My trick, then, is moderation.

My boyfriend also loves those things, and he tends to order them more than I do. If not for him, I would go for months without remembering that ice cream even exists. Then we drive by a Dairy Queen and he asks if I want anything. My default answer is, No. His default is, Yes. Instead of ordering my own, I take a few bites of his.

Fortunately, of course, we're not food-aggressive, especially with each other. He is happy to share, as it shaves a little off the top for him and I'm happy to let him so that I can treat myself without having to eat a whole one. I've actually gotten to the point where I don't actually want a whole dessert of any kind, at least not usually. That's because, when I get a taste for something sweet, I really only want a taste.

That's probably true for you too. The reason most people eat so much at one time is, they've trained themselves to. That is especially true for desserts. We want to be the kid sitting down to the gi-normous ice cream sundae once a year at the fair, only we're not kids, so we have the power to do it twice a week if we want, or even every day. If you train yourself out of thinking a 2-pound sundae is a good thing, however, you'll find that you enjoy desserts much more when you eat them in moderation.

Of course, when I am ready to order something of my own, my boyfriend then decides he's on the Girlfriend Diet. Since he tries to eat in moderation as well, he benefits from my tricks and cheats. So between the two of us, we manage to cut a lot of calories, yet still enjoy everything we love.