Can you fool me now?

Have you ever picked up your drink thinking it was Sprite and it was really water?  Or picked out a song on Spotify thinking it was Jackie De Shannon's beautiful rendition of Burt Bacharach's What the World Needs Now only to hear some rapper funk music called What the World Needs Now?  What a let down!  My taste buds were already tasting the Sprite and my ears were already hearing Jackie.  My mind through my senses had prepared me for what I was expecting.  The mind is a funny and complex thing, isn't it?  It can be used for good OR evil!   BaWaWahahaha

This past weekend a similar effect occurred.  I was at a restaurant looking at all the delicious offerings but I was trying to be a good Strawberry.  What is low carb?  What isn't breaded?  Is anything good not breaded????  Get off the dessert page, Moana!

Ah Ha!!!  An egg dish.  Oh look at all the cheeses (4!) yummy.  Wonderful. Sun-dried tomatoes!!  Yay!  Bacon!!!  Great.  I'm ordering this.  And although I didn't call that dish out by name in my head- I was imagining I was ordering the carb-friendly omelet! Yes, I even ordered using the correct name with the waitress, but in my head I was ordering an omelet.  You can probably guess what I actually ordered...

 Yep, that's a flaky, delicious pie shell filled with omelet type stuff.  Problem is it took 2 bites to realize I was eating it.  My mind was filled with laughter and talk and obviously other things so my quiche was subtle.  My taste buds were taking in all that wonderful low-carb goodness-- eggs, bacon, sun-dried tomatoes, did I mention 4 cheeses??!!  Oh my goodness and something is giving it an absolutely heavenly......oh damn.....it's pie crust!!!  My friend said, "yes, I thought you knew what you were ordering there."  Oh gosh, no.  Okay, I'm not upchucking what I already consumed and thankfully it was only 2 bites, but my how my mind was playing tricks on me.  I had it in my head that I was eating an omelet and not a quiche!  Even though the quiche was sitting there right in front of me; even though it took 2 bites to slap me into reality, I was living in an omelet world there.  I had almost convinced myself that I was eating an omelet.

If this is the case, what other mind tricks can we play?  Think about it.  We want to lose weight.  Some of us have mental blocks when it comes to this.  Weight watchers calls it mental something or other.  Do we give ourselves pep talks or do we beat ourselves up because we haven't lost the weight.  Or we've put it back on.  Or we tease ourselves into thinking "it's just one blizzard."

Boy and I have said we will not go to another Happy Hour hosted by our favorite drive-in joint.  I get too tempted to order an ice cream with M&M's.  I have to stop going there.  My mind plays tricks on me when I'm there.  Actually Moana starts screaming for it and I say "Fine, just to shut you up!!!"  She's satisfied and I'm 5 pounds heavier.  It's a lose/lose situation.  Can I give up those drinks for the bigger cause for the good?  You betcha!

What about you, Grainiacs?  How's the 5 pound challenge coming along?  Do you have any mind games you play that you want to share?  Pity the Fool!