This is crazy to me. That’s like a drug addict celebrating a year of being sober with a drug binge. It’s the wrong way to celebrate. I know; in most cultures, celebrations are intertwined with eating food. Every culture on the planet has special occasion meals, and yes, they contain foods that are tasty and wonderful. However, a lot of these celebratory dishes are not nutritionally good for us. Cakes, pasta, pizza, hamburgers (the buns and cheese), and all manner of high-carb foods are exactly the types of food we need to avoid to stay healthy. I know many people who have done Whole30’s and/or adopted the Paleo Diet, and when I hear one of them tell me they’re going to celebrate hitting a weight goal by eating a pizza or by having some cake, I can’t help but to wonder if they’ve learned anything at all.

I know: I’ve said time and time again that the occasional slice of pie or pizza isn’t going to derail you. Treats every now and then are okay, and heck, I just had a slice of cheesecake a few weeks back at a birthday party. I actually ended up losing about a pound the following day. However, those situations are completely natural and normal. Celebrating losing weight by changing your diet to get rid of horribly bad foods by eating horribly bad foods is illogical.

I plan on celebrating hitting 165 lbs by doing a happy dance, posting on social media (to the chagrin of everyone who knows me, I’m sure), and maybe doing a lot of smiling. But I refuse to eat anything bad for me. It’s not about discipline or being “All in” on my health, as some have told me. It’s about respect for the change I’ve made in my life. It’s about my new relationship with food and not going back to the old ways, even for just a moment. I refuse to use food to celebrate things anymore. That was part of my bad relationship with food, and I won’t give in. Not even for a moment.

I won’t judge you if you have your celebratory donut for reaching your weight goal, but don’t expect me to be enthusiastic about your choice of celebration. If anything, I’ll nod and smile, congratulate you on your success, and hope that you continue with eating healthy and avoiding bad foods. Any drug addict will tell you that all it takes is a taste to fall off the wagon and get back into drugs. Sugar is exactly the same thing. I know many scoff at this, but it is scientifically proven and I’ve experienced it and seen it myself. It’s best to just stay away at all costs. Even ESPECIALLY when celebrating.