How Cake for Breakfast Helped Me Lose Weight, & Break my Nighttime Eating Habit

Read how I broke the nighttime eating habit with my "Cake for Breakfast" routine:

It's evening and I've had a big dinner, and I'm full, really full. About half an hour or hour goes by and suddenly something reminds me of food. Maybe it's a commercial on TV, maybe someone walked by eating; whatever it is doesn't matter. Something triggered my desire to eat (habit, most likely). My thoughts have switched to food and now nothing seems as important as getting that snack! (At this point you may have already launched yourself across the room toward the kitchen).

It doesn't take much to remind us there's always something yummy lurking around the corner. Now I'm thinking, "Ooh, a piece of cake would be so good, but I'm still really full from dinner. Maybe just a small piece?" Oh, sure, we always have a small piece. We talk ourselves into it, or we try to talk ourselves out, but here's a better way...

I now have two choices; 1) I can tell myself, "No, you can't have any," then sit and wait until my longing overrides my desire to "be good," or 2) I can go with my "Cake for Breakfast" plan.

The Cake for Breakfast Plan

Save it for morning, that's the ticket. I just tell myself, no problem. I can have the cake tomorrow morning for breakfast, assuming I still want it. All I need to do right now is accept the decision that I'll wait until the morning. I don't want the cake now, so much as I want the idea of having the cake now. That's why just telling myself no won't work. In fact if I try to avoid having something I really want, it's all but guaranteed I'll end up having it.

The next morning I can decide then if I want cake and it's fine if I do, yet, many times I won't want it just then, so I'll just wait until I do. Some eat sugary cereals or pastries in the morning, so I can certainly eat cake for breakfast if I want to. Every time the craving strikes, I remind myself, I only need to wait until morning. The cake will be there.

Add EFT to Ease Into the Idea of Waiting

Yes, EFT works here especially well. Direct your EFT on what you want (not what you do not want). Rate your desire to eat the cake on a scale of 1 to 10. Then say, "Even though I'm going to eat this cake, and I can't wait, and it's going to be so delicious, but I still deeply and completely accept myself."

You may be tapping and saying, "Even though I'm going to eat cake" as you're heading to the kitchen. Cut a piece of cake if you want, then think about how much you want it, smell it, bring it close to your face, bring your desire up as strong as you can, then set it down and tap, just for a minute, on "I want the cake, I'm going to eat this cake, cake is delicious," or whatever thoughts you'd normally have.

Remember, you don't tap on "I don't want cake" or "I hate cake" or "I shouldn't eat this cake," because that's not addressing the desire for the cake. The desire for the cake is addressed by tapping on the desire for the cake. Stay with me, this works, even if it sounds flaky.

So, tap on your desire for whatever it is, using the face and body points (see instructions here if you don't know EFT basics) then rate again on a scale of 1 to 10 how much you want it, right now. If when you started you were at a 10 (I know I'm eating this) and now you're at a 6 or 7, that's interesting, isn't it? Give it one more round, to see what happens.

Your second round you'd just add the word "Still" so you'd say, "Even though I still want this cake, oh, yummy I really want this cake, I deeply and completely accept myself." You might tap the eyebrow saying, "still want cake" then the side of the eye saying "oh, I love cake," then under the eye, "love my cake," and so on. It's okay to change what you say each tapping point, if you stay on the topic of the original issue, in this case, eating cake.

Just play with it. You won't lose your desire for cake forever, but maybe just this one time you will. That's progress. If you finish and find you don't want it right now, great! Put plastic wrap around it and put it away for later. That's what people who don't have a weight problem do every single day. They occasionally take more than they want, so they put the rest back, no big deal.

Don't Starve All Day Simply to Eat All Night

Using the cake for breakfast plan I have switched from eating non-stop after dinner to eating most of my food earlier in the day. Because I eat plenty during the day, I'm rarely hungry in the evening. If I do suddenly want something (remember this is when I've had a big dinner and I'm not really hungry just wanting) then I'll tell myself I can wait until morning.

I do eat desserts, if I want them, and if I'm full I'll have a smaller amount then wait until tomorrow to have more. No strict rules just simple, sensible eating. I eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm full, and I can choose anything I want to eat. People often ask me how I stay so slender while eating burgers and fries, cinnamon rolls and ice cream cones. My only trick is knowing I can wait a short while (until tomorrow morning). That's how I broke my nighttime eating habit, and yes, I've eaten lots of cake for breakfast too.