There are so many times that you hear/read people saying "I could never give up *all* my favorite things." And then they list of dozens of things that they eat out of habit instead of because they really LOVE them.

I chose to count calories because I don't like being told I can't have something. But truth is that there are many, many, many things I haven't eaten (and really haven't missed) since starting to eat more healthily. No one ever told me I *had* to give up Wendy's spicy chicken sandwiches, but I don't think I've had one in nearly 2 years now. No one told me I couldn't ever have another McDonald's bacon egg and cheese biscuit, but it's been over 18 months since I ordered one. No one ever said I could never eat pizza again - but it's been nearly 2 years since I ate Pizza Hut or Papa Johns or any store bought pizza.

But if you had asked me 2 years ago, I'd have told you I couldn't give up those things because they were "my favorites".

OTOH, I have a hamburger almost every week - either a homemade one or a splurge one from 5 Guys. I have pizza - just homemade pizza with wheat crust and piled high with veggies. I had cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory just a few weeks ago as part of an outing with some folks in my office.

So I think a lot of people have this knee-jerk reaction to giving up things and immediately everything they eat becomes "my favorite". And really once you get started, you begin to realize that everything *isn't* your favorite - there are things that you REALLY enjoy and won't ever give up and then there are things that you ate out of habit and thought you couldn't give up, but don't miss at all.