Why its ok to have treats while on a diet...

Ok, I am a chocolate lover. You have no idea how much I love chocolate, and all sugar for that matter. So going on a diet is really hard for me. I will even steal candy from a baby if it gets too close. ;)

I started a diet last week with basic foods. Fresh fruit and salads, whole grain bread sandwiches, stuff like that. No meat except fish. No sugar except honey and raw organic turbinado or agave. I'm trying to get rid of my bloat (and hopefully lose a few lbs) before my friend Nadia's wedding on July 20th. I start out each day with fresh squeezed lemonade with organic maple syrup and some cayenne pepper in it. That really helps to kick start my metabolism. Then I take flax seed pills and Slim n Sassy.  I have 5 small meals throughout the day. Throughout the day I drink a TON of water. I always add a drop of lemon or grapefruit essential oil because I don't like the taste of water.

For my fitness I run/walk every day at least 5 days a week. I take my two little girls in my jogging stroller. I have a C25k app that tells me when to run and when to walk. I'm on week 4 right now and it just kicked my butt today.  After a 5 minute warm up it had me run 3 minutes walk 90 seconds then run 5 minutes, in a repeating pattern. Now my route that I take is a little over 2 miles and part of it is downhill then uphill. I have to confess, sometimes I pause my app when I'm going uphill so I don't have to run up! But really I do love it and I love running outside with my two little angels.

Now for the title. I allow myself to have some treats in the evening 2 hours after my last meal. Usually its just herbal tea, sometimes its coconut oil popcorn. Lately I've been having a hard time sticking with this whole diet. So last night I made some *gasp* no-bake cookies! It is actually on my diet, believe it or not. I used turbinado sugar and agave, and didn't use as much peanut butter. Plus the oats are healthy for you! The reason its ok to have treats while on a diet is this; If I didn't have a treat sometimes I'd just go out the McDonalds and get a large chocolate Oreo shake and fries. But the knowledge that a couple of cookies can tide my cravings over is all the willpower I need! Now I can hand out M&M's to my potty training daughter without stealing any of them. Go me!

What dieting and exercise tips have worked well for you in the past? Leave them in the comments!