What won't you give up? How do you make it work?
 

Hi everyone!

I am pretty new to calorie counting (13 days!) but I love it! I've learned so much about what I've been putting into my body.

As I figure out what works and what doesn't for keeping me full and on-plan, I've discovered one thing I just can't give up -- sugar and whole milk in my morning coffee. It's just too good! And I hate mornings, so having a pleasurable part of my morning ritual is really important. The challenge is that I drink cup after cup after cup after cup... I'm sure in the past I've consumed many spoonfuls of sugar and far too much milk by just topping off over and over.

I've come up with a way to make it work -- or at least not get out of control. I measure out 2 teaspoons of sugar in a little bowl, and pour 2.5 fluid ounces of milk into a creamer. This is all I get. 78 calories. I can drink as much coffee as I want, but when my milk and sugar is gone, I don't get any more. And because I ration them carefuflly, most mornings I don't finish either one of them.

How do you allow yourself a treat or indulgence without letting it get out of control?

interesting topic!!!

I have decided not to give up peanut butter -- even though it is healthy, it's so high in calories that it can be a weight-loss killer. especially the way that I use to splash it liberally on toast!!
instead, even though i have it regularly, it is now one of the few treats that i allow myself and i weigh it!!!!!! 15 grams of peanut butter can still give all the nutty flavour i need on my rice cakes ;)

one of the things that I love about calorie counting is that there are no foods that I have specifically given up. This is a big deal for me because I tend to find forbidden things so appealing, and as soon as I say that I can't have a specific food, of course that is the only thing I want to have! And in the past, I've also had a very all or nothing attitude so as soon as I ate something that I wasn't supposed to have, I figured well, I fell off my diet so why not go ahead and eat whatever I want.

But the interesting thing for me as that now that nothing is forbidden, I'm less tempted by foods I'd have a hard time fitting into my daily calories. I *can* eat them if I want, but that means having to give up something else and most of the time, I choose to have the larger quantities of healthy and nutritious foods that fill me up and make me feel good. However, even if I do decide to splurge on a treat, I can enjoy it without feeling like I'm falling off a diet and using it as an excuse to keep making bad choices.

A lurker here. Never posted before, but wanted to share...

I can't give up beer. I've found that Bud Select 55, in the CAN, is an adequate substitute for Bud Light with only 55 calories. In the bottles it tastes sort of "skunky," but in the cans it's pretty good.

Chocolate. Ghiradelli squares have about 55 calories each. I can take one of the dark chocolate ones and break it into 10-12 miniscule pieces and let them melt in my mouth one at a time. 5 minutes of pleasure--easy--and more satisfying than a whole Hershey's bar.

Have you tried MGD64? I drank it even when I wasn't counting, and I think it is WELL worth the extra 9 calories. It tastes great in the bottle or in the can, and quite a few places have it on tap.

My athletic, non-dieting hubby drinks it, too.

I haven't given anything up, I just try to manage my portions. I LOVE Panang Curry (Thai), but now instead of eating all the rice and all the curry I break it into two portions and eat my leftovers the next day. It's still not very low in calories, so I still need to plan it, but I love it so I make it work. I do also make my own curry at home using light coconut milk and it's really quite good -- but sometimes I just need the REAL THING.

This is an interesting thread for sure! I like your idea about rationing your coffee accompaniments! Like PeanutsMom, I calorie count so I can eat whatever I want, and I used to say I'd never give up sugar in my tea. But I have a limited amount of time to lose my weight (for my dress fitting) so I had to give it up in favour of sweetners. But I can't give up real sugar in my coffee because sweetners just taste ultra-bitter in coffee, so I only have one a day, at lunch time.

Oh, and I won't give up my caramel Starbucks drinks, so I switched from whole milk to soya - it's still creamy and rich tasting to me, and saves quite a few calories. Skimmed milk with caramel sauce just doesn't taste right!

I won't give up my mochas. We have a home espresso machine, so I just measure everything. And I use unsweetened almond milk which only has 40 cals. per cup and a tablespoon of Hersheys or flavored syrup. I often make my own "hershey's" which has even fewer calories. But I drink at least 2 per day at about 70 calories each.

I also allow myself chocolate or pizza - pretty much anything I want. I just count them calories :)

Yes! And you're right--it DOES taste better. When I'm "splurging" now, that's what I drink. In fact, I thought my hubby would like it, too, but he said he might as well be drinking WATER. :rolleyes:

So funny that "the one thing" for a lot of us is the caffeine fix. ;) I have an espresso machine at home, too. I could not live without my latte in the morning. 130 calories at the moment, and I look at the milk calories as an easy place to tweak down (or even up) if I want to make an adjustment. I wish I could learn to love the almond milk -- I've tried, multiple times!

I got to have dessert, I just need something sweet at the end of the day. I only get it, of course, if I've been on track the rest of the day. And that works for me. Depending on if there's any good fruit at the supermarket, I might have some of that, strawberries with a little cool whip is good! But I also like ice cream. Minty chocolate or cookie dough ice cream and like that Smartones brand, they have a good little chocolate chip cookie dough sundae and it's soo yummy. Or skinny cow, I just got some of those ice cream sandwiches this week and they're pretty good.

I don't give up anything, because I calorie count. But like PeanutsMom, I find my self not choosing to spend my calories on small amounts of "expensive: things (french fries) when i can have large quantities of "cheap" and delicious things like broccoli or cabbage.

But sometimes I want pizza and (dark) beer, and I find a way to fit it in.

I won't give up big portions of dinner or dessert.

For dinner, this means I have small amounts of lower-calorie foods and a giant heaping plate of veggies (you should see my salads)...I just need that "Yes, I am FULL" feeling.

For dessert, this means I eat Splenda-sweetened ice cream with berries or other fruit just about every night. I fit it into my calories. It's pretty much the one "non-whole" food I eat, and I am NOT giving it up.

I haven't given anything up because I count calories and have no off limit foods. I have to do that because if there are forbidden foods I will just be obsessed over them and think about them until I eventually binge. I find a way to work things in that I like. Since I am not dieting, but choosing to live a new way and not overeat I am not going to beat myself up for going over now an then.

I do still have my coffee in the morning with two measured tablespoons of my chocolate caramel creamer - 90 calories.

I'll never give up my Sugar Free Rockstar Energy drinks. Without them my days just draaaaag and they are so tasty. BUT I drink the sugar free ones, which only have 20 calories in the can, no sugar, no carbs and alot of natural ingriedients from what I can tell! So it doesn't really hurt me at all and it takes me hours to drink a can when I'm at work so it gives me a steady bit of energy instead of a big boost and a crash!