Thank you for the birthday wishes...

As for "cheat" foods, I always list them, even if they are bad. Though I have been known to not measure so accurately when it comes to portions, but I must be doing something right, becuase I am losing weight, reguardless of my inaccuracy...

PS... I eat alot of skinless chicken. ALOT. Like at least once every day. Everytime I enter my chicken in fitday.com, it tells me that white meat has more calories than dark meat. I always though white meat was leaner and less cals than dark... Whats up with that? Is fitday correct?

Eating snacks sometimes is a part of my weight loss plan because I don't have the will power to never have something I want. I tend to not keep junk in the house, but when I go food shopping once a week I have to buy a few things for DH (like chips, cake, cookies, and ice cream in the summer). Sometimes I get tempted by his food and I'll sneak one or two servings. Even one serving is very high in calories (2 soft chocolate chip cookies 150 cal; entenmanns white cake w/ choc frosting 360 cal), but I only do this about once a week, so I've still been losing.

More often I eat healthy low calorie snacks like high fiber bread, yogurt, and nuts, but I balance days of overeating with low days where I don't snack at all. It works for me because I like to be flexible with myself.

On the other hand, I have been working out a lot on my home machine (heart rate in the 130's for over one hour) so I am burning around 2000 calories per week through exercise. Maybe that's the key to being able to eat more. Of course - AND THIS IS ALSO KEY - for some people its really not possible to go off plan at all and get anywhere in terms of losing. Guess it depends on how fast or slow your metabolism is.

Everyone has their own way of doing things. A McDonalds hamburger w/o cheese has 250 cals, so that's what I get if I am stuck and have to eat there. Otherwise there are lots better ways to eat 250 cals.

I find that the less fast food I eat, the less I WANT to eat fast food. So for me, it's better not to try to play with it at all.

But to each her own...

Jay

If I eat any fast food at all, it will be Popeye's Fried Chicken, but now, instead of a whole dinner, I will order one chicken breast, no side order, and I maybe might eat half of the biscuit. This kills my craving without going too high in calories. It's a bit expensive to buy one piece of chicken, but so be it. I tend to crave Popeye's....and Pizza Hut. As for McDonalds and Burger King, you can have it. I hate McDonalds, always have. I work in resaturants (full service, not fast food) , and IMO, dead hour-old hamburgers out of a steam drawer don't appeal to me at all... yuk.... I do like their fries, but I can survive without them.

Hehe Heather I know how that Popeye's chicken can get you..It's just a Louisiana thing I guess.I can't resist those bisquits. Or their shrimp..or chicken.Siiggghh. I think the "once a month PLANNED eating" aka CHEAT DAY is a great idea. That way you can have a litle of what you want but not ditch the diet totally. Many diets fail because people tend to think they ABSOULTELY CANNOT eat something..which is so untrue. And some of those same people will end up binging on those same "forbidden" foods. Moderation and portion control are the keys.