if you can eat low carb, you will lose weight, flour products are your enemy while trying to lose weight; try eating more naturals fats and meats and veggies, go very low on any flour product until you have established a good way for you to eat and feel better; I am doing that now, and I feel so much better these days you can have treats, but treats like p.butter on celery or just on a spoon if you are hungry between meals, almonds are good snacks, some mini carrots and Costco sells a wonderful spinach dip that is soooo good, and they 2 tubs for one low price.
once you start eliminating flour products that are full of carbs you will notice the difference pretty quickly. good luck to you.
I just wanted to add that if you are not diabetic you can have a cookie or two, every day, but I was told by a nutritionist that if you like to eat sweets do it after a meal, not between meals as you tend to eat too much that way, for snacks stick with things like I mentioned, there are lots of good healthy snacks out there, what I mentioned are only a few that I like

I follow the 80/20 rule. I eat mostly healthy foods, but probably have foods most of you would consider unhealthy every single day. It could be a cookie, a brownie, a bit of ice cream, a tablespoon of Nutella... It keeps me sane and hasn't hampered my weight loss or maintenance in the slightest. And yes, I often overdo it. Then I have to compensate for the next couple of days.

F.

I am diabetic so my food plan is different from yours, one thing diabetes teaches us is how to eat healthy, because if you don't you won't feel so good, I too have the occasional cookie as there so many out there that are lower in carbs and sugars for example the Sensation ones are good and have a lot of variety in what you can choose; eating low carb is a lifestyle plan that feels good for me as when I eat natural fats and healthy meats I just feel fuller, I had a wonderful hamburger that I put diced green onions, black pepper and grated cheese in(no bun) plus I had some light cheddar melted on top with 1 cup of brussels sprouts and a few(4) red skinned potato wedges, sugar free yogurt(yogo dessert yogurt) plus chai tea; I was full and happy, non diabetics can have the bun, but the carbs are way too much, I gave up the bun because I was just too full; watching the carbs is a good idea for anyone though depriving your self of your fav. goodie isn't a good idea because you tend to overeat on something healthy, then eat what you wanted anyway so it's best to fulfill your craving then it is done.

I totally agree with this. Satisfying a craving instead of beating around the bush keeps me on track (if the craving is severe enough) I then work my food plan around to accomodate the craving.

It's strange though, if I'm out of calories and I have a strong craving, I find the fact that my cutoff was reached allows me to ignore the craving. If I know I have calories allotted for the day then it because much more difficult to ignore. Shows just how much of this is mental!

I eat whatever I want while staying within my calorie range. Like others have said, you get more bang for your buck (so to speak) eating the healthier foods. I love cooking and eating (independent from any emotional weight issues which are another monster lol) so I would much rather have a huge salad with lots of veggies, toppings etc for 400 calories than a cupcake for the same amount. I feel like it's a "waste" of my calories to have 4 bites of something.

That said, I do sometimes allow for "junk" in my calorie allowance. I call them indulgences. I also practice intermittent fasting so there are times I can have that 1200 calorie meal of pizza and breadsticks (or whatever) and still be well within my calorie range for the day.

I agree with the 80/20 rule mentioned above. Mine would probably fall more toward 70/30 but same principle

I have a question about the 80/20 rule. 80% of a week is roughly 5.5 days abd 20% is roughly 1.5 days. Can you log your foods and eat within your budget of calories for the 5.5 days and sort of let lose for a day or so? Ex: eat only logged food within calories needed to lose weight for Sunday to mid-day Friday then eat whatever from mid-day Friday to Saturday night?

I eat whatever food I want as long as it is in my calorie range. This really has been the key for me in order to stay on plan for so long.

There might be a thousand better things for me to eat then let's say, a lean cuisine pizza, but one small step at a time for me.

I found I was able to be much more free when starting out. (having an off Saturday or whatever) It seems to be as time goes on, I need to follow my plan 7 days a week.

I say do it if:
1. you're still losing weight
2. you're able to get right back on plan after your free days.

If you can handle this, go for it. I stay on plan 7 out of 7 days as much as possible as I can do enough damage on any given day to wipe out the benefit of the other 6 days.

If you do choose to "eat whatever you want", I would still log it even if it comes in at a higher number than your other days. Seeing 4,000 calories for a day is as much mental as physical to my health and well-being. But if I don't "see" it on paper or my phone, it's like it didn't happen. But Monday morning, my scale will surely remind me of my adventures in eating!

I think the 80/20 rule is really what you make of it. Some people would rather have 80% of the daily food intake "on plan," while others would rather be 100% on plan during the week and have the weekends (or part of the weekends) "off."

Thing is, those calories still count so you must be careful to not overdo it on those "off" days. One could easily undo all of the good done during the on plan days!

I try to make my calories as nutritious as possible. Junk food tends to be VERY calorie dense, which means a lot of calories without a lot of food. That means you rack up loads of calories but you don't feel satisfied and neither does your nutrient starved body. Take a look at 300 calories of cookies versus 300 calories of vegetables; you get a lot more for your calories in terms of fullness and nutrition with the veggies. I personally eat "clean" during the week and allow myself to cheat on Saturdays. I still count calories on cheat day and I keep myself to 200 calories above my weekly intake (1400-1500 on cheat day and 1200-1300 all other days). I have now started to see the impact of the junk food on my body. I feel great during the week but on cheat day and the day after I feel bloated and sluggish.

I also wanted to add that the reason that I reserve cheating to 1 day/week is because little cheats during the week seem to activate my cravings so I avoid it for that reason.

I totally agree with elvislover324. I'd not recommend having a day or two totally "free" each week. Making an adjustment to healthier eating is hard enough and I know that a "free" day could keep me still wanting junk/sweets/whatever your soft spot is--the removal of them from diet fairly thoroughly helps me not want them as much.

"Fairly thoroughly" doesn't mean completely, though--but it does mean only occasionally, on the order of 1-2x/week, MAX. Preferably, it'd be planned, but I'm still working on that.

I like the idea of having a "free-er" day, where "free-er" means 200 or so calories extra, rather than a totally open day. A big breakfast, then lunch at McDonald's and then pizza out could un-do an entire week of staying on track.

But as to the question about having a daily "treat" as long as it's within calories, I'd say that only you and time can tell if that would work for you.

Ask yourself:

• Does having a daily treat make me crave treats more?
• Do I find it hard to stop with my planned treat or do I want another cookie/scoop of ice cream/handful of chips?
• Am I losing weight with the daily planned treat?
• Is my planned and measured daily planned treat turning into two treats a day or more than I originally intended? (sort of a duplicate)
• Do I keep giving myself permission to 'overtreat'?

Some people can have a daily treat and not crave more--other people find it hard. Only be experimenting will you find out which one you are.

I'm concerned that I would start craving and then giving myself permission to over treat, so I'm limiting my treats. One afternoon treat made me want more--I'm going to try to limit treats to after dinner.

Like others have posted. I try to eat as healthy as possible so I get more food, but a lots of times I don't. I have my limit and when I hit it Im done. So if I want my 1500 to be all ice cream, then I'm going to be hungry later, but maybe tomorrow I won't make the same mistake!!

I really love junk food, and while I've cut out a lot of it or stopped buying it altogether (I'm looking at you, peanut butter M&Ms), I do indulge regularly in small portions of food I crave. What helped me a lot was buying a package of something I love (like chips ahoy) and immediately portioning it out into snack sized baggies or tupperware, so that I would feel guilty if I grabbed more than one. It works a lot better for me when I don't have the temptation of a while open package of whatever the food is.

TBH, I do still lose when I have eaten junk food, but I definitely don't feel as good. I noticed that since I have started calorie counting, I am completely satisfied and sometimes even wind up under my calorie limits when I eat healthy food. On the other hand, if I have eaten junk all day, I feel weirdly sick and also ravenous, even while at my calorie limit.

I think you'll figure out what works best for you, and always remember that if you are dying to have that certain treat, you can have it without wrecking your whole diet. Just budget for it and eat a reasonable amount of it. Since I don't deny myself all of the things I like (just the ones that I have the least amount of willpower with), I don't really go overboard anymore when I do have dessert.

I still eat healthy even though I'm a calorie counter because I'm not just trying to lose weight; I'm trying to get healthy. But I have health problems and I really feel like crap if I eat junk.