Hi all! I'm very new to this forum but extremely grateful for the support. I'm on day 3 of calorie counting... I've tried exchange diets for PCOS and the south beach diet before and found temporary success with both. I'm searching for something permanent.

But I wanted to just check in on this because I feel so much as though I'm cheating... my son's birthday was last evening. I saved up calories throughout the day to share in the birthday cake. This is certainly not something I intend to make regular practice... is this something I should be feeling guilty about?

not at all! The best thing about calorie counting is you can have whatever you want, as long as you fit the calories in to your plan. You did perfectly- saving your calories all day so you could have some of the cake. That's what long-time counters would do! Congrats!

No Guilt Necessary. Think about your calories like you think about your money. You can have it all - you just can't have it all, all the time.

You determine where to spend your calories. You only get so many but in moderation there is no reason anything has to be off limits.

The things that you want to monitor is that the exceptions are truely exceptions. I still have to check in with myself on stuff like this because when I am not totally focused, these exceptions start happening more often. No surprise that these moments seem to correspond when my weightloss is slowing and this is a signal that I need to refocus.

Sounds like you are doing well.

Don't feel guilty, especially if you like you said, you made room for it in your daily intake. Although we know cake isn't the best thing to eat, I'm a HUGE believer that sometimes you have to do eat what you shouldn't (Thanksgiving dinner, a special birthday cake, whatever.) I think if you completely deprive yourself of such things, it's not good. It can lead to binging or simply making a lifestyle change even more difficult. I think cheating should obviously be kept a minimum, but there should also be room for some in your new life style.

Thanks for the responses! Knowing me, the biggest challenge is making sure that it's an exception and not the rule as lorilove said.. today we still have this leftover cake hanging around and it is killing me. Whatever is left at bedtime is going in the trash.

There's nothing wrong with the occasional treat. Remember, you're not on a diet... you're making healthy adjustments to your lifestyle. And a healthy lifestyle can include things like the occasional slice of birthday cake. Kudos for working it into your calorie budget!

Heck NO!! It was your son's birthday. If I could eat cake (I am celiac so I cannot eat anything with gluten) I would have done the same as you. Saved my calories and had a small slice to enjoy a very, very, very special day.

This is true. Very true.

As I type this I am feeling the same guilt. Today was my brother's birthday and I had some cake. I didn't go over my calories today, but I did go over on Friday when we had pizza and a movie to celebrate. I didn't go past my maintenance weight calories, but I'm still feeling the guilt. I know I shouldn't overreact because it was just one day. It was a special occasion, so I'm trying to focus on other things to get over my guilt. You saved your calories, which shows how dedicated you are!!