I know most of you are just getting out of summer but we're entering into it here.. HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?????/

Seriously, there is ice cream EVERYWHERE! AHHH! It's not even that warm yet but whenever I go down for lunch everyone is have some ice cream afterwards. I know I need to stay strong but it's hard when that's all I see. About the only substitute that I can get here that's even remotely healthy is getting fresh squeezed juice with lots of ice cubes (you can buy it without sugar, thankfully). However, I'm not a big juice drinker and having that every day isn't part of my plan either. Any suggestions?

I flavor greek yogurt with various interesting things and that is what I eat when DH has his ice cream.

I told myself that the ice cream will still be here next summer, and I will be able to enjoy some in moderation as long as I stay on plan so I can be at my loss goal by then!

What about making your own ice cream? :3 It's surprisingly easy and you can substitute whatever you need to make it part of your plan. You can buy an ice cream maker (I got a nice one for $30, but I've seen varying prices) and use the ingredients you want.

I've made banana ice cream (my favorite) which is mainly just bananas thrown in the ice cream maker. It's a really refreshing frozen treat and I LOVED having it over the summer.

I didn't get to try it, but you can also just throw yogurt in an ice cream maker and get some yummy frozen yogurt

There are so many ice cream recipes and a google search can get you just about any recipe you could want.

Do you have Skinny Cow there? I love it. If not, I tried strawberry greek yogurt and it was amazing. I added half a crumbled graham cracker. Not quite cheesecake but definitely satsified the taste.

I'm so glad my DH is lactose intolerant for this reason. Plus, he hates all the non-dairy alternatives and feels that if he can't have the real stuff, he'd rather not have it at all. So I never buy it, but once in awhile I'll get a small frozen yogurt with no toppings for around 100 calories.

Moderation!

I used to live by a gas station that had lines out the door for their ice cream. The funny thing is..all they did was use skim milk for vanilla and chocolate milk for the chocolate. They just dumped it in the soft serve machine and let it go. If you got an ice cream machine you could do the same thing.

I eat the actual serving size. As long as it fits in my calories for the day.

ETA: Ice cream bars (single serving size) seem to help too. I don't have to measure it out & I know exactly how much I'm eating.

I love ice cream and have a serving once a week. I'm not sure if you have the same brands where you live, but I love the no sugar added types.

^^ This. If ice cream is "everywhere", how special can it be? I would handle this by saying "eh, not today." It's just ice cream. You've eaten it before, and you'll eat it again. Passing it up is not such a big deal. Try to think of that way, at least.

I do this, but without an ice cream maker. Just take bananas, slice them and throw in a baggie to freeze. When they're frozen, put them into a food processor and blend until creamy. I like to throw in 1/2T of natural ground peanut butter and it's fabulous! My daughter likes semi-sweet chocolate chips or a little bit of nutella mixed in. They're "her favorite ice cream" and she's four, so that approval is a good one!

I know- I love ice cream too! It has always been my favorite sweet (next to cake). McDonalds has a small vanilla ice cream cone for 100 calories- it is very good. I made me some milk shakes this past summer using low cal frozen yogart, peaches or any other favorite fruit. It was sweet and satisfying!
You can do this- we have to keep working on our dream

I discovered very early on that I cannot live in a world where ice cream is not available to me LOL Of course, I also realized pretty quickly that a 2L tub of delicious ice cream is not to be demolished in a weekend bahahah. So, I decided to not have any at home, only out somewhere yummy. Out somewhere that I have to WALK to get to, and only a scoop, not 3 as I usually got. I felt OK with that ! I got the calories from their website and had it once or twice a week in summer woohooo

April and Carter have particularly good advice, I think, because it's exactly what I would have said! Ha Ha! Ice cream will still be around. Make the choice ONE TIME to pass it up. Next time, choose again. Once in a while, choose to have a single scoop. Most of the time, choose to pass it up, just this one time.

I like to freeze plain Greek yogurt with some fresh fruit. No sugar, like you get with the fruit added yogurt in the store. (Why do they do that? Why add sugar to a perfectly healthy snack?) The only trouble is you have to sort of time it so it doesn't freeze to solid.

You can do this, Running. You're worth the effort. Take my new mantra and repeat it over and over until you follow it. "Eat like a thin person - eat like a thin person - eat like a thin person." You've come too far to let a little ice cream get the better of you!

Lin