What are some foods you love that you still try and work into your daily routine on occasion but wish wish wish they weren't so high in calories?

Tonight I'm going to have to go with peanut butter. Although I don't really eat peanut butter all that much (except I get the occasional craving for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, in which case I spread a VERY thin layer of the P.B. on the bread and a touch of jelly to taste) I have moments, like tonight, where I love munching on celery sticks. However, I can't (or at least I don't want to) eat celery sticks without peanut butter. Almost 200 calories in 2 tablespoons! So I carefully measure out ONE tablespoon of P.B. and stretch it to get through the whole plate of celery sticks, lol.

Amazing how 2 ounces of celery is only 8 calories, but my favorite accompaniment can blow the whole deal!

Too many yummy foods for me to mention, but I would have to say any chocholate ice cream with just about anything in it (choc. chips, brownies, etc). What I do is first off try not to have it often. I have really gotten into the low fat ice cream. (after I am without for a while anything tastes good! ) When I do have it I put it in the smallest dish I can find (about the size of a tea cup) and eat it slow. I never thought that I could enjoy such a small amount!

What I wouldn't give for potato chips to be only a calorie each!!!

They are undeniably, abosultely, positively my favorite "high price" food. Before this sudden onset of health hit me, I used to be able to down a family-sized bag in a day. mmmmmmmm

I eat peanut butter every day and I don't really measure it either. I'm sure it's more than 2 tbs a day, I make sure both my pieces of toast are liberally coated. I eat natural peanut butter which is full of good fat (which I struggle to get enough of every day) and some protein. Plus, I just love it. I look forward to breakfast every morning.

I still eat dark chocolate, but it's hard to buy it in portion sizes I feel I can control. I also can't give up red wine, but I limit it to a couple of glasses a week. There is this restaurant that has a molten lava cake dessert (warm, thick cake with an almost pudding-like consistency, when you cut into it, thick liquid chocolate runs out). I share this with friends about once a month. No way I could give this thing up.

High calorie foods I love but just can't really work into my diet - ice cream, muffins (and most baked goods mmm chocolate croissants), brownies, Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies/Mint Milanos, all the way nachos from Qdoba, Bloomin' Onion, cheese fries. I don't like most chips, but I do love Salt & Vinegar Pringles. Needless to say, these are the foods that made me fat and I've just accepted that I have to give them up.

Yeah, I like potato chips too, but they're not something I crave or anything. Usually the only time I eat them is at BBQ's or something, I'll grab a small handful and put them on my plate and try and leave it at that. Although I'll occasionally find myself stealing a few more from the chip bowl, one at a time, almost every time I walk by it, lol.

I too stay away from muffins and croissants and cakes and things like that. The calories just aren't worth it to me, I'd rather blow them on something else.

My absolute favorite food in the world that I'll still allow myself on rare occasions is fried chicken. I'm CRAZY about fried chicken. And I don't mean the breasts, I like the legs and the thighs. My other weakness? Egg rolls. From a Chinese restaurant. I found some decent egg rolls at Wal-Mart, though. They're lowfat egg rolls, a nice size (about the size you'd get in a Chinese place) and they're only 100 calories each. I have one every now and then with some asian veggies or homemade lowfat lo mein or some other type of asian dish.

I make eggrolls at home- they aren't 100% the same, but they are tasty and without a lot of the calories.

Basically, I follow the usual instructions for the fillings, wrap up the roll, brush them lightly with olive oil, and then bake them in a hot oven until crispy. We even get to eat crab rangoon (another of my favorites) made this way every once in a while. The wraps consistancy is a bit more like a baked ravioli (for obvious reasons- they basically are baked ravioli), but this way we get to work them into our diet much more frequently.

Cheese. I just can't compromise and buy the fat free stuff, it has no taste to me. I have to have the full fat strong cheddar! I do occasionally buy the 2% sticks as snacks, they tide me over for a while but I always long for the "real" stuff . Polish sausage is another one, put that with the cheese and I'm in high calorie heaven.

Trail mix. I know its not BAD, necessarily, but its REALLY high calorie and I'd like to be able to have more than say 1/4 cup in a serving.

Also, hummus. Again, its not SO bad, but the particular recipe I used to use had a ton of olive oil, which made it SOO GOOD but so high calorie.

Finally, flour (in bread, and in fact, all baked goods). I LOVE to bake - but baking is one of the hardest things to make lower-calorie, because its so dependent on the right ratios of sugar/protein/etc. to turn out and substitutions can be iffy. I absolutely love to make breads from scratch, but since they don't have preservatives, they only last a day or two and I can't get through them that quickly! I love love love to experiment with my baking, but now no one can eat my experiements, so I've stopped making them. Its the one thing about my old life I really miss a whole lot.

I'm with Glory. Dark chocolate and red wine. But I am able to keep it under control.

A planet without either makes no sense to me.

I make my own hummus and although I can use oil, it also tastes great without any. I take 2 cans of chickpeas and drain and reserve the liquid. I put the chickpeas, garlic, a splash of lemon juice and a package of sun dried tomatoes (not the kind in oil, the dry kind) in a food processor (I love spicy, so I sometimes add half a chopped chili). I blend it, slowly adding the reserved liquid until I get the right consistency (usually a little more than 1 can reserved liquid). It's good if I add a tbs of olive oil too, but I really don't need it.

Can you make home made bread and freeze half if you can't eat it fast enough?

Ah, my very favorite high calorie food that just won't work into a weight loss diet is macaroni and cheese. Sigh. I make a killer homemade version, or I used to.

As for PB I eat it most days too - though I do measure. Most days, 1 TBSP on my breakfast whole grain toast is enough to satisfy me. Likewise good strong cheddar - I have 1-2 oz 1-2x a week. The cost of it helps keep me in check as much as the calories. And like Glory and Jayde, gotta have a glass of good red wine every so often. Chocolate - unlike most people I can take it or leave it!

Mandalinn - I still make homemade bread for my DH and it freezes very well.

Yep, I've done this before too. In fact I'm making more tonight. I found a recipe for Hawaiian egg rolls that have ham, pineapple and spinach in them and I'm making those later on. I make them and then freeze them individually.

I too bake mine, I never fry them.

I'm trying to hold off on baking if I can, even though I enjoy it - something about the whole "fresh baking yumminess" smell makes me want to overindulge, and the one time I've tried it since I got back OP, my usually iron willpower collapsed just a bit more than I'd like it too.

I'm sticking to baking for other people, particularly things that will be obvious if I try a nibble, like cakes, pies, breads, etc. Cookies are just too tempting to have "just one" which morphs into "just a couple" and so on.

I make a lower-cal hummus too, which works pretty well. I also make a white bean dip thats pretty similar. Its just not -quite- the same.

1) bagels and cream cheese
2) margaritas

but not together