"Clean" eating vs. Moderation- what works for you?

SwankyTomato

I am a realist.

I try to eat at a calorie deficit to lose weight.

Now would I LOVE to eat healthier all the time, sure! But at the moment, it is just not going to happen.

disaidra

Moderation, although I think "clean eating" is important. I find if I just say I'll stick to my calories I'll often make poor choices and end up feeling hungry later on. I try to eat "clean" the majority of the time, and I find I get the most success with that. I still manage to once a week have take away, and I eat cake or something else decadent two or three times a week, but because most of my calories are from lean protein and complex carbohydrates, plus I eat a tonne of veggies, I'm very rarely exceptionally hungry.

The last couple of weeks I've been doing terribly because I wasn't focusing on what I was eating, just how many calories I was eating and I ended up going over on quite a few days and still feeling hungry. If you can use the concept of "clean eating" to help you make sensible choices rather than following the idea religiously then that's probably the best and most sustainable.

Go_Mizzou99

Like a muskrat, I wash all of my fruits and veggies before consuming them. I also rinse meats before I start pepping them - so they are clean too.

I never realized I was eating "clean" until just now.

After I clean everything I weigh it so I can count the calories. Seriously, this is the only thing that matters - caloric intake/calories-burned.

NOTE: I also do not count the water that is still on the clean foods as part of my daily water consumption.

contingencyplan

What works best for me is generally a mix of both. When I'm preparing my own meals I follow a philosophy that is similar to what the clean eating fanatics do. But when going out to eat (which isn't often) I throw the rules out the window. I also do enjoy Doritos now and then as well as pizza.

SilverRose89

For me, moderation all the way. Restricting my choices as well as my calories is just a speedy trip to failsville.

DebHutton55

Eat the right carbs, proteins and fats. Watch the quantity. Move! There's the key to healthy living and an outcome in your later years that has you with your memory and the ability to move around with ease. If you are just eating for your weight, wise up. It's taken me most of my life to figure that out.
Someone said, sugar is nothing unless you have a medical condition. So wrong! Read, read, read. What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt.
Of course, eat an occasional bad but if you start eating correctly, you don't have that desire anymore.

lthames0810

I eat whatever I like and I refuse to be afraid of my food. The boogie men of GMO and chemicals and processing and HFCS just don't register with me as things to worry about in this world.

In my childhood (in the 60's) my mom gave us Wheaties with milk and sugar for breakfast (and Tang sometimes!), baloney sandwich and grapes for lunch (in my Barbie lunchbox!) a cookie when I got home from school, and very simple suppers of a meat, a vegetable and a starch. None of us were fat. However much the advice on what to feed a family has changed over the years, I still regard that as the standard for wholesome eating.

While I don't now eat all of those specific brands or foods, it's still largely how I eat to this day.

sijomial

DebHutton55 wrote: »

Eat the right carbs, proteins and fats. Watch the quantity. Move! There's the key to healthy living and an outcome in your later years that has you with your memory and the ability to move around with ease. If you are just eating for your weight, wise up. It's taken me most of my life to figure that out.
Someone said, sugar is nothing unless you have a medical condition. So wrong! Read, read, read. What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt.
Of course, eat an occasional bad but if you start eating correctly, you don't have that desire anymore.

Your brain actually functions on glucose.

donamari7

We all know eating clean would be fantastic for all of us, but the reality here is that we did not grow up that way. For me, the key is control. I try to eat clean, but like Adam (earlier post) said, he uses an 80/20 approach. I will also allow myself one cheat meal every week or two, but I really have to want that cheat meal. In other words, I don't just plan to have a cheat meal. When I get to a point where I really want some nachos, or pizza, I feel I am better if I go ahead and have it than deprive myself. That being said, I also try to exercise portion control for that cheat meal. Add a salad before. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The most important thing to remember is that when you are done, you are done. Back to plan because my cheat meal is over. I don't want to go back to eating the way I was that made me almost 300lbs. No way!

Sued0nim

donamari7 wrote: »

We all know eating clean would be fantastic for all of us, but the reality here is that we did not grow up that way. For me, the key is control. I try to eat clean, but like Adam (earlier post) said, he uses an 80/20 approach. I will also allow myself one cheat meal every week or two, but I really have to want that cheat meal. In other words, I don't just plan to have a cheat meal. When I get to a point where I really want some nachos, or pizza, I feel I am better if I go ahead and have it than deprive myself. That being said, I also try to exercise portion control for that cheat meal. Add a salad before. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The most important thing to remember is that when you are done, you are done. Back to plan because my cheat meal is over. I don't want to go back to eating the way I was that made me almost 300lbs. No way!

yaknow .. I don't know that

if you fed me a diet of cauliflower and beans and cabbage I'd fart up a storm which would be unpleasant for everyone

QED

Francl27

DebHutton55 wrote: »

Eat the right carbs, proteins and fats. Watch the quantity. Move! There's the key to healthy living and an outcome in your later years that has you with your memory and the ability to move around with ease. If you are just eating for your weight, wise up. It's taken me most of my life to figure that out.
Someone said, sugar is nothing unless you have a medical condition. So wrong! Read, read, read. What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt.
Of course, eat an occasional bad but if you start eating correctly, you don't have that desire anymore.

This is the biggest lie perpetuated by 'clean' eaters. Sure, there are some things you won't crave anymore, but it's because you never loved them that much in the first place and I quickly put them in the 'not worth the calories' categories (alcohol, chips, for example). I started this with 3 months of 'clean' eating, not letting myself have many treats at all (my first was a piece of ice cream cake after 1.5 month). Guess what... those sweets I've always loved, the cravings never went away. I was just better at not giving in because it was the beginning and I was so motivated to lose weight that I didn't care that much (and my protein shake was giving me enough chocolate to help my cravings).

crosbylee

PrizePopple wrote: »

I just got done piling homemade brownies into my face (sugar, butter, and white flour), and now I'm working on some popcorn. Today is one of my "screw it" type of days, and I've had a few of those in the last 5-6 months, but I've also lost 30 pounds. Sometimes I have Oreos, and sometimes I have Fritos with my homemade chili. Other times I have a Fiber One 90 calorie brownie and homemade cornbread measured and logged all proper like.

I'm eating in a realistic way I can handle eating my whole life. I have ups and downs and I'm learning to recover from weekends like this without beating myself up about it. That both works and is ideal, because if I tried to do something that isn't sustainable for the long run I'd end right back where I was when I started in September.

Thanks for reminding me to be realisitc about this. I may not be perfect at it, but I will be better than I was if I had not started this at all. It truly has to be a realistic way of eating for the rest of your life.

jvt63

Clean eating works for me--I feel energized and get to eat a lot of foods I love. That being said, you have to figure out what works for you.

Azexas

Moderation works the best for me! I love having some oreos/ poptarts/ ice cream on occasion. Blood work has been perfect and have lost a good amount of weight. I cannot fully restrict anything out of my diet because then that is all I want to eat.

jvt63

I love cheese doodles. If I eat one, I eat the bag. I'm actually happier when I don't eat them, because eating them derails my program.

juliedee20

I try to eat "clean" but I'm not strict about it so I guess I can't truly call myself a "clean eater." I'm a sort of hybrid of clean eating/moderation/calorie counting and that works for me. I make pretty healthy choices overall by choosing whole foods on a daily basis and also making sure I'm staying within my calorie goal so I can continue to lose weight (1 lb to go to reach goal!). I also exercise every day which is key to weight loss and overall health. However, I will also fit in a square of square of dark chocolate if I have a craving (or maybe a couple Girl Scout cookies-yum!) every once in awhile so I don't feel deprived which negates the whole "clean eating" thing but keeps me happy. I guess that's the moderation part of me. I figure since the bulk of my diet is healthy, a little bit of what others would call "unheathy" won't really make a difference. In my personal experience, I'm still losing weight and I feel great! It's also an eating plan that works for me and that I can happily live with.

earlnabby

Since I have no idea what "clean eating" really is, I say I eat in moderation. (A couple of people have told me that I eat mostly "clean" but I refuse to use that term)

I eat meals made of predominantly whole foods that I cook myself, but also eat processed foods like store-bought bread (whole grain, high fiber or high protein bread), yogurt, cheese, protein powder and Quest bars. I rarely eat convenience foods and, at the moment, I have a hard time staying in control around candy, cake, cookies, etc. so I do not have them in the house. I will have a slice of cake or a cookie or whatever dessert is being served when I am at a party or holiday dinner. If I have hit my protein and fat macros and have calories left over, I typically will spend them on a beer or glass of wine.

92 lb. down so far by eating this way and I feel healthier than I have in years.

Gianfranco_R

Mapes84 wrote: »

I feel like to a degree my social circle and where I live are not representative of reality.

I have to tell you that probably this forum is even less representative of reality.
Anyway, in my opinion there isn't contradiction between trying to eat a healthier diet and moderation. If you eat "clean" (whatever it means for you) most of the time (applying for example the 80/20 rule) you are still on the right track for being healthier (and without developing an orthorexic behavior).

Hollywood_Porky

DebHutton55 wrote: »

Eat the right carbs, proteins and fats. Watch the quantity. Move! There's the key to healthy living and an outcome in your later years that has you with your memory and the ability to move around with ease. If you are just eating for your weight, wise up. It's taken me most of my life to figure that out.
Someone said, sugar is nothing unless you have a medical condition. So wrong! Read, read, read. What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt.
Of course, eat an occasional bad but if you start eating correctly, you don't have that desire anymore.

This is awesome. I love this statement: "What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt." Very well put. ♥

Some people tolerate a high carb diet better than others, certainly I am not in the lot of that kind of tolerance. I was borderline Type II and have an auto-immune disorder and had to change my diet completely - I lost the weight, gained muscle and strength, lost many of the symptoms of the auto-immune disorder (not all), and now awaiting my physical this week to check my blood work one year after I made this change.

I can say I have cheated maybe 5 times in one year - and during that time, it was morsels - I still eat chocolate but it has to be pure dark chocolate. I know what is good because I was a chocolatier at one time - successfully owned a business and sold it 5 years ago. I know what goes into confections and there's no way I would eat any of them now unless its pure dark chocolate. Chocolate has fiber - that makes it palatable to eat.

There's a real difference calorie for calorie between different foods - meat <> broccoli, for example. Both provide specific nutrients (or densities of nutrients) the other doesn't have. Further, to achieve the caloric equivalent of meat, it takes a hellalot of broccoli. Say an 8oz hamburger or salmon or tenderloin - take those three calorically and you would need to eat ALOT of broccoli - in fact, all three meats contain differences in nutrition unto themselves.

I do believe CICO matters but it matters within the context of your macros. For instance, not all fiber is digestible (insoluble v. soluble). Not all soluble fiber is digestible - those calories can essentially be thrown out - fiber is used by the body in a much different way than the "net" carb of that food. You can't store fiber (or most of it) because it's not made to be stored. It's made to be moved through the body and aids in the elimination process.

Protein requires protein calories to process it - then some protein is used for muscle synthesis and hypertrophy:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140

"Resistance exercise improves muscle protein balance, but, in the absence of food intake, the balance remains negative (i.e., catabolic)."

So one can "move around" but if one doesn't eat the required macro, one creates a catabolic state that in essence wipes out the whole concept of "moving around"!

The remaining protein is then "storable." So figure 33% of your protein calories are convertible to fat.

I don't think there's a magic number when it comes to weight loss - for instance, many purport that eating 1500 calories would garner weight loss - but 1500 calories of what - does that figure exercise into it, and is that enough to sustain muscles over the long-term? Does that raise the metabolic set point to where you need to eat even less once your metabolism slows to 1500?

That's the problem with looking at things from just the CICO perspective. I do agree (and often get mislabeled on here) that CICO matters, but it matters within the perspective of your macros, the kinds of foods you are eating, the processing (or lack thereof) of that food, and your body's metabolic resistance (or lack thereof) to certain macros and foods.

trina1049

#1 - Eat at a moderate deficit.
#2 - Eat to your selected micros to ensure that your nutritional needs are met.
#3 - Get active.
#4 - Be patient.
#5 - You choose how to achieve numbers 1 through 3 by carefully
considering how you can manage the weight loss safely, without
feeling hungry or unhappy, and continue it long term when you get to
maintenance.

I've lost 42.5 out of 50 pounds doing the above over the last year and a half.

earlnabby

tedboosalis7 wrote: »

That's the problem with looking at things from just the CICO perspective. I do agree (and often get mislabeled on here) that CICO matters, but it matters within the perspective of your macros, the kinds of foods you are eating, the processing (or lack thereof) of that food, and your body's metabolic resistance (or lack thereof) to certain macros and foods.

I often tell people that CICO is the only way to determine HOW MUCH to eat. IIFYM, paleo, "clean", high carb, low carb, etc. are just tools to help you determine WHAT to eat and it depends solely on the person, what their lifestyle is and any medical issues they may have. They are the two sides of every coin needed to get healthy, whatever your personal health goal is.

Lounmoun

I suppose moderation is what works best for me.
I pre-log my meals and snacks so I can see what fits my calories for the day. It is really helpful for comparing choices.
I eat food I like. I don't do cheat meals/days, binging, or guilt over eating.
I cook fairly often from scratch but eat some processed or restaurant foods.
I eat real sugar or stuff that is naturally low sugar. I try to avoid artificial sweeteners because I've noticed I get headaches when I consume stuff with them. I don't worry about how much sugar I eat but I also do not have a huge sweet tooth.
I haven't cut any foods out of my diet really. I eat smaller amounts of higher calorie foods.
I eat bread, rice, pasta and potatoes.
Portioning out food instead of eating from a container is helpful.
I prefer eating full fat foods or naturally low fat foods. I eat things like butter, chicken thighs, steak, and regular fat cheese. I'm not eating bacon at every meal but not really eating a super low fat diet.
I've been more aware of my sodium intake lately and trying to eat a bit lower sodium. I'm paying more attention to getting enough protein and fiber.
I'm trying to eat more fruits and vegetables but I'm not in a panic about it.
I drink mostly water or unsweetened tea and save my calories for food. I drink to my thirst mostly and don't log my water.

tennisdude2004

Mapes84 wrote: »

In the past 5 years or so, I have really noticed what seems to be an enormous shift in what is considered the "ideal" diet. So much emphasis is now placed on eating only whole, unprocessed foods, no added sugar, nothing artificial, ditch "white" carbs, etc. Paleo this, Whole 30 that, don't eat gluten, don't eat bread, etc. I totally get that nutrition and weight loss are two totally different things. What I am curious about is how are "real" people who are currently *successfully* losing weight actually eating? Do you have the occasional bowl of sugar cereal if it fits into your calorie allowance, or are your 1200 calories (or whatever your number is) strictly filled with vegetables, nuts, and organic chicken breasts? I want to know what REALLY works for you, not just what is "ideal".

about 80% of my diet is meat and veg, coffee and red wine (that's my happy place).

The rest is whatever takes my fancy at the time (sometimes its more meat and veg)!

Most of the diets you mentioned above will work for some and not for others, they are all someones ideal diet.

For me personally I avoid cereal - not for any other reason than it just not inspire me.

DebHutton55

tedboosalis7 wrote: »

DebHutton55 wrote: »

Eat the right carbs, proteins and fats. Watch the quantity. Move! There's the key to healthy living and an outcome in your later years that has you with your memory and the ability to move around with ease. If you are just eating for your weight, wise up. It's taken me most of my life to figure that out.
Someone said, sugar is nothing unless you have a medical condition. So wrong! Read, read, read. What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt.
Of course, eat an occasional bad but if you start eating correctly, you don't have that desire anymore.

This is awesome. I love this statement: "What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt." Very well put. ♥

Some people tolerate a high carb diet better than others, certainly I am not in the lot of that kind of tolerance. I was borderline Type II and have an auto-immune disorder and had to change my diet completely - I lost the weight, gained muscle and strength, lost many of the symptoms of the auto-immune disorder (not all), and now awaiting my physical this week to check my blood work one year after I made this change.

I can say I have cheated maybe 5 times in one year - and during that time, it was morsels - I still eat chocolate but it has to be pure dark chocolate. I know what is good because I was a chocolatier at one time - successfully owned a business and sold it 5 years ago. I know what goes into confections and there's no way I would eat any of them now unless its pure dark chocolate. Chocolate has fiber - that makes it palatable to eat.

There's a real difference calorie for calorie between different foods - meat <> broccoli, for example. Both provide specific nutrients (or densities of nutrients) the other doesn't have. Further, to achieve the caloric equivalent of meat, it takes a hellalot of broccoli. Say an 8oz hamburger or salmon or tenderloin - take those three calorically and you would need to eat ALOT of broccoli - in fact, all three meats contain differences in nutrition unto themselves.

I do believe CICO matters but it matters within the context of your macros. For instance, not all fiber is digestible (insoluble v. soluble). Not all soluble fiber is digestible - those calories can essentially be thrown out - fiber is used by the body in a much different way than the "net" carb of that food. You can't store fiber (or most of it) because it's not made to be stored. It's made to be moved through the body and aids in the elimination process.

Protein requires protein calories to process it - then some protein is used for muscle synthesis and hypertrophy:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140

"Resistance exercise improves muscle protein balance, but, in the absence of food intake, the balance remains negative (i.e., catabolic)."

So one can "move around" but if one doesn't eat the required macro, one creates a catabolic state that in essence wipes out the whole concept of "moving around"!

The remaining protein is then "storable." So figure 33% of your protein calories are convertible to fat.

I don't think there's a magic number when it comes to weight loss - for instance, many purport that eating 1500 calories would garner weight loss - but 1500 calories of what - does that figure exercise into it, and is that enough to sustain muscles over the long-term? Does that raise the metabolic set point to where you need to eat even less once your metabolism slows to 1500?

That's the problem with looking at things from just the CICO perspective. I do agree (and often get mislabeled on here) that CICO matters, but it matters within the perspective of your macros, the kinds of foods you are eating, the processing (or lack thereof) of that food, and your body's metabolic resistance (or lack thereof) to certain macros and foods.

Thanks Ted! So many haters when it comes to "food talk". I stay informed and read everything I can. Looks like you do, also. Stress is another factor and I think I will walk away from this forum and instead, walk in the beautiful sunshiny eighteen below morning.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Aren't moderation and clean eating (depending on your definition) essentially the same thing? Eating the majority of your calories in nutrient rich foods with some room for less nutritionally dense foods? That's exactly what I do and what has been working for me. Call it "clean + treats", call it moderation, call it whatever you want. The problem is that those who call it clean eating build a straw man of people living on nothing but brownies. Even by moderation standards this is not sustainable nor realistic, since you would be hungry all the time.

And then there are different kinds of moderation. Some eat a square of chocolate every days, others eat a whole bar every few days/weeks. For me, I do a little of both. I can easily have a mini chocolate and be satisfied, but I can't easily have a sliver of cheesecake and be done with it. So I just have a normal-large slice of cheesecake, make up for it, and don't do it often.

Yes, this^^^

People who like to label themselves as "clean" eaters are essentially the same as the IIFYMers. However, the label makes them feel so much better about themselves and a lot of times is used to make themselves feel superior to others. "I've eaten 'clean' all week, so I won't feel guilty eating this cheesecake." Or, "I only drink beer from local breweries - they're much more natural than these mass-produced, evil beers."

And yes, they like to say things like, "Well you can eat brownies and pizza all day if you want, but eating clean is much better for your health because added sugars/chemicalz blah blah." But no one actually eats brownies and pizza all day long. They have brownies sometimes, and pizza sometimes, in addition to a balanced diet. The IIFYMers understand that there are no "bad" or "dirty" foods and that they don't have to beat themselves up with guilt or rationalize eating a cookie. It's a much healthier outlook overall, IMO, than the self righteous notion that eating clean is somehow superior.

palwithme

Clean eating.

PeachyCarol

I eat what I like. I tend to like what most people would consider healthier food, but if the desire for a treat hits me, I fit it into my day. My idea of a treat lately is a Quest bar, but if you go back in my diary I've also logged cookies and chocolate and potato chips.

I've had the problem in the past of labeling foods "good" or "bad" and doing that would only lead me to binge behavior when I would cave into temptation because I thought I'd just get it out of my system and be back on track after the binge. With moderation? A small portion satisfies, because I can always have another small portion if I want more of something. I just have to wait until the next day. I'm "allowed" to have a food.

tl;dr In my own head game, moderation means that I want treats less because it takes away their forbidden fruit allure.

Hollywood_Porky

DebHutton55 wrote: »

tedboosalis7 wrote: »

DebHutton55 wrote: »

Eat the right carbs, proteins and fats. Watch the quantity. Move! There's the key to healthy living and an outcome in your later years that has you with your memory and the ability to move around with ease. If you are just eating for your weight, wise up. It's taken me most of my life to figure that out.
Someone said, sugar is nothing unless you have a medical condition. So wrong! Read, read, read. What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt.
Of course, eat an occasional bad but if you start eating correctly, you don't have that desire anymore.

This is awesome. I love this statement: "What all this stuff is doing to your brain, is more important than what it is doing to your butt." Very well put. ♥

Some people tolerate a high carb diet better than others, certainly I am not in the lot of that kind of tolerance. I was borderline Type II and have an auto-immune disorder and had to change my diet completely - I lost the weight, gained muscle and strength, lost many of the symptoms of the auto-immune disorder (not all), and now awaiting my physical this week to check my blood work one year after I made this change.

I can say I have cheated maybe 5 times in one year - and during that time, it was morsels - I still eat chocolate but it has to be pure dark chocolate. I know what is good because I was a chocolatier at one time - successfully owned a business and sold it 5 years ago. I know what goes into confections and there's no way I would eat any of them now unless its pure dark chocolate. Chocolate has fiber - that makes it palatable to eat.

There's a real difference calorie for calorie between different foods - meat <> broccoli, for example. Both provide specific nutrients (or densities of nutrients) the other doesn't have. Further, to achieve the caloric equivalent of meat, it takes a hellalot of broccoli. Say an 8oz hamburger or salmon or tenderloin - take those three calorically and you would need to eat ALOT of broccoli - in fact, all three meats contain differences in nutrition unto themselves.

I do believe CICO matters but it matters within the context of your macros. For instance, not all fiber is digestible (insoluble v. soluble). Not all soluble fiber is digestible - those calories can essentially be thrown out - fiber is used by the body in a much different way than the "net" carb of that food. You can't store fiber (or most of it) because it's not made to be stored. It's made to be moved through the body and aids in the elimination process.

Protein requires protein calories to process it - then some protein is used for muscle synthesis and hypertrophy:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140

"Resistance exercise improves muscle protein balance, but, in the absence of food intake, the balance remains negative (i.e., catabolic)."

So one can "move around" but if one doesn't eat the required macro, one creates a catabolic state that in essence wipes out the whole concept of "moving around"!

The remaining protein is then "storable." So figure 33% of your protein calories are convertible to fat.

I don't think there's a magic number when it comes to weight loss - for instance, many purport that eating 1500 calories would garner weight loss - but 1500 calories of what - does that figure exercise into it, and is that enough to sustain muscles over the long-term? Does that raise the metabolic set point to where you need to eat even less once your metabolism slows to 1500?

That's the problem with looking at things from just the CICO perspective. I do agree (and often get mislabeled on here) that CICO matters, but it matters within the perspective of your macros, the kinds of foods you are eating, the processing (or lack thereof) of that food, and your body's metabolic resistance (or lack thereof) to certain macros and foods.

Thanks Ted! So many haters when it comes to "food talk". I stay informed and read everything I can. Looks like you do, also. Stress is another factor and I think I will walk away from this forum and instead, walk in the beautiful sunshiny eighteen below morning.

♥ Yeah I hear ya. Hormones - awesome suggestion.

Another is what you just described - it's much harder to lose fat during the winter months because the body is preserving as much fat as possible to stay warm. I find it very easy to lose fat during the summer.

PrizePopple

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Aren't moderation and clean eating (depending on your definition) essentially the same thing? Eating the majority of your calories in nutrient rich foods with some room for less nutritionally dense foods? That's exactly what I do and what has been working for me. Call it "clean + treats", call it moderation, call it whatever you want. The problem is that those who call it clean eating build a straw man of people living on nothing but brownies. Even by moderation standards this is not sustainable nor realistic, since you would be hungry all the time.

And then there are different kinds of moderation. Some eat a square of chocolate every days, others eat a whole bar every few days/weeks. For me, I do a little of both. I can easily have a mini chocolate and be satisfied, but I can't easily have a sliver of cheesecake and be done with it. So I just have a normal-large slice of cheesecake, make up for it, and don't do it often.

Asher_Ethan

I wish I could do moderation. I have no will power. I either have to tell myself I can't have ANY sweets.... or I eat everything.