Is a daily treat a bad thing?

LivingtheLeanDream

Enjoy the treat, most of us work that way, we just make it fit into our calorie allowance and enjoy, guilt free

oolou

Ignore the 'experts' at work. I will often end my day with a treat, whether savory (hello Tuc crackers!) or sweet (banana with greek yoghurt and dark chocolate crumbled over the top or a magnum mini? yes pls).

If it's within your calorie allowance then go for it. Even if it puts you a little over, it's worth it if it helps you stick to your eating plan long term.

rybo

While ideally no, it depends on the person. Some are triggered and become obsessed fitting in that treat. Others it's as seamless as can be.
I used to have a sweet treat daily. Not a big deal. Then for whatever reason, I skipped it. I didn't die. The daily treat became less and less. Now if I want something sweet I have it guilt free because it comes at randomly spaced intervals. I think there is no problems with a daily treat as long as it doesn't become a focal point.

Then there is also the part of my brain that feel a treat is a treat because it's not had daily, but that's a different discussion

lizzy_satellite

I love sugary food, but I don't label it 'good', 'bad', 'treat', 'cheat', 'reward' or anything like that. If it fits into my food plans, it's in. A day without chocolate is an unusual day.

lemurcat12

I have treats (as I consider them) most days. They aren't necessarily sweet, although sometimes they are (sorbet last night).

CasperNaegle

So long as you fit it into your calories no it's not bad at all.

Francl27

People are stupid. It's all about calories.

upoffthemat

Some people still think that to lose weight you have to punish yourself. Most of those people aren't very successful at losing weight.

WinoGelato

I would ditch the following concepts/labels as they are not healthy or helpful, IMO:

Sugar Addict (especially super sugar addict!)
Cheating
Worthless Diet
Eat a treat if I've been good

This isn't a thread to debate whether or not sugar is addictive but regardless of whether you believe it is or not, many people who at one point struggled with sugar cravings are able to learn to eat them in moderation just fine and find that to be a long term sustainable plan without feeling overly restricted.

Cheating - if it fits in your calorie goal for the day and you've eaten a primarily nutrient dense variety of foods, how is it cheating? How would it make the diet worthless? Does the small cupcake at the end of the day undo all the nutrients from the Greek yogurt, berries, quinoa, chicken and vegetables I ate yesterday?

"If I've been good I can have a treat" - you aren't a dog, you don't need to reward yourself with food. if you want something sweet, plan to have it, pre log it and fit it into your day. If it is a little more calorie dense and doesn't work today, then save up 50 cals each day and enjoy it on the weekend. That's still not cheating. It's part of your plan, it fits within your weekly goal, and it helps keep you on track for long term satisfaction.


For what it's worth, I lost 30 lbs and am now maintaining. I never cut anything out. I eat pizza, drink wine, have cupcakes. I added lots of healthy things to my diet and exercise routine but never cut anything other than calories.

The comments in your original post smack of blogs, woo, and Pinterest philosophies about what one has to cut out in order to be successful. The only thing you have to cut is calories. Period.

Packerjohn

Not enough information given. How low is the OP going on daily calories. If a female is around the 1200 calories generally regarded as the minimum to get adequate nutrition, she probably doesn't have room in the diet for a daily treat. At the minimum calorie levels foods need to be nutritionally dense or health will suffer.

Francl27

Packerjohn wrote: »

Not enough information given. How low is the OP going on daily calories. If a female is around the 1200 calories generally regarded as the minimum to get adequate nutrition, she probably doesn't have room in the diet for a daily treat. At the minimum calorie levels foods need to be nutritionally dense or health will suffer.

Yeah, sure. But 1200 is completely unnecessary for most people, personally I never ate under 1650 to lose the weight and I always had 100-200 calories to spare for a treat. I'm 5'5"and I was 34 (and 213 pounds) when I started.

Obviously though.. it depends on the treat. I can fit a cup of pudding or an ice cream bar most days. Donuts and desserts? Yeah not so much. Maybe once a week and I have to plan it. The 600+ calories treats are a twice a month thing now, if that, and I'm maintaining!

Bearbo27

I eat sweet treats often as long as they fit in my calories and have been losing weight just fine. In fact, yesterday I wasn't too hungry during the day and I had enough calories left over for 4 homemade chocolate chip cookies

pldavis10

It's not cheating at all if it's part of your plan. Do what works for you.

lthames0810

I don't set aside calories for treats. I don't feel like I need a reward for suffering through a diet all day because I'm not suffering.

I feel like if I have to restrict calories, then each calorie is precious and needs to be super delicious. For example, I'm not going to have a salad for lunch because I'm not a big fan of salads and I don't really feel like one. I'd rather have an omelette and toast and a sliced tomato even if it is more calories. I'll just not have any snacks today. Totally worth it. This way every meal is sort of like a treat .

ninerbuff

If it's within your calorie allotment, then no.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

nickisa28

I treat myself everyday. On a good day, it's just a small chocolate bar and on a bad day it's a few cookies or an ice cream but i never go over my calories and am half way to my goal weight...so your work colleagues can shove that in their pipe and smoke it! in my opinion, taking such a strict approach to healthy eating is not sustainable and won't do your mental state any good.

kgirlhart

Bianica12691 wrote: »

So, I'm a super sugar addict. It's one of the biggest reasons I gained weight and thus, came here. I also don't have the total willpower necessary to just shut off the craving and say no 100% of the time. To compensate, I've been allowing myself to have 1 "sweet treat" at the end of each day if I was good and have enough room in my calories, carbs, fats and sugars (or if it will only put it over by 1 or 2 grams). However at work today, I was told that was cheating and basically was making the diet worthless. Should I take stick in what they said, or is what I'm doing okay? Just want to know if any of you have done/heard anything similar.

I eat something sweet everyday. I always have 2 cups of coffee in the morning each with 2 tsp of sugar and 2 tbsp of regular half and half. This is 140 calories for my day and is non-negotiable. I also eat other sweet things. Usually Greek yogurt. I love the Chobani Flips. I do find that if I have plenty of protien I stay full longer and so I don't eat nothing but sweets all day or I would always be hungry. But you can certainly work a treat or two into your day every day. I do not consider anything I eat to be "cheating". I eat things I like and stay at my calorie goal. I lost 60 pounds doing this and have just recently moved to maintenance. If I had gone into this with an attitude that I could not eat sugar (or bread or carbs, etc) then I would never have been successful. I would have become frustrated and discouraged. I still eat sweets occasionally. I eat out sometimes even fast food. I eat processed foods when I want to or need to for convenience sake. I drink alcohol on occasion and eat pizza when my husband wants it. I never restricted anything but calories. Most of the time during my weight loss I was at around 1300 calories. Mfp gave me 1200 but I thought that was a little low so I raised it up to 1300 plus I ate back around 75% of my exercise calories. You can do this. Try not to think of foods as good or bad. You will find what keeps you full and you can decide if the sweets are worth the calories. Sometimes they will be and there will be times you will realize that even though you can have a sweet, it will take a lot of calories and you will be hungry later so you may decide to skip it. But I never consider eating sweets or anything else cheating especially if you stay at your calorie goal.

emmycantbemeeko

Remember too that not only do your coworkers not know anything about YOUR diet and activity levels in particular, or (most likely) health and nutrition in general, that a lot of people are DEEPLY invested in magical/black and white thinking about weight and health. Admitting that it's possible to walk a middle road- that with reasonable but sustainable effort, they could achieve the same things you are- is very upsetting to many peoples' world views. By believing that health and weight loss require specific foods, restrictions, activities, and profound deprivation, they excuse themselves from making the effort.

So seeing that you can eat a cookie or whatever and still lose weight is challenging to that perversely comforting idea (that this is all totally out of their control), and they're going to fight against it.

ryry_

Ice Cream, Beer, Candy, Chocolate, Cake...Have probably eaten one or more everyday and as long as calories are in order i'm still losing weight.

Wynterbourne

Packerjohn wrote: »

Not enough information given. How low is the OP going on daily calories. If a female is around the 1200 calories generally regarded as the minimum to get adequate nutrition, she probably doesn't have room in the diet for a daily treat. At the minimum calorie levels foods need to be nutritionally dense or health will suffer.

How is the OP telling you they have enough room in their daily calories and macros not telling you if they have enough room in their daily calories and macros?

Just in case you didn't actually read the whole post or just skimmed it too quick, I bolded where they gave you the info you say they didn't give you. Just because they didn't give you the actual numbers doesn't mean you can't trust they've done the math. It obviously means they thought to themselves, "Hey, I need to have X amount of calories left if I want to eat item A that happens to have X amount of calories."

Bianica12691 wrote: »

So, I'm a super sugar addict. It's one of the biggest reasons I gained weight and thus, came here. I also don't have the total willpower necessary to just shut off the craving and say no 100% of the time. To compensate, I've been allowing myself to have 1 "sweet treat" at the end of each day if I was good and have enough room in my calories, carbs, fats and sugars (or if it will only put it over by 1 or 2 grams). However at work today, I was told that was cheating and basically was making the diet worthless. Should I take stick in what they said, or is what I'm doing okay? Just want to know if any of you have done/heard anything similar.