Tips for that "Indulgence" food?

ANT98

So I tend to follow an iifym clean macros approach and try to have one cheat meal during the week.
However, during this cheat meal, I tend to overindulge in chocolate.
If I know that chocolate is my treat that I overindulge, should I try to avoid it more? Or have it every day to prevent this cheat meal overindulge(it's not a binge)?

Or any tips in general for that treat that you tend to eat too much of wheb you have the opportunity?

bbell1985

What are "clean" macros?

If you don't want to overindulge then don't buy a big portion of that thing. Go out and enjoy a serving without bringing it into the house. Or like you said, eat something little you enjoy every day so that you don't need a "cheat meal".

estherdragonbat

I don't have cheat meals. I work my calories so that treats fit in my daily calories. I also pre-track. When I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can have (in my case) 2 pieces of potato kugel and a frosted shortbread cookie and it won't 'blow my diet' or 'undo all my good work so far', because I already wrote it down along with everything else I'm eating that day and it fits, I can relax and enjoy without stress or guilt.

ANT98

bbell1985 wrote: »

What are "clean" macros?

If you don't want to overindulge then don't buy a big portion of that thing. Go out and enjoy a serving without bringing it into the house. Or like you said, eat something little you enjoy every day so that you don't need a "cheat meal".

I've been following more of a paleo style (health reasons) but tend to eat a lot of chocolate over my macros one day

bbell1985

ANT98 wrote: »

bbell1985 wrote: »

What are "clean" macros?

If you don't want to overindulge then don't buy a big portion of that thing. Go out and enjoy a serving without bringing it into the house. Or like you said, eat something little you enjoy every day so that you don't need a "cheat meal".

I've been following more of a paleo style (health reasons) but tend to eat a lot of chocolate over my macros one day

Okay. So what's the question again?

drakeshattuck

You never need to cheat. You need to start looking at your diet like money, it's a budget. If you buy this, you can't have that, if you eat this, you can't have that. Stay within your budget. I don't eat much calorie dense food because it blows my budget and I want to eat more of the good stuff.

Try this, have a perfect week. Weigh in, and go one week and make sure your perfect to your goals. Weigh in again and believe me, you will care much less about cheat days and chocolate when you get gains. For me, this is 1250 calories per day and a net calorie of no more than 700. I don't eat back if I exercise.

Orphia

I lost 80 lbs in 12 months and I ate chocolate every day. I never cheated once.

Read the Helpful Posts Announcement. Just eat what keeps you satisfied within your calorie limit. No need to complicate it.

livingleanlivingclean

If you do IIFYM, it means you can eat what you like whenever you like as long as it fits. That includes chocolate. Why do you need to cheat?

Stop with the dietary restrictions and food labelling, and you can be free to eat some chocolate when you please - I found this helped me immensely, and I actually find I want less of the things I used to binge on. If you really want some, make it fit!

Eating a small amount every day, fitting it in to your macros, is a whole lot better for achieving your goals and your mental health than binging once a week.

GottaBurnEmAll

I've been all over the map with this and I found that over restricting and making everything too scarce was counterproductive for me. It's all been a mind game.

Having an abundance of choices available (including healthy ones) has enabled me to make better choices.

I went through about a year where I found it difficult to moderate because I was keeping my food environment scarce. Now I have a pantry stocked with cookies and chocolate and I find myself reaching for and peeling a carrot at snack time. Weird, huh?

livingleanlivingclean

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

I've been all over the map with this and I found that over restricting and making everything too scarce was counterproductive for me. It's all been a mind game.

Having an abundance of choices available (including healthy ones) has enabled me to make better choices.

I went through about a year where I found it difficult to moderate because I was keeping my food environment scarce. Now I have a pantry stocked with cookies and chocolate and I find myself reaching for and peeling a carrot at snack time. Weird, huh?

This is me too. I have about 1kg of chocolates from Christmas in the pantry (I get a lot from students)... I think I've eaten 3 small truffles.

sunfastrose

drakeshattuck wrote: »

You never need to cheat. You need to start looking at your diet like money, it's a budget. If you buy this, you can't have that, if you eat this, you can't have that. Stay within your budget. I don't eat much calorie dense food because it blows my budget and I want to eat more of the good stuff.

Try this, have a perfect week. Weigh in, and go one week and make sure your perfect to your goals. Weigh in again and believe me, you will care much less about cheat days and chocolate when you get gains. For me, this is 1250 calories per day and a net calorie of no more than 700. I don't eat back if I exercise.

You are under eating.

Orphia

drakeshattuck wrote: »

You never need to cheat. You need to start looking at your diet like money, it's a budget. If you buy this, you can't have that, if you eat this, you can't have that. Stay within your budget. I don't eat much calorie dense food because it blows my budget and I want to eat more of the good stuff.

Try this, have a perfect week. Weigh in, and go one week and make sure your perfect to your goals. Weigh in again and believe me, you will care much less about cheat days and chocolate when you get gains. For me, this is 1250 calories per day and a net calorie of no more than 700. I don't eat back if I exercise.

This is not the right thing to do.

You need to net a minimum of 1200 calories if you're female, 1500 if you're male.

Machka9

I just fit everything into my calorie limit and if I want to eat more, I exercise for it.