Favorite Foods & Weight Loss

AquaMeow

Hey Fitness Pals!

How often do you eat your favorite foods while maintaining and/or losing weight? What are you go-to treats?

What is your workout regimen when burning those extra yummy treats?

quiksylver296

I eat chocolate or ice cream nightly. I typically go out for Mexican food once a week.

I don’t “workout to burn the yummy treats.” I fit them into my daily calorie allowance.

And as a competitive powerlifter, my workouts aren’t probably going to be what you’re looking for.

sardelsa

I would say I eat my favourite foods daily if I have access to them. My favourite treats are ice cream, cookies, cereal, bread, cheese, wine. I also like pasta, fish, steak, pancakes, cake, chips.

My goal is not to burn calories. I lift weights 3x per week for aesthetics, strength and health.

netitheyeti

I make my own pizza and I'll buy a single portion lasagna occasionally (it's 560-650kcal depending on the type I get), by occasionally I mean probably weekly or so? I still eat ice cream maybe 2-3x a week, I buy those cornetto thingies that are roughly 180-200kcal per serving because it's easy/simple. But basically I treat stuff as "normal food", I just fit it into my kcal per day. The one thing I do consciously limit is alcohol. I love a nice beer or a glass of wine but I know that having more than an occasional glass tends to mess with what I then snack on and how I feel. I work out whether or not I have a meal one might consider a "treat".
Basically, I eat whatever I feel like, I just try and fit it into my kcal per day.

missysippy930

I eat my favorite foods daily, with a daily treat of 1 Dove dark chocolate promise caramel with sea salt, and a Fiber One brownie. I don’t do any extra exercise, just fit it in to my daily calorie budget.

AnnPT77

I try to make most of my eating be foods I really enjoy, the same general foods I ate when I got and stayed obese. Fortunately, a lot of things I like are high nutrition, like veggies and fruits. But I also eat things that you might be thinking of as "treat foods", like chocolate, ice cream, cheese & crackers, beer/wine/cocktails, chips, nuts etc.

I'm in maintenance (year 4+). I don't have a special workout regimen for treats. I work out for fun and fitness (and independence as I age further). I fit my average calories to my average activity level. Usually that means eating a little more on higher-activity days, but I also bank calories because I like to eat over maintenance occasionally. It's a pretty relaxed "balance over time, keep an eye on the scale" kind of thing, very low stress/drama (I hate drama ).

gallicinvasion

I like a LOT of foods. I think my ultimate favorites are peanut butter, cheese doodles, green curry, mac n cheese, brownies, and frosting.

Peanut butter: I have this literally every single day. Usually its a big part of my dessert.

Cheese doodles: I don't think I've had more than one serving in two years. I found that it hasn't really been worth the calories. I've had the Hippeas cheese puffs, which I find a really good substitute with a bit more nutritional value than cheese doodles, for a very similar flavor and texture.

Green curry: I have this probably once every six months. It's usually on a high-calorie day, when I've saved up calories from the week prior.

Mac n cheese: I make this probably once every four to six months. When I make it at home, I can control the calories really well and I usually have a very reasonable portion (one small salad bowl). On my birthday this past year, I had a HUGELY CALORIC lobster mac n cheese with caramelized onions. It was AMAZING and the bowl was probably twice the size of my head. Worth every bite and the extreme fullness afterwards lol.

Brownies: I have these probably once ever three to six months. I like the box-mix kind the best; usually it'll be when someone brings them into the office. I don't usually make them myself.

Frosting: I have this pretty often, maybe once a month. I learned how to make 1 serving of a quick buttercream frosting that I'll put on top of cookies or something. A birthday cake slice with frosting is something I really look forward to at family birthday celebrations. I try not to make a ton at once, and if I make a cake with frosting, I try to give a lot of it away, or freeze individual portions so I don't feel pressured to eat the whole thing before it goes stale.

But like I said, I love A LOT of foods. I don't eat food I don't love. So my cooking revolves around finding wonderful recipes and trying to perfect how to cook them. I don't feel deprived because I refuse to spend calories on foods I don't like.

Shortgirlrunning

I love pasta so I run. I eat some form of pasta at least once a week on one of my run days. I haven’t given up any of my favorite foods to lose weight.

Ordering Chinese take out is the one I’ve had to decrease the most though. Now I only have it in the late stages of my race training and after running a half-marathon.

Avidkeo

I eat chocolate every day, just a couple of squares. I make it fit into my calories because I like chocolate.

HeidiCooksSupper

When I am paying attention and keeping my calories limited, I try to keep variety at the forefront. This helps me enjoy the reduced amounts more. Today, for example, I tried avocado toast for breakfast (whole grain toast, guacamole, & turkey). It was a yummy high protein, high fiber, low fat breakfast. What's not to like? It was as tasty and satisfying as butter and jam would have been on the bread with far better numbers.

Every once in a while, I'll eat a former favorite "off-diary" and go over one the calorie count. Usually those items just make me hungrier and are no longer as satisfying as they once were. I'm learning which foods slake my hunger. Devil's food cake makes me hungry for more of whatever I can shove in my mouth. Mixed nuts don't. I love both but it's smarter (and I more easily stay within my calorie limits) when I choose the nuts.

The only way I know to figure out how to eat in a way that will keep my circumference less than my height is to keep a record of what I eat and make choices that better slake my hunger. Trial and error seems the only way to fine tune this.

janejellyroll

I try to eat things I enjoy daily. Life's too short to deliberately eat boring food. I don't workout with the goal of "burning anything off." Instead, I try to eat to support the activities that I love.

sijomial

How often do you eat your favorite foods while maintaining and/or losing weight?
Every day. My diet only really changed in size (not composition) between getting fat, staying fat, getting slim again, maintaining at goal weight.

What are you go-to treats?
Mostly savoury snacks as I don't have a sweet tooth.

What is your workout regimen when burning those extra yummy treats?
Cycling, vast majority outside on the roads.
Strength training.
But I don't exercise to eat more, I exercise for health, fitness and enjoyment. Ironically on very long ride days I have to eat more of the foods I'm not crazy about just for efficient fuelling.

Summer months with a high volume of riding I do need to eat a lot to maintain. May was a good riding month, these are my net cycling cals from last 3 weeks.

gradchica27

While losing the bulk of my weight, I ate things I liked (ice cream, cookies) a few times a week, if not daily. I portioned them out with a good scale and logged them, so fitting them in to my calories was pleasing on multiple levels—yum, plus mentally knowing I could eat what I wanted if I really wanted it.

Caveat: I stopped eating what I didn’t *really* like. I don’t really like breakfast “treat” foods (waffles, donuts, pancakes) so I didn’t eat them. I stopped eating most store bought cookies, ice cream that wasn’t my favorite, etc because I couldn’t fit the good stuff in if I wasted calories on the merely “ok” stuff.

Caveat no2: after a few years of maintenance, I’m trying to lose a few more pounds just to see if I can lose some fat before trying to bulk and gain a little more muscle. I do not have as many calories at 127 as at 155 so staying at a deficit has less wiggle room. So I don’t eat those treat foods as often. Maybe on the weekend. I’m also trying to sort out some digestive issues and retrain my tastebuds (found myself craving more sweets and salty snacks after including more in my maintenance diet).