how do I eat "less healthy" foods in moderation?

VelveteenArabian

When I was at my heaviest many years ago I taught myself delayed gratification. I would figure out one serving size of whatever and worked it in to my day. I would put it in a baggie and tell myself that I could eat that snack whenever I wanted but that was IT until tomorrow. I would also bargain with myself and sometimes skip the snack and to for a bigger portion at the end of the day if I worked out and needed to catch up on calories.

For me, it worked. Almost too well. I currently have a CLOSED bag of milk chocolates in ny desk at work and its been there for 3 weeks now. It makes me happy knowing it's there, waiting for me. I would also rather skip them and eat some ice cream or something else.

LoraF83

first, you need to stop labeling foods "bad"….don't think of it as bad, just think of it as food…

Then I would suggest pre-logging…so log the food that you want to have first, IE Pizza…and then see what that leaves you for the day and then fill in your diary backwards from there so that you stay in a deficit and hit your targets for protein, carbs, and fat….

This is what I do. I know that I'm going to have ice cream almost every night. I log that first and then plan my day around it (and I preplan a day in advance). If we are getting pizza on a Friday night, I preplan for that too - lunch will probably be a big salad, yogurt and an apple for a snack to save the calories for that night. You work around the indulgences and make your meal plan work for you.

That said, it takes practice to be able to moderate. If you're used to eating a half a bag of chips, it sucks to portion out 1 serving. And it's hard not to reach back into the bag to get more. But the more you do it, the easier it gets and pretty soon it's no big deal at all. It's ok to have a slip up here and there - as long as you keep trying.

One thing that I always tell myself that helps: There's always more. You can get more ice cream another day. You can another slice of pizza next week. They make this stuff every day and you can always get it. So, there's no need to eat *all* of it right now.

MichaelVRenner

Load your meals with vegetables.

piejin

I also struggle with moderation when it comes to unhealthy foods! I'm one of those people where if I make a pizza, I WILL eat the whole thing. If I have ice cream, it will probably be 2 or 3 servings... if there are cookies, I won't have just one. What's helped me out while I struggle to get that under control is thinking about my calorie goals in terms of the week instead of day by day. So instead of aiming for 1200 calories a day every day, I aim for 1200 calories a day after the week has been averaged out. I usually have one or two days where I go overboard with something really bad, and my calories go way over. But what I do after that is look at how many calories I am over and figure out how I can split that excess up throughout the rest of the week to make up for it. That way I still feel like I am under control with my overall calories/hitting my goals without going over, and it has the added bonus of keeping me so focused on making up for the damage done that I make good decisions for the rest of the week! Of course, mastering moderation would be awesome, but I feel like this is a step in the right direction until I can get to that point. YMMV, of course!

dunnodunno

What I do is incorporate some of my favorite snacks everyday. Some days it might be ice cream other days it might be M&Ms. What I do is measure out a portion on the food scale & then put the package away. I think a good tip to use is to say to yourself that you can always have some more of your favorite snack/treat tomorrow or later if your calories allow it.

You could also try to pre-plan your days worth of calories a day or two in advance & then figure out how many calories you could allot to your favorite treats.