250 calories per day on chocolate?

dlionsmane

Is it acceptable to eat 250 calories worth of chocolate per day when you are trying to lose weight, as long as you are still in your calorie limit? I have tried to have just one small piece or swap it for dark but it just isnt working and i keep failing! I was reading somewhere that eating chocolate or other junk food is really bad for weight loss as a calorie is not just a calorie, but i always thought it didn't matter in terms of weight loss as long as you are at a calorie deficit. Have any of you had chocolate daily and managed to use a significant amount of weight? I have 100 pounds to lose and chocolate is my nemesis

I eat chocolate almost every day, anywhere from 125-300 calories worth. I will not give it up! I have lost a total of 42 pounds so far! Since November of 2012. I say make it fit! Find more protein in other sources and it all balances out in the end. I have also managed to maintain muscle mass. Diary is open - see photos in profile of said muscles...

erikmsp72

Yes, eat chocolate, within your calorie limit.

I buy dark chocolate and savor a couple squares as dessert. . . or, at Costco, I buy the two-pound bag of chocolate chips. One serving is 70 calories and if you nibble chip by chip it lasts a long time and you get a lot of chocolate bang for your buck.

tylerxedge

You can literally eat whatever you want, just maintain your calorie deficit.

I have ice cream every single day. Hasn't hindered my loss one bit.

I second this. I lost 48 pounds eating chocolate, taco bell, ice cream, etc...

Just stay under your calories, exercise, and stay away from trans fat.

Greytfish

Ok. The body burn simple carbs. Then complex carbs. Then blah blah blah. And then, being in a 250 calorie deficit, what does it do? And how does the order of the energy that the body uses before it commits to using body fat matter?

Eat a balanced diet. Stay at a reasonable deficit. Get exercise that included resistance training.

If you have 100 pounds to lose, everything else is over complicating the situation.

No, basic biology is not overcomplicating the situation, though I can see why someone with 100 lbs. to lose might be of the view that any progress toward a healthy weight, even without a healthy body composition, is an improvement.

A 250 calorie deficit will create weight loss at a rate of about 1/2 lb. of weight per week. The composition of the calories taken in by the body and the exercise performed dictate whether that loss will be in body fat, muscle mass, etc.

Lots of obese and morbidly obese people focus solely on the calories and nothing else. If all you want to do is move the number on the scale, yes, that will do it. But, when you do it without hitting a decent protein target (usually at least twice the MFP recommendation for someone exercising even moderately) you're losing weight by catabolizing muscle and making youself more injury prone. The fastest way to drop weight quickly is cardio, calorie deficit, and deficient protein levels. You drop muscle fast and lose a lot more weight than if you were losing body fat. It makes you weigh less, it doesn't make you healthier.

The order in which your body prioritizes fuel usage matters if you want to be healthy. It, and the food you take in, determines whether the body is losing primarily fat or primarily muscle mass.

I think this is why everybody was careful to say that meeting macros was first and then chocolate.

If somebody is meeting their macro targets and still in a deficit, will a small amount of sugar and fat cause a noticible change in the ability to lose weight?

It's also why you should have actually read what I wrote rather than responding to the "chocolate is evil" statement you presumed I was making, which I was not.

Again, weight loss and fat loss are not equivalent. Weight? No. Proportion of fat lost? Yes.

dorkyfaery

If you can control it to that 250 and stay within your calorie goals for the day, it's perfectly fine. Just be sure that you are able to stop at 250 calories worth of chocolate. For me, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups of any shape or size are my kryptonite. If I start, I can't stop, so unless I have a limited amount available, or a lot of extra calories, I can't even get started with eating them.

Greytfish

And you appear to be masterfully adept at being condescending and avoiding the question.
Please explain what I am burning to lose weight if I am not burning fat.

And you are either masterfully adept at being disingenuous, or very, very obtuse.

Read my first two posts again. It answers the question.

Nissi51

That truly depends on your goals.

If your goal is to lose weight only, then go ahead and eat whatever you want "if it fits your macros" - eat chocolate each day

If you have other goals that include improved body composition, improved overall health etc., then you may want to re-think that strategy.

Greytfish

If you can control it to that 250 and stay within your calorie goals for the day, it's perfectly fine. Just be sure that you are able to stop at 250 calories worth of chocolate. For me, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups of any shape or size are my kryptonite. If I start, I can't stop, so unless I have a limited amount available, or a lot of extra calories, I can't even get started with eating them.

Have you tried buying the single cup servings they sell around holidays and storing them in the freezer? Having them wrapped individually can help with teaching your brain to note portions, and that can help with control. It migth not work now, but you can use it as a tool.

determinedbutlazy

And you appear to be masterfully adept at being condescending and avoiding the question.
Please explain what I am burning to lose weight if I am not burning fat.

And you are either masterfully adept at being disingenuous, or very, very obtuse.

Read my first two posts again. It answers the question.

I am obviously far too dense to understand your response, then. I provided you with a full rundown of my diet and exercise, my macronutrient ratios and I stick to them or near as dammit. So why, if I eat refined sugar, am I not burning fat? I just want you to explain that to me. I have clearly not lost 70lbs of muscle, but I couldn't possibly have burned fat according to your ideas.

Greytfish

And you appear to be masterfully adept at being condescending and avoiding the question.
Please explain what I am burning to lose weight if I am not burning fat.

And you are either masterfully adept at being disingenuous, or very, very obtuse.

Read my first two posts again. It answers the question.

I am obviously far too dense to understand your response, then. I provided you with a full rundown of my diet and exercise, my macronutrient ratios and I stick to them or near as dammit. So why, if I eat refined sugar, am I not burning fat? I just want you to explain that to me. I have clearly not lost 70lbs of muscle, but I couldn't possibly have burned fat according to your ideas.

You want me to defend an assertion I didn't make. you either did not read what I wrote and just assumed, or you don't understand. Neither of those things are within my power to change.

SugaryLynx

That truly depends on your goals.

If your goal is to lose weight only, then go ahead and eat whatever you want "if it fits your macros" - eat chocolate each day

If you have other goals that include improved body composition, improved overall health etc., then you may want to re-think that strategy.

What? Iifym is about body comp and health... I don't get how these two things are different. I do this every day and will for the rest of my life. If you like a different approach, that's fine but that doesn't make iifyn any less applicable to reach the same goals....

tennisdude2004

@ Guitar gerry

This is why we have freedom of choice to be part of them or not.

As you have chosen to do.

The problem with carbs is we have not always had them so readily available - and so many of them deficient of the essential nutrients we would normally get from better choices of calories.

But as mention above we have freedom of choice to eat them (all we really need is the correct information about how good, bad or neutral they are)

determinedbutlazy

And you appear to be masterfully adept at being condescending and avoiding the question.
Please explain what I am burning to lose weight if I am not burning fat.

And you are either masterfully adept at being disingenuous, or very, very obtuse.

Read my first two posts again. It answers the question.

I am obviously far too dense to understand your response, then. I provided you with a full rundown of my diet and exercise, my macronutrient ratios and I stick to them or near as dammit. So why, if I eat refined sugar, am I not burning fat? I just want you to explain that to me. I have clearly not lost 70lbs of muscle, but I couldn't possibly have burned fat according to your ideas.

You want me to defend an assertion I didn't make. you either did not read what I wrote and just assumed, or you don't understand. Neither of those things are within my power to change.

I actually give up. I've asked you over and over to restate your point in a way that makes sense, and you have refused to repeatedly. If you have such a wonderful understanding of nutrition, why are you here? To help us poor, less educated folk how to eat better and save our lean body mass? You're a saint.

PS: If a person is meeting their macronutrient requirements, eating a sensible deficit and doing at least some form of strength training, they should maintain a healthy level of lean body mass. Meeting your macronutrients and then eating a chocolate bar will not affect lean body mass or weight loss at all, you seem very confused.

Greytfish

I actually give up. I've asked you over and over to restate your point in a way that makes sense, and you have refused to repeatedly. If you have such a wonderful understanding of nutrition, why are you here? To help us poor, less educated folk how to eat better and save our lean body mass? You're a saint.

PS: If a person is meeting their macronutrient requirements, eating a sensible deficit and doing at least some form of strength training, they should maintain a healthy level of lean body mass. Meeting your macronutrients and then eating a chocolate bar will not affect lean body mass or weight loss at all, you seem very confused.

I am here as part of a solidarity effort with a group of women using the site to try to lose fat and improve their body composition.

Posted again for anyone else who is confused:
Caloric deficit will always result in weight loss absent a metabolic or specific health condition interfering. And that may very well be the goal for many overeaters without a history of health and fitness since they have a tendency to focus exclusively on losing weight ratehr than a healthy body composition or remaining injury free.

Caloric deficit will cause weight loss, yes. If you want to lose existing body fat, you have to be conscious of how much of your dietary intake with further or thwart those goals. Your body will burn the sugars, then the carbs before it ever gets to burning more than a small amount of fat, let alone the bodyfat one is already carrying.

The original person who posted the general order in which the body burns sugar, the complex carbs, then fat (and then protein) was making a very good point about how the more sugar and carbs you eat, the more dietary intake of energy your body must burn before it gets to using the fat in your diet or the fat on your body. The more you make the body burn before it gets to burning fat, the more you undermine your efforts to lose body fat.

liftsforchocolate

I know there is another side discussion going on, but OP,

YES. I was losing 1-2 lbs per week while eating 230 cals worth of chocolate everyday (usually with breakfast lol). But it was the 90% dark, and I was also not really eating much sugar/carbs from anywhere else but veggies, protein powder, nut butters, yogurt, and oatmeal. Total cals were around 1700.

crt714

alwaysinmotion - you're absolutely right. it's best for everyone involved if the chocolate is consumed.

Jkn921

I have about 100 calories of chocolate for the past two weeks with no change. The only reason it became a problem is if I went over my sugar limit which causes me to bloat - that's usually in drinks which I hope to have not started a habit out of.

F00LofaT00K

Be careful of your fat and sugar intake too! You might be within your calorie target, but if you are significantly over your fat and sugar intake on a regular basis you probably won't see the results.

I am over my fat and sugar intake almost DAILY and so far, I have ONLY seen results (see weight loss tracker at bottom of post for more information!). Caloric deficit causes weight loss, not any magical combination of macro nutrients or food restrictions. If you look through my diary (please do) you will see that yesterday, I had 3 cupcakes, the day before I had ANOTHER cupcake and on Thursday, I had a cupcake AND 300 calories worth of Cadbury mini chocolate eggs. Thursday was 530 calories from sweets. I went over my fat and sugar and felt AWESOME.








EAT. THE. CHOCOLATE.

Samstan101

Average of around 350cals a day for me and I've lost 96lbs in 11 months so its working for me. As you can see from my diary I also eat lots of veg and lean meat and feel I have a routine that I can sustain.

And as an aside my body fat as a percentage of body mass is decreasing and muscle mass as a percentage of body mass is increasing ie I'm retaining as much muscle as I can whilst losing fat (I do 1-2 weights sessions a week and 4-5 cardio).