Eating 'unhealthy' within your calorie goal

Maria_Cutie

So, Yesterday was my Birthday, and I pretty much ate off diet without a care in the world. Sushi, a piece of fried chicken, and most importantly, Birthday cake!
Figured I'd treat myself since well.. It was my birthday.
(Now, I occasionally eat unhealthy but its usually within my calorie goal. like fast food here an now.)

But last night, I saved a piece of cake for the morning, because... well, I wanted a little bit for breakfast. It's something that's done in my house all the time. left over cake is breakfast! It's been done since I was a little baby.... So I saved a tiny sliver. And I ate it, after all, it was the remains of my birthday cake!

Now, my one friend seems to get onto me endlessly for not eating /healthy/ things from time to time. I can understand it with the fast food, but a left over piece of birthday cake? (A tiny one at that?) Do you guys think that it was that bad? I dunno, I end up feeling horrible for eating a tiny piece of cake, even if I still have 1000+ calories left over ._.

Ocarina

You are COMPLETELY fine! A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Tell her that. She'll have nothing to argue.

szczepj

I don't believe that you should have to cut out any specific food entirely. If you work it into your diet eat it and don't feel bad. You DESERVE it.

Rae6503

I do it. As long as most things are "healthy" you are fine

AliceBecker

Hey, well for a special occassion i guess we can let one day go but on the whole, yes, I think its a bad move to use up your calories eating unhealthy calories. I know thats not the reply you probably wanted to read but lets get you back on track!!!

Good luck, good luck, good luck.

I'm a PT so I'm strict about these things!!!

Gsc122

You are making a lifestyle change.I think as long as you portion control, you should be able to eat relatively normal meals.

Heck for my first 20 lbs I lost I was still eating fast food burgers everyday. I just portioned it.

ilookthetype

I can occassionally be mean, and if I were you I would suggest she quickly learn how many calories are in a knuckle sandwich. Then hit her.

Ok, not really, (unless you want to, then I'm being totally serious) but don't worry about it.

marquesajen

That's totally fine! I do the same thing. You're within your goal, it's your birthday cake! I think it's important for us to not associate cake with guilt, but with celebration.

dad106

It's a piece of cake.. from your birthday... Don't feel horrible about celebrating you and your journey so far!

Tell that friend of yours that while you appreciate her concern, you are a big girl and can do what you what.. including eating left over birthday cake!

Maria_Cutie

Thank you guys! She just pretty much told me that dieting is a lifestyle and I have to "change it if I want to keep it off" and I understand that, but I've only gone over my calories like..once. and even then I worked it off the best I could by exercising!

mariasheehan

No I certainly do not think it's bad at all. I think if you're healthy 80% of the time, then it's ok to have a treat now and then. If being healthy is going to be a way of life or a lifestyle change, then there are going to be lots of birthdays, parties, functions, weddings, thanksgivings, Christmas days etc that you're going to see and you can't possibly go through life not eating cake on your birthday or christmas cake and so on. Everything in moderation is the key ツ

Maria_Cutie

No I certainly do not think it's bad at all. I think if you're healthy 80% of the time, then it's ok to have a treat now and then. If being healthy is going to be a way of life or a lifestyle change, then there are going to be lots of birthdays, parties, functions, weddings, thanksgivings, Christmas days etc that you're going to see and you can't possibly go through life not eating cake on your birthday or christmas cake and so on. Everything in moderation is the key ツ

Thank you bunches Also, pretty nifty name

jmruef

I wish I could remember who it was (on here) who wrote "Guilt does not burn calories." I THEN wish I could get everyone to print that out and tape it up all over, everywhere.

Cake is YUMMY. Cake for breakfast on occasion is WONDERFUL. Do not spend another SECOND feeling guilty about this. Please?

Trixtabella

Thank you guys! She just pretty much told me that dieting is a lifestyle and I have to "change it if I want to keep it off" and I understand that, but I've only gone over my calories like..once. and even then I worked it off the best I could by exercising!

Maybe you should have saved the cake and shoved it in her face.
You deserve a treat it is your birthday, today I had 4 chocolates dum dum dum probs could have done without them but I was inside my Kcals for the day so why not.

circusmom

You said this is a tradition in your family, something you've always done, so keep doing it. One tiny piece of cake is not the end all!! As long as the rest of your day is healthy, there shouldn't be any problem.

Maria_Cutie

Really, thank all you guys. I know I've been slightly angry with her when shes told me stuff like this, but she is my best friend and the mean comments towards her are kind of making me feel worse for posting this haha ^^;; shes on a diet too and I guess she's just way more...strict than I am with it. but I really appreciate all your responses! Thank you guys

sallycheese

if you had eaten nothing but cake for the last however many weeks i could understand her saying something but for crying out loud it was a treat, we are all allowed treats from time to time

renrutmd

A calorie is certainly not just a calorie. You can't tell me eating cake for breakfast is the same as having an egg white omlette with peppers or a bowl of berries and oatmeal. Well I agree you can splurge from time to time cake for breakfast isn't a healthy alternative especially seeing as you had it the night before already. The OP sounded more like she was looking for justification on what she did. What's done is done but don't tell me it's ok when it's not. JMO of course take it or leave it but I won't be one of the people sugar coating what you did was ok sorry.

LorinaLynn

It's a lifestyle change, not a frickin' prison sentence!!!

My lifestyle is changed in that I used to be a couch jockey, and now I get antsy if I go more than a day or two without exercising hard. I used to eat mindlessly from a bag of pretzels or box of crackers, and now I count out a portions worth. I used to split a DiGiorno Rising Crust pizza with my husband... and now I still do, but it fits in my calories now.

If this lifestyle change required me to NEVER eat cake, pizza, pie, boneless buffalo wings, loaded baked potatoes or alcohol EVER AGAIN... I would gladly go back to being a slightly overweight couch jockey who could eat whatever she wanted.

Maria_Cutie

It's a lifestyle change, not a frickin' prison sentence!!!

My lifestyle is changed in that I used to be a couch jockey, and now I get antsy if I go more than a day or two without exercising hard. I used to eat mindlessly from a bag of pretzels or box of crackers, and now I count out a portions worth. I used to split a DiGiorno Rising Crust pizza with my husband... and now I still do, but it fits in my calories now.

If this lifestyle change required me to NEVER eat cake, pizza, pie, boneless buffalo wings, loaded baked potatoes or alcohol EVER AGAIN... I would gladly go back to being a slightly overweight couch jockey who could eat whatever she wanted.

Thank you for your post! I've done a lot of research on this, and losing weight is the same... a calorie is a calorie! I'll eventually get into exercising, but back and knee problems dont like me working too hard, went swimming for 2 hours the other day, couldnt walk at all the next day without a limp x.x

Again, thank you