Unhealthy food in the morning to burn it off!!!

isazzzz

I've been going on pretty well in my weight loss except for the fact that I've reached a mental and physical plateau. No motivation...it's like my mind is not in this weight loss thing at all. I'd start to eat junk food and listen to my cravings like chocolate and mac & cheese (thank god i didn't gain weight).

So anyway, in an effort to get myself out of this plateau, I kind of started to listen to my cravings? I'd have them for breakfast and then burn it off with exercise. The rest of my meals are healthy - yogurt, fruits, nuts, veggies, lean protein. I feel like if I 'make' myself have healthy foods throughout the day I will most likely cave in late at night- which is bad because then my body has no time to digest the unhealthy food. I'd rather have them in the morning than at night.

Does this make sense to you? What do you think??

DopeItUp

Long term, does everyone cut out every nice treat? Of course not. It's fine to treat yourself as long as you account for the calories. Myself, I drink a beer or two every night because I am a beer fanatic. It's basically junk food in liquid form. I've now lost 61lbs. It's no big deal.

As far as timing goes, I wouldn't sweat that. You say you don't want to eat your unhealthy snacks at night because your body doesn't have time to digest it. That doesn't make any sense. You digest just fine in your sleep. Meal timing is completely irrelevant. Eat your treats whenever you want, just account for the calories or earn them via exercise and you will continue to be successful.

iKapuniai

I think you should do what works for you.

LindaLouLu

When I can afford to, I try to eat all the "heavy" foods in the morning. Something lighter at lunch and something lighter than that for dinner. Unfortunately, my budget doesn't always allow this to happen. But yes, your idea makes sense. At least to me. :flowerforyou:

Spanaval

My honest opinion, based on what's in your diary is that you are chronically under eating, and in all likelihood completely torching your metabolism. You are already thin. The reason you're unhappy with your body is that you still have too much body fat, despite being skinny. Eat more. Shift your focus from cardio to weight training. Gain muscle to look better.

steinbok

Long term, does everyone cut out every nice treat? Of course not. It's fine to treat yourself as long as you account for the calories. Myself, I drink a beer or two every night because I am a beer fanatic. It's basically junk food in liquid form. I've now lost 61lbs. It's no big deal.

As far as timing goes, I wouldn't sweat that. You say you don't want to eat your unhealthy snacks at night because your body doesn't have time to digest it. That doesn't make any sense. You digest just fine in your sleep. Meal timing is completely irrelevant. Eat your treats whenever you want, just account for the calories or earn them via exercise and you will continue to be successful.

Doesn't your body burn off more during the day when it's active, no?
If you have to cave into your cravings, do it earlier so you can have more opportunities to burn it off quicker. You burn more during the day than at night, just by simple activity.

isazzzz

Long term, does everyone cut out every nice treat? Of course not. It's fine to treat yourself as long as you account for the calories. Myself, I drink a beer or two every night because I am a beer fanatic. It's basically junk food in liquid form. I've now lost 61lbs. It's no big deal.

As far as timing goes, I wouldn't sweat that. You say you don't want to eat your unhealthy snacks at night because your body doesn't have time to digest it. That doesn't make any sense. You digest just fine in your sleep. Meal timing is completely irrelevant. Eat your treats whenever you want, just account for the calories or earn them via exercise and you will continue to be successful.

Doesn't your body burn off more during the day when it's active, no?
If you have to cave into your cravings, do it earlier so you can have more opportunities to burn it off quicker. You burn more during the day than at night, just by simple activity.

Yes that's my logic! I have *bad* food in the morning, and i'll burn it off after my workout. For the rest of the day, I'll go along with my normal diet of healthy foods

MoreBean13

I think having those cravings is a sign that you're not getting enough nourishment. Your body is craving calorie dense treats to try and convince you to get more nutrients. It will take them in whatever form it can. You probably need to take a critical look at your diet as a whole, and figure out how to get a complete nutritional profile, and the daily cravings for junk will go away on their own. I'm not saying that you can't give in to occasional treat cravings, but what you're doing by undereating and constantly giving in to cravings is playing a never ending game of catch-up, that you're forever losing. Overhaul your diet, and the occasional treats you can have at whatever time of day- it's the bigger picture that's important, not what time of day you have treats.

xTwK

Cravings have nothing to do with being malnourished... Cravings are a natural thing that derive from the addictiveness of the chemicals in the junk food most people eat. I give myself a "cheat day" every Sunday where I eat whatever it is I want to eat, yes I usually put on around 2 pounds after that day but after about 3 days of being back on my normal "diet" my weight goes back to where it was before Sunday and I still end up losing around 2 pounds before the next Sunday.

If you keep track of your daily macronutrients I would NOT eat junk food in the morning with this plan to exercise it off. If you're trying to lose weight you should be doing cardio to put you at a caloric deficit, not to even out the playing field with your calories...

Sarauk2sf

Long term, does everyone cut out every nice treat? Of course not. It's fine to treat yourself as long as you account for the calories. Myself, I drink a beer or two every night because I am a beer fanatic. It's basically junk food in liquid form. I've now lost 61lbs. It's no big deal.

As far as timing goes, I wouldn't sweat that. You say you don't want to eat your unhealthy snacks at night because your body doesn't have time to digest it. That doesn't make any sense. You digest just fine in your sleep. Meal timing is completely irrelevant. Eat your treats whenever you want, just account for the calories or earn them via exercise and you will continue to be successful.

Doesn't your body burn off more during the day when it's active, no?
If you have to cave into your cravings, do it earlier so you can have more opportunities to burn it off quicker. You burn more during the day than at night, just by simple activity.

Yes that's my logic! I have *bad* food in the morning, and i'll burn it off after my workout. For the rest of the day, I'll go along with my normal diet of healthy foods

Your body does not work that way - it does not stop burning at night - you need to look at the day (or actually week) in total and not in increments.

DopeItUp

Long term, does everyone cut out every nice treat? Of course not. It's fine to treat yourself as long as you account for the calories. Myself, I drink a beer or two every night because I am a beer fanatic. It's basically junk food in liquid form. I've now lost 61lbs. It's no big deal.

As far as timing goes, I wouldn't sweat that. You say you don't want to eat your unhealthy snacks at night because your body doesn't have time to digest it. That doesn't make any sense. You digest just fine in your sleep. Meal timing is completely irrelevant. Eat your treats whenever you want, just account for the calories or earn them via exercise and you will continue to be successful.

Doesn't your body burn off more during the day when it's active, no?
If you have to cave into your cravings, do it earlier so you can have more opportunities to burn it off quicker. You burn more during the day than at night, just by simple activity.

Yes that's my logic! I have *bad* food in the morning, and i'll burn it off after my workout. For the rest of the day, I'll go along with my normal diet of healthy foods

Sorry, it doesn't work that way. It takes 24-72 hours to fully digest food. So when you're burning calories during your workout, you're essentially burning YESTERDAY's food. It's not as simple as that but the point is, meal timing and exercise timing is completely irrelevant. You could do your workout, and then eat your treats afterward. Your body would use those treats to restore your lost glycogen stores from working out. It doesn't matter, you just have to look at total expenditure over the course of a day or week, as compared to total intake for that time period.

Having said all that, do what works for you. If it's working and you feel good, then what does it really matter?

Spanaval

Cravings have nothing to do with being malnourished... Cravings are a natural thing that derive from the addictiveness of the chemicals in the junk food most people eat. I give myself a "cheat day" every Sunday where I eat whatever it is I want to eat, yes I usually put on around 2 pounds after that day but after about 3 days of being back on my normal "diet" my weight goes back to where it was before Sunday and I still end up losing around 2 pounds before the next Sunday.

If you keep track of your daily macronutrients I would NOT eat junk food in the morning with this plan to exercise it off. If you're trying to lose weight you should be doing cardio to put you at a caloric deficit, not to even out the playing field with your calories...

In her case, it might. Based on her diary, she is usually netting under 1000 calories, sometimes as low as 600 or so.