moderation is key?

1Dlover16

so i was wondering, if you ate healthy most of the time, and this wasnt like a cheat meal or anything, but you had like a bag of popcorn every once in a while or a candy bar, not everyday or everyweek, just once in a while would you gain weight that you lose?

BuckeyeLife

You need a surplus of 3500 calories to gain a pound. An occasional treat isn't going to hurt you. You can even lose weight by eating all crap all day as long as you keep your calories in check properly. I wouldn't even remotely recommend it, but it has been done. Just focus on making healthier choices a bit at a time and keep your eye on your calories.

AmyRhubarb

I eat popcorn almost every day - not the storebought microwave stuff that's full of who-knows-what - I buy the kernels & pop 'em in a brown paper bag in my microwave & top 'em with coconut oil when it's done! MUCH healthier and cheaper, too.

I eat a candy bar once in awhile too - one candy bar isn't going to cause you to gain a bunch of weight. Or, rather than a regular candy bar, get yourself a dark chocolate bar, one that's like 72% cacao, and break off 1/4 of it. Eat it square by square, letting it melt in your mouth - dark chocolate has some good healthy benefits, and it helps satisfy the sweet tooth, for me anyway.

And I'm still losing fat off this bod. :bigsmile:

trophywife24

I eat whatever I'd like to eat - I just account for the calories and eat smaller portions. I don't sweat over pizza nights, donuts on the boardwalk, sushi lunches, nada. I make a better choice 90% of the time. I'm yet to be struck my lightening for getting into the junk food once in a while.Mmmmm... crap.

runfatmanrun

My success has primarily been due to portion control. I haven't cut anything out; I eat dessert, pizza, pasta, hamburger, steak, etc. I just don't eat as much. Not that it would be healthy to eat under you calories everyday by eating crap but it's possible to eat the foods you like and still lose weight, at least I did.

magerum

I eat an entire pint of ice cream every single night. It's calories in vs. calories out when it comes to weight loss.

SPNLuver83

hell no. I eat what I want, when I want, in moderation. On top of that once a week I have a high calorie day. Still losing

melsinct

You need a surplus of 3500 calories to gain a pound. An occasional treat isn't going to hurt you. You can even lose weight by eating all crap all day as long as you keep your calories in check properly. I wouldn't even remotely recommend it, but it has been done. Just focus on making healthier choices a bit at a time and keep your eye on your calories.

Agreed. I have not given one food item up, I still regularly drink wine, do not deny myself "treat" type foods, etc. I just do it all in moderation. It's amazing how little credit good ol' portion control gets. It helped me lose the weight and maintain for almost 5 months and counting.

BuckeyeLife

You need a surplus of 3500 calories to gain a pound. An occasional treat isn't going to hurt you. You can even lose weight by eating all crap all day as long as you keep your calories in check properly. I wouldn't even remotely recommend it, but it has been done. Just focus on making healthier choices a bit at a time and keep your eye on your calories.

Agreed. I have not given one food item up, I still regularly drink wine, do not deny myself "treat" type foods, etc. I just do it all in moderation. It's amazing how little credit good ol' portion control gets. It helped me lose the weight and maintain for almost 5 months and counting.

People insist on being too cerebral about weight loss IMO. I am all for primal concepts, but I wouldn't even begin to say you have to do it to lose weight. 4-5 years ago I ate a large thin crust Dominos pizza everyday, a South beach diet pizza, along w/ regular meals and snacks, no counting, and lost 50 lbs in 3.5 months. I ran, a lot. VERY little strength training. I can't even argue that my "poor" method is what caused me to gain the weight back and more... That probably had to do with depression/just not seeing myself for how big I got. (I still don't, because I never felt that out of shape so I never had that mental image to realize.) Now I look at pics from before my loss this time and just am amazed. This time I count calories, focus on macros and micros, strength train, some running, and tennis as much as possible. About as 180 from before as I could get, still works.

Heather_Rider

a agree in moderation! You can still live.. and eat what you want! For instance.. this was taken off my meal log for tomorrow.. i love to plan ahead, so im not faced with choices that im unsure how to make. I know that we will be going to KFC tomorrow with my mother in law, so i logged my stuff today, so i could choose what to eat! check this out!





Kfc - Fried Chicken Thigh Without Skin, 2 thigh

calories: 164


Kfc - Cole Slaw - Side, 2 oz

Calories: 75


Kfc (June 17th, 2011 Update From Website) - Mac & Cheese, 135 grams

Calories: 160

Add a tossed salad before i go of one cup shredded lettuce, half a large tomato and half a cucumber with 2 tablespoons italian dressing, and you have quite a large meal for less than 460 calories!

myfitnessnmhoy

so i was wondering, if you ate healthy most of the time, and this wasnt like a cheat meal or anything, but you had like a bag of popcorn every once in a while or a candy bar, not everyday or everyweek, just once in a while would you gain weight that you lose?

If you ate healthy most of the time and you considered a candy bar every couple of weeks to be excessive, you're gonna do a whole lot better at dieting than I do, sunshine. :laugh:

13inchestogo

Work it off like a M@#$%F@#$%# and you'll be fine !!!

Of course not as ripped as you may be if you ate 100% clean but hey popcorn is the Sh**

Living4Liz2012

No it's all in moderation...hell I love my chocolate and pizza I'm not giving it up and it's a lifetime journey I'm going to enjoy and have fun:)

jofjltncb6

Personally, I don't believe in it. Never worked that well for me anyhow.

However, if I ever do decide to try moderation, you can bet that I'll do it 100%.

1Dlover16

thanks guys! that made me feel better knowing i can still enjoy lifes little pleasures.

akaporn

I eat what I want when I want it BUT BUT BUT

1) Make sure that you savor every chew of it! Calories are health currency! Treasure it! You wouldn't put soccer cleats in a LV bag and throw it in a trunk of your car, right? Do the same thing with food. If I'm gonna eat pizza, I would pick my favorite. Sit on the table turn off the TV set and savor every bite of it. In this case some Pavarotti may even enhance the experience.

2) As an added benefit to #1), stop right when you are satisfied. Again, i am lucky being a Buddhism. Self awareness skill from my childhood meditation does help. I did not get fat by eating 1/2 a burrito (500 CAL), I got fat because I didn't stop when i was enough and went for the whole thing. Throwing away food is bad. Throwing it into your stomach is stupid. Learn to share it with the others. When my girlfriend and I go to a restaurant, I don't even order anything. I know that she will always order too much because the portion size in this country is wayy too big.