Foods High in Calories

lilmiss_sunshine29

Hi,
So what do you guys do when you have a specific food that you like, but is ridicuolously high in calories? I have an African dish I like, tend to eat it every now (for the simple reason of how high it is in calories) and again but I am haunted coz now I feel I have to avoid it in order to remain under my calorie intake.

I unfortunately haven't earned extra calories from exercise..

Besides starving myself the rest of the day until dinner to accomodate the dish...what is a girl to do?

Silver_Star

Can you portion it out....so you get to eat it several times a day....and still stay within your cal llimit?

or...work out extra then eat it...

or...have a cheat meal if that works for you...

MrFitness972

Use the recipe option, portion it out and adds It to MFP!!!!

MyPaperBleedsInk

There's also substitution as an option.... any ingredients you can cut out that aren't necessary or any that you can switch around for a healthier alternative?

lilmiss_sunshine29

@ Pastor Wilson & Silver_Star - thank you both for the advice.
the difficulty I am facing is to eat a smaller portion, i have to load on something else like vege to enable me to actually feel full (not stuffed but just feel like i've had dinner). It is here on MFP, it's mealie meal. Normally I work out but I just havent had my exercise "shoes" on lately. Struggling to get that motivation back.

lilmiss_sunshine29

There's also substitution as an option.... any ingredients you can cut out that aren't necessary or any that you can switch around for a healthier alternative?

hi there, sadly there isnt an option to substitute for lower calorie or fat on the mealie meal.

VelociMama

I second the notion of a smaller portion and fill the rest of the plate with fibrous veggies to help fill you up. You may also want to plan to eat it on days when you have a good hard workout to help offset the extra calories.

bodiva88

Maybe use it as motivation. I have one day a week with a huge calorie burn so that day I can pretty much eat what I want. It's good motivation to kick it, and it turns out I don't always need all those extra calories. But when I do (like when my dad wants to take me to dinner) it's great to be able to go confidently ahead.

Pebble321

I find that portions are the key... though I appreciate that usually something like mealie meal (is that the same as sadza?) is a main component of the meal and you have other dishes as sides, can you switch that around a little and eat more veggies, more of the other sides and less mealie meal?
If that doesn't work, then I think the trick would be to enjoy it now and again, just accept that you are going to have a smaller (or no) calorie deficit that day. I think that depriving yourself of a food that you really enjoy, especially if its something that your family all eat is a sure way to set yourself up for failure.

To summarise - I think you can either eat less of it or eat it less often. Your choice.

phonypony

My one vice food is chocolate!

anemoneprose

Think of your calories over the week, not just in a given meal or day. If you're going to go over by say 500 calories, cut back 100 calories from each day for the rest of the week (which, obviously, you can do & still feel full by being careful about getting a good quantity of lean protein and fat in each meal, balanced with lots of veg).

If it's a beloved dish, I wouldn't mess with it. It won't taste right. Just limit your enjoyment of it to not more than a couple of times a month.

(Because if you feel deprived, or hate your food, it'll be harder to turn this into a lifelong way of eating, vs a diet.)

& if you don't feel like 'exercising', try to walk instead. It'll help you feel good about moving again, in a non-aversive way.

mensasu

I looked up mealie meal and the writeup seemed to say that unrefined mealie meal was very nutritious. (In addition to carbohydrates, protein and fibre, mealie meal is also rich in B vitamins niacin, thiamin and riboflavin, potassium, magnesium and iron, and it contains very little fat and almost zero sodium.) Yes carb heavy but I would think that as a once in a while it would be okay. As other said, think of your weekly calories not just your daily total and save some for a few days so you can spend them on your mealie meal.

lilmiss_sunshine29

I second the notion of a smaller portion and fill the rest of the plate with fibrous veggies to help fill you up. You may also want to plan to eat it on days when you have a good hard workout to help offset the extra calories.

smart plan thank you

lilmiss_sunshine29

I find that portions are the key... though I appreciate that usually something like mealie meal (is that the same as sadza?) is a main component of the meal and you have other dishes as sides, can you switch that around a little and eat more veggies, more of the other sides and less mealie meal?
If that doesn't work, then I think the trick would be to enjoy it now and again, just accept that you are going to have a smaller (or no) calorie deficit that day. I think that depriving yourself of a food that you really enjoy, especially if its something that your family all eat is a sure way to set yourself up for failure.

To summarise - I think you can either eat less of it or eat it less often. Your choice.

thank you and yes, mealie meal. i am trying not to deprive myself so i have it no more than once a week. will try what many of you have advised which is a combination of all of the above (exercise, portion & less often)