Ate pizza today...

I ate pizza today.
It was delicious
I've lost 40 pounds so far
it's fine

So I just started dieting 4 days ago and today I ate pizza

Yummy!

I feel terrible about it

Why? It's food. You didn't donkeypunch a nun, you ate pizza. Get a grip.

, I didn't exactly go over my calories today and I exercised as well

Then congrats! You will lose weight if you continue this.

but it feels as though I'm cheating already.

Eating pizza and hitting your nutritional targets is not cheating. It's called winning. Congrats on being a baller.

When do you guys feel guilty about what you ate?

Never.

But hypothetically let's say I went into a senior home and they were serving tacos, and Leonard was sitting next to his oxygen tank, about to take a bite of his taco, and I slapped him in the back of the head, knocking the taco into the air, whence I catch said taco and take a bite.....

I'd feel guilty.

Other than that, no.

This. As as a species, we need guilt to stop us from killing and thieving all the time, not to help us avoid yummy food.

When I was losing I ate 3/4 of a pizza at a time, now I have a whole one, but I never felt guilt.

Too bad guilt isn't working too well for that.

The only food guilt that is useful is if it somehow motivates you to do a fitness activity. Otherwise drop it and have the pizza.

I think the key here is that you're on day 4, so it's not surprising that you feel bad. It can take a while to get into the swing of this and to learn to let go of those guilty feelings. When you've been doing this for a while, well you'll either decide to cut things like pizza out of your diet altogether (works for some people I guess) or you'll realise that if it fits into your goals, then it's fine. There's nothing to feel guilty about.

When I say "fits into your goals", it may be that you only want to focus on calories, it may be that you want to focus on overall nutrition, in which case you'll want to keep an eye on your macronutrient (protein, fat, carb) targets too. You can still eat pizza and have an overall balanced, nutritious diet though.

Try and separate feelings of guilt and shame and "doing it wrong" from eating. It's just food. Have too much of it, and you'll gain weight obviously, but from my own experience and from looking at others around me, feeling guilty about eating just causes more problems. If you find that eating pizza doesn't fill you up enough for the amount of calories, then you might want to make it an occasional thing, but that's something you can figure out along the way.

As for your friends' criticism, don't listen to them. This is your life, and your weight loss. You have to find what works for you. It's true that nutritional balance is important for health, but purely for losing weight/fat, calories in/out is the most important thing. Once you've been at this a while, and have seen results, you'll feel stronger a bout it and hopefully they will back off a bit. Personally I started off on MFP paying attention only to the calories, and it worked for me. As time went on, I couldn't help but start paying attention to my diet in general and improving it. That doesn't have to happen overnight though. Make changes that you can sustain permanently, and you'll have success.

No food should make anyone feel guilty!! It's all about healthy eating, not minimal eating. I love to splurge now and then on something really decadent, and if it means I go over my calorie goals for one meal or one day, then so be it. I make sure I REALLY enjoy every bite!! And, I move on from it. Living in the world means meals out and desserts and holidays...we don't need to demonise those foods...all that stuff is nice now and then. It's when you are doing it DAILY that gets troublesome. It's not a diet...it's for life!

I love, love, love Pizza.. What a pita place does here is make pita pizza's so I have started to do this at home as well.. I can eat the whole thing and it's less then 500 calories..

What I do..

Pita
BBQ Sauce.. I don't care for tomato sauce
Ham
Bacon
Pineapple
Cheese

Bake it in your oven or toaster oven.. It's delicious.. You can do pepperoni and cheese, chicken, whatever you feel like having on it.. Veggies, you name it. Nutritious and healthy..

Thanks for posting this recipe. I used to make pizzas on Orowheat thins and I forgot how good they were. Portion controlled and I could add whatever fresh veggies and proteins I wanted. Super idea for indulging pizza cravings at home.

You're quite welcome...

The one thing that's awesome about life is... you get a new day to start over every 24 hours. Don't beat yourself up over one day-- make the next a great one. EVERYONE does it and if you restrict yourself too much, you'll just find yourself giving up. Best wishes!

I love you SideSteel

ignore your friends who make fun of you for what you are eating.

This is a lifestyle change NOT a diet. and seriously who would want to never eat pizza again?

I ate half of a homemade pizza yesterday and was still under calories. not.a.single.bit.of.guilt.

Enjoy food. it is not the enemy.

I love you SideSteel

I saw him first.


and hi Ed!
I am a big fan!:flowerforyou:

1st let me say this about your guilt. It's a good thing because is shows you're serious about this. Good for you but don't let it stop you. I've heard lots of stories of people that did what you did and quit. NEVER QUIT.

2nd. if you are just starting out. I alway tell people just starting out to keep a calorie deficit to lose weight and when you get down to that last 10 or 15 lbs we can tweak the diet and cut out more bad stuff. Not everyone can go from eating poorly to a clean diet over night. I couldn't. If you told me 3 1/2 years ago when I started this that I'd HAVE to eat the way I eat now I would have failed. I'd still be 250 lbs or more. Some people have to make baby steps.

3rd. Pizza is probably one on the better "junk" foods. As long as it's a treat and not your normal diet food you'll be fine...move on.

4th. Look at every meal as a battle...win more battles than you lose and you'll win the way.

And finally I'm having pizza today (Sadly not with Ed watching the SEC Title game), as I watch my DAWGS beat up the Tide.
I howerver don't eat white breads so my pizza will be a whole grain crust...and their may be Bud Light Lime too (haven't decided if I wanna be that bad). LOL

So, there is A LOT of good advice in this thread that should really help you out and congrats on choosing a better way of life.

First of all, unless you feel guilty about eating all foods, ignore the poster who said that you need help and have an unhealthy mental state. If you feel bad about eating enough to make your organs function and keep yourself alive, then yes, you should see someone, because that can cause serious problems -- but if you feel bad about eating "junk food" or takeout, many of us can relate.

There are people on here who are really hard-core fitness people, and will tell you that you shouldn't be eating that kind of food. For the average person...what is life without pizza? I mean, seriously. How about birthday cake? You shouldn't feel bad about celebrating your birthday, or the birthday of someone you love, just because there may be some unhealthy food. As long as you're still creating a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. I would recommend not eating pizza or fast food regularly (as it is usually high in salt as well as calories, and can create some temporary, yet disappointing water weight gain), but here's the main point: if you make room in your diet for your favorite foods, you're more likely to stick with your food plan. Therefore it is in your best interest to allow yourself *some* wiggle room in what you feel you "can" and "can't" eat. :-)

No worries!

Hahahaha love this, I can so see my dog doing this :laugh: