Good healthy recipes

Are you planning on never eating baked goods again? Just curious... I love to bake and when I first started trying to lose weight with MFP I had to cut way back on my baking. It made me very sad, but in those early days I just needed to no have that extra temptation. Over time though, I managed to find a way of having what is essentially one of my hobbies still in my life. If it's something you really enjoy, it's a shame to have to cut it out entirely. I found that learning to work around it was actually really helpful, and I can still eat the lovely things I make in moderation.

I bake more bread rather than sweet things, and have even started using smaller loaf tins so there isn't so much of it that I feel I need to eat it all at once. I bake things in smaller portions, so I'll bake maybe 4 or 6 cupcakes and make sure it's at a time when someone else can share. So, I might end up having 2 cupcakes, frosted, but not with a crazy amount of frosting. I can easily fit 2 cupcakes into one day's intake, or they keep well enough to have one a day over two days. I bake things that I can freeze. I learned that brownies freeze quite well for example. I'll make a batch and cut them up into smaller sizes than normal ("brownie bites") and freeze. If I fancy a brownie, I'll take one or two out and they defrost in no time. You can also microwave them for a few seconds to get them gooey again, and that would be maybe 100 cals, depending on variables. Bread loaves can also obviously be frozen. If you have trouble moderating your intake of homemade bread (I wouldn't blame you!) bake a couple of loaves, slice them in half and freeze so that you're dealing with smaller amounts. Or get the smaller loaf tins.

Some people baulk at baking things only to give them away, but that's something I enjoy too. If you work somewhere where there are people who would appreciate your latest creation, or if your husband does - that can be a good solution. Bake a batch of muffins or whatever, enjoy one or two each and then give the rest away. This is a great tactic around Christmas too. Spread the joy! (Just don't spread it to people who really don't want the temptation!)

And then obviously you can go down the road of exploring lower calorie options; it doesn't have to be just cake and brownies. There are tons of blogs out there focusing on making "skinny" versions of things (eg. Skinnytaste), and Pinterest is great for ideas too. Off the top of my head, you could use your mixer to make meringues, which are fairly low in calories. I think the key, whether you're doing high fat or not, is to learn to adjust recipes so that you're not making ridiculous amounts that you then feel you have to eat. Make smaller loaves, or smaller cakes, or batches of 4-6 items, and make them less frequently than perhaps you would have done before. Plan it into your overall eating plan where you bake a favourite item one Saturday a month or something.

I don't know about you, but I love baking for the process itself, not just eating what I make. It makes me happy if I'm stressed, and I love the reactions from people when I bake something delicious. So, I wouldn't want to completely cut that from my life, but I do understand if you need to cut back on it for a while.