Attitude towards treats

I allow for a daily "treat" in my mealplan. It is a See's lollypop cafe latte flavored. Plan for your treat, portion control, and enjoy. HTH.

I eat treats as treats. So I don't have it every day, though if you can fit it in every day, great. I usually wait until the weekends. I can usually eat more then and can really splurge (1 qt of frozen yogurt, 1 whole medium pizza, etc.). Though if I'm craving something, I go get it, even if it puts me over. I'll just balance it out the rest of the week.

it's in my daily log everyday...1 cadbury milk chocolate bar....yes an entire bar.

I log my breakfast then my snack and work around those two things...

I did eliminate sweets for a short while when I first started, because I wanted to break the mental habit of reaching for something sweet every time things weren't going exactly the way I wanted.

In time I learned some new coping strategies, and now I eat sweets only when I really genuinely want to eat them (not as a reflexive reaction to a bad day, or a good day for that matter). I would say I went from about 500 calories per day of "treats" to roughly 500 a week. I also never tie them to anything unrelated to food; I never say "i deserve this" or "this will help me feel better". The only good reason for me to eat chocolate is that I really want to eat chocolate (and that is enough. I don't need to "earn" it.)

Also, I don't stress about going over my calories one day: I try to keep it balanced over the week. I can always cut 50 calories a day for a few days if I want to have an extra 200 calorie treat today. If it works out at the end of the week, I'm fine with some variation day to day.

Everybody's experience is different, but this works really well for me.

Don't beat yourself up. The calorie "goal" is simply a target. You aren't going to gain weight if you are over the magic line (if you set it at a deficit). Yes it took me quite a while to accept this. I use the calorie goal more as a target. I stay as close to the goal as I can but things happen, sometimes I'm more hungry than other days.

Try to make up for it tomorrow or over the rest of the week and you will still lose the same as you would have if you would not have eaten the chocolate. A lot of people calculate their weekly deficit instead of daily so that they can eat more one day, but they don't feel like they've failed overall because they are still under for the week.

Anytime I choose to eat off plan because of a special occasion or even if it just sounds good I mark an X on the calendar with a highlighter. It's insanely helpful at keeping things in perspective -- one day does not "ruin" anything -- and it's a nice visual reminder of that.

It's such a simple thing but it's been extremely effective at making sure I don't fall back into bad eating patterns when I loosen up my diet once in awhile... which means I can truly enjoy indulging when I do.

My mentality is; eat whatever you want, chocolate, pizza or chips........ As long as your daily calories are less than your maintenance. You WILL lose weight if you're in a caloric deficit!

You need to stop seeing treats as such a big deal and remeber it's okay to eat "treats" when you want.

Long term you will have to treat yourself to what you want sometimes or risk falling off the wagon completely. No one can be 100% good and on track everyday for the rest of their lives. You can fit 99.9% of foods into a healthy lifestyle so no need for cutting out treat type foods. I'd be miserable without my "bad" foods. I dint have a problem losing while sometimes eating chocolate, take out or whatever. I just make it fit my weekly calories.

Maybe drop your cals 100 a day for the next two days or 50cal for four days and you'll be right back on track with those 200 that are bugging you.

I don't think of Treats or Cheats. I just eat food I like within my goals and that may include Cupcake or chocolate on occasion. I personally think a lot of people's issues is because they compartmentalise food as Good, bad or as Treats/Cheats. Food is just food