Special occasions make this feel impossible

Special occasions are named that for a reason. They're special. They're not a daily occurrence. There are 365 days in a year, and even if 65 of them were special events 300 days have a much larger determining effect on your weight. Eat the cake. Don't consider it "ruining your diet". Consider it "complementing your diet" because it's keeping you sane enough to continue dieting. Once you treat these days as part of your diet, not a deviation from it, you will feel much better and do much better because you will be able to last much longer, which is the most important aspect of any diet.

To manage your calories just do one or a combination of the following depending on what feels easier to you at the time:
- exercise extra to earn the calories for that cake
- bank calories when you know there will be an event
- have lighter meals
- eat up to maintenance that day (days not in a deficit don't ruin your diet since you aren't gaining weight in maintenance)

Most importantly, try to teach yourself to not feel guilty about this. That's life. There is no need to feel guilty over living your life like you are supposed to. That's how you'll be eating for good if you're planning to maintain your weight. You better get used to just living your life with all its variations unless you are planning on losing weight then moving into a cave and living as a hermit.

Everybody is entitled to time off, that is why we have rest days / treat days etc. I love going binge drinking like most people, it just means I do more time in the gym when my hangover goes

One day of indulgence isn't going to ruin your weight loss efforts. Sorry but if I'm celebrating something (like a wedding) I'm going to celebrate! That means eating cake and having probably a few too many drinks. Just dust yourself off the next day and get back to work.

Lemme guess...you're on a 1200 calorie diet...and judging by your picture, you don't really have much if any weight to lose. Are you eating back exercise calories? Move more, eat more...also, determine if your deficit is really appropriate for you...I'm just guessing based on my personal history here and seeing so many ladies just defaulting to 1200 and then doing a bunch of exercise on top.

Beyond that, you should figure out what your actual maintenance is. You can go over and still be in a substantial deficit. Also, you should look at your deficit for the week, not just a singular day. Also, when I was losing I just typically ate maintenance on Saturdays as that's when we have social occasions...some days I ate maintenance all weekend. In the grand scheme of things it was no biggie...I still lost 40 Lbs pretty easily.

I always think on this :"a moment in my lips, for ever in my hips." And since I don't need additional inches in my hips, my lips stay close.

Agent_Freckles wrote: »

You could run or swim to try to make up for eating a portion of bad food as well. Not the greatest solution but I do that before going out to eat. I also try to eat a small breakfast and lunch as well. Also, remember that it's ok to eat a smallish portion of bad food but if you eat a huge portion that's what's going to get you in trouble in the long run.

What's bad food?

I love this calorie counting way for this exact reason. I can really eat anything. I have burgers with my family on a Friday and French toast on a Sunday morning. I don't feel too badly restricted. If I see I have no more calories left for supper, I'll take the kids for a walk or mow the lawn or something to "work it back" so I can have something for supper. It's awesome.