Guidelines? None that I know of. But it sounds like you’re on the right track.

How it works for me- using your example- I wasn’t thinking about pizza, but when I got back from vacation it was pizza for lunch at work day. Fortunately, I wasn’t around to pay in advance, so I’m out for today. Is this pizza thing a craving or just an urge? Time will tell.

Now its 3 days later and I’ve still got pizza on my mind. This is a craving. If it was an urge I would be over it. So the only answer is the one you’ve already figured on, plan to fit some in.

This is a positive. You get to eat pizza. You get to work your plan. You’ll come to appreciate how fast calories can add up eating pizza.

I find I rarely eat pizza now. But when I was starting out calorie counting getting some pizza now and again was very important. I had to prove to myself that my plan wasn’t going to be a life sentence to being left out.

But beware- control the portion. Go buy the planned amount, no more, and bring it home. Don’t order extra and don’t be in a place where you can step back up to the counter and get more. At my eating peak we’d get an extra large pizza and spend 3 days eating it. Extra large was the most economical. Now, when we do get pizza, its a small veggie and a big salad.

I personally will wait a couple of days and then eat what I'm craving, working it the best I can into my goal.

For me I've noticed true cravings usually are caused by a nutritional deficit. I naturally am a low fat eater. It's just the kinds of foods that I like. I don't like the taste of full fat cottage cheese for example but love the low fat one.

Anyways, every few weeks I get a fat craving and I have one super high fat day, eating like greasy cheeseburgers or pizza or whatever. And then I'm fine again. I've found if I try to fight through it it just makes me eat more of everything else and I still crave that thing.

So maybe see if the reason you're wanting it could be linked to a nutritional deficit?

I pre-log it if I do not know the calories. I look at the macros and decide how I think the food will satiate me. Will it make my day harder? Sometimes facing a harder day is enough to end a craving for me. It just makes it less worth it.

I eat maintenance most every Sunday. I bank calories all week to do it. I think always knowing that I have a big treat meal coming helps keep my mind from wandering around looking for trouble. So instead of imagining what might be hard for me to have without a plan I focus on what I can have easily.

Nothing is off-limits. As far as I know there is no food I can't stop eating now (that was not always the case). If something is forbidden my inner child drives me crazy wanting it more.

The taste test. I stopped assuming I needed to eat a large quantity or even a full serving of everything to enjoy it. How many bites of potato chips do I actually need? The answer for me is normally about 100 calories worth. When I do want chocolate which is rare I am good with 40-80 calories of it. That doesn't work for everything which is why I tested. I still want a lot of pizza and having a slice currently is not going to satisfy me. I have to plan for it or have it on Sunday. But maybe a slice or two will work for you.

How do you eat the peanut butter?....if you eat it by the spoonful,try freezing it....we fill our dogs treat ball and then seal it with peanut butter and freeze it....takes her a long time to eat it....you could make yourself mini peanut butter balls!

Lol....I like peanut butter but I like it better wrapped in chocolate!