fit it in your daily calories!?

i actually do tend to eat a very high protein low calorie breakfast and lunch so i do have leeway around dinner time to eat out or have something sweet. i do however try to eat less of that rich food, and get it healthier if i can.
for example i knew my hubby wanted to go to the indian buffet for lunch so my breakfast was a high protein smoothie and at the buffet i restricted myself to vegetable dishes, and two pieces only of the chicken tikka masala without grabbing extra sauce of it, i also ate no rice. and dinner was beefstew and white rice for the family, and i had only some of the beef chunks with a cup of broccoli and cup of carrots, again no rice.....
around 8 pm i had enough calories left to eat a handful of salt n vinegar chips for snack!

if you end up overeating your calories/macros one day just cut back the next. long term energy balance is the key so throughout the week try to reach the same weekly defeciet of calories ( or surplus depending on your goal ) and you'll still be able to go out and enjoy that dinner with friends or family and still be seeing progress.

I think portion size plays a big part too, for example in the UK someone might previously have had a Burger King any gone for a bacon double cheeseburger XL with fries and a coke. Now that is something like 1500 calories so not that's not going to fit into most peoples calories, but if they are craving a Burger King they could have a cheeseburger kids meal with diet coke for just 520 calories.

I think if you crave junk food then have it, but just have a smaller portion and don't have it too often!

I do...if I know I'm going out that night I will exercise more or have less during the day so that I can enjoy my night out. Even with the night out doesn't mean I have to eat ALL of the food on my plate. Just half would give you that what you crave.

Instead of looking at daily intake I look at it weekly. So yes, I can restrict calories a little here and there throughout the week without feeling hungry/deprived to have room for splurges.

Your cheeseburger & fries example... no one said you had to eat the whole cheeseburger. If I go out and eat and that is what I choose, I'll cut it in half, take the rest home for lunch the following day. I do avoid the fries though. They just aren't worth it to me. I order brown rice or steamed vegetables as a side instead.

My mother in law comes over once a week and she likes to eat out. So every week I have to do this.

Well, I look at my calories for the week, not one day. Even still, if I go over my calories one day (yesterday for example), I am still under maintenance. I was over by 200+ yesterday, but my deficit was still 600. So, I won't magically turn into a pumpkin today because I was over yesterday, and I enjoyed the potato chips, sorbet, and macaroni and cheese. I even had a loss today. Now I am eating my eggs and oatmeal like normal today.

I don't actually eat that much for a usual breakfast or lunch anyway - some cereal and a cup of tea, then a sandwich and an apple. Which usually leaves me around 900 calories for dinner, so there's not much I can't fit into there. And if I want more than that, I'll do some exercise to earn it.

If I couldn't earn extra calories by exercise and cut down on what I eat for other meals to make up for it, I would never be able to stick to losing weight because I crave "naughty" foods just too often for that.

Reward ur self, go over....one day wont hurt u....many times I have done this and the scale reflected a loss the next day...

If you're careful you can fit a cheeseburger and fries into your daily macros. If not, who cares? Like everyone else says, one day ain't a killer. Does depend what your calorie and macronutrient goals are though. If they're really low, you're screwed as soon as you take a friggin' bite. :laugh:

It depends on your daily calorie goal. I'm usually around 2000 a day after exercise, and I pretty much always budget about 1000 calories for dinner and an evening snack. So a cheeseburger and fries or half a pizza or pretty much anything else is going to fit.

:drinker:

i see this statement alot. people saying you can eat what you want as long as it fits into your daily calories. moderation is key, ect, ect. HOWEVER i dont get it. i understand you can fit, say some ice cream or a candy bar into your daily calories. but say you want a cheeseburger and fries. that is NOT going to fit into your daily calories unless you are super restrictive the rest of the day or exercises like mad so you have alot of extra calories to eat. and to me this doesnt seem normal or healthy. most people dont say, well im going to dinner tonight so i better only eat 2 eggs and a salad for breakfeast and lunch. or do they? i know this needs to be a lifestyle change so how do you incorporate the things you love into your diet?

If you exercise you most definitely can fit it into your daily calories. Say you wanna go out for a burger and fries ~1K calories.
So you need to exercise to fit those in. For example walk for 1.5 hour fast pace 400 cal, circuit train/interval train/treadmill for 1 hour 600 cal. You obviously don't want to eat like this every day but with exercise is totally doable.

EDIT I'm sure you are already aware what I posted in my comment above and looking at your diary you already exercise a lot Keep it up.

Okay--so for me I have come to terms with the fact that I won't be perfect every single day but I also know that I don't NEED to be. Honestly, I have *kitten* food every day in some capacity but I do log it and I do try to make the portions of the less than ideal food smaller than most "normal" people would. Now if it's something I just LOVE to no end then I say f$&k it and eat as much as my heart desires. This MIGHT happen 1x every 10-14 days but I don't fight it. I just eat and move on.

I think the scale is a form of self sabotage for most people--you see a good number and think "okay...I've earned X" ...then you eat it and feel bad. Or you see a bad number and think "well what's the use? I've done everything right and I've gotten no results."

I think MOST (not all) people would benefit from a reduced reliance on the scale as validation for their efforts. The human body is too complex to use the scale weight as a definitive measure of the efficiency of your plan. So maybe weighing 1-2x a month on a day when you FEEL GOOD and tell yourself well " I feel good so whatever I weigh is a perfectly acceptable weight for me" make note of it and move on. Use it as a tool/guide but if you KNOW you're doing EVERYTGIBG right and you're getting so obsessed about the number then walk away from the scale.

If you were being an INCREDIBLthoughtful friend and really bending over backwards to make sure you were being the best friend EVER and they constantly bagged you for the dumbest things you would probably not ve their friend for very long. You'd walk away from their negativity. It if your best friend had someone treating them with a lack of respect you'd advise them to step away from the relationship--the same us true of a relationship with the scale that is damaging to you.

most people dont say, well im going to dinner tonight so i better only eat 2 eggs and a salad for breakfeast and lunch. or do they? i know this needs to be a lifestyle change so how do you incorporate the things you love into your diet?

My fit and healthy family members do this, actually. They'll eat light the whole week around Thanksgiving, or the grandparents' anniversary or whatever, just out of habit.

Portion control, it's not that hard. For example, I had some Snickers Ice cream from BR yesterday. I had a "kids" scoop. If I want a burger, I make it smaller, or cut the one I order in half.