The balance between eating healthy and enjoying things.

I totally do not limit myself at all. It is not the end of the world if I go over occasionally. We LOVE food in this house, and our vacations are often food-centered. We love to eat good stuff, plain and simple. And all of it. Everything. We are quite diverse.

So we work on being healthy and still enjoying ourselves. Put simply, I'd rather die at 60 and eat the food I enjoy than live to be 100. Also, I just have no desire to live to 100. But I guess I'm weird like that.

I believe I have struck a nice balance. I lost 30 pounds and am maintaining now. I am a foodie at heart, an adventurous eater, and an avid home cook. I generally eat my definition of "clean" which means I don't eat much processed/boxed foods and I stay away from artificial sweeteners, preservatives, additives, food dyes, etc. Being that I love to cook, this isn't an issue on a day to day basis as I make most of my own food. I do love to travel and I love sampling different cuisines. When I am in travel mode, I eat what I want but just not loads of it- the old moderation mantra. If I have a huge warm buttered lobster roll for lunch, my dinner will be lighter and more sensible from a health standpoint. If I know I am going out to a steakhouse for dinner and will be chowing on red meat and creamed spinach, I eat a light lunch. Same thing for any high cal foods (fried food, greasy food, whatever).

It really hasn't been difficult to strike that balance. I generally eat healthy and with regular sized portions most of the time, so the indulgence here and there doesn't do any harm. If I want ice cream, I'll have the ice cream. One proper serving of ice cream isn't a big deal or that many calories in the grand scheme of things (like 250 cals for a 1/2 cup or so). The slippery slope is when people can't eat in moderation and a serving of ice cream equals a pint. That's just being piggish and that is what needs to be controlled. Once you master moderation, the balance is easy to strike.

Being someone who indulged in, let's put it simply, *kitten* food, pretty often;nearly a daily basis. I will say this, I just up and stopped eating like that every day, now once every week or two i'll indulge. I'll destroy all my limits, and i'll still lose weight.
If you're going to be successful you gotta cut that stuff out. Not completely, but just highly divide the times when you do. It gets easier after a couple weeks into changing it. But you gotta start now. I aim for wednesdays to be my free day every one to two weeks. I base it upon how well i've been doing. But it never once has prevented me from losing weight in a week. And here is a good one even on free days NO SODA!

Although I do admire the above poster's dedication, I couldn't live my life like that. I want to make a permanent lifestyle change that will continue after I have lost the weight. It may take me longer to achieve the weight loss this way which can be frustrating, but I never feel deprived of anything. I have the odd cake and the odd glass of wine and still stick to my calorie goals. I am trying at the moment to work on my sweet tooth and eat less sweet stuff and more veggies. I think its an ongoing project and small changes over time will give greater benefits. If you are really bored with your diet you will be more likely give up, and that's not what I intend to do. Also I love food and I can't see that changing just because i'm losing weight

I don't restrict myself. I just control frequency and portions. I plan for my "treats" so I can stay within my calories or as close to it as possible. Sometimes I just accept that I'm going to have a bad food day... it could be a special occasion, a bbq or just because I want a break. I admit that I'm losing slower than many on MFP, but I'm losing AND I'm happy. Allowing myself to have the things I love in moderation will also make it much easier for me to maintain once I reach my UGW.

I have done so many diets in my life. I have gained and lost the same 50 pounds at least 3-4 times. I finally realized that restrictions don't work for me because I can't LIVE that way. I love food way too much to give up my sweets, pasta, bread and alcohol - plus all the other processed stuff I enjoy. It really is all about balance and planning. I've learned to look at my whole week ahead and plan for the indulgences... 90% of the time I'm able to stay under my calories. The other 10% of the time I accept and know that it isn't really hurting my progress. It may be slowing it down a bit, but that's something I can live with. :drinker:

Right now, while losing, I have no balance. I'm low carb and pretty much proving this study correct:


A new study suggests that one path to successful weight loss might be culinary boredom.

Researchers found that when people were offered the same food over and over again, they tended to eat less overall.

source: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20110722/food-boredom-may-lead-to-weight-loss


When I reach goal weight, I might enjoy a couple of teaspoons of bbq sauce on a special occasion, maybe a dessert. When I start really increasing my workouts this Winter, I might increase carbs and enjoy pasta or something, depending on whether I think I need that to fuel my workouts better.

But for right now, I'm being extremely strict with my food, enjoying pretty much none of it, and it's working. I'm bored, I don't feel like eating what is available to me. I'm struggling just to get 1200 calories a day, and for me, that's a nice problem to have. It's a little annoying, true, but not as annoying as being overweight.

I can see the logic in this. I will actually avoid eating altogether to avoid eating my veggies. For me though, if I am really sick of the food I have, really bad cravings hit me really hard and I get extremely miserable.

I have no balance, I either watch what I eat or I'm fat. I wish I could have an occasional slice of pizza and be satisfied. Hope to work out my food "issues" by the time I'm to goal so I can stay there and enjoy myself.

It's funny, the low carber that replied was totally right. I'm a low carb veg and I'm sick of it, and now my weight loss has sped up a bit. Go figure. LOL

I think you should enjoy yourself on occasion and not worry about it, have a hot dog in Chicago for me!

I will always enjoy pizza, beer, bagels, ice cream, fries ... but the pizza, beer, bagels, ice cream, and fries don't define or control me, I control them.

In general, I will make a commitment to eating "more clean", "more organic", "more fiber", "more [fill in the healthy blank]", but giving up on something completely is not for me. Just like I hear live to eat, not eat to live (which I agree with), I say I exercise to live, not live to exercise ... it's all balance for me.

HOWEVER ... when I was starting out, control was an issue ... if I was so smart at balancing I would not have been so heavy ... so to kick start I went through about 6 months of serious logging, a lot of cutting out, etc. I needed to get my control back. So while I had a longer term goal in mind (that I continue to get closer to) I did have a "kick start" period where I was MUCH more strict ... but I loosened up the more I felt I had control ... and then when I start feeling like food is controlling me again, I ramp it up again ...

So perhaps the balancing is hard for some because they try to "balance" too early ... I had control issues with food, I didn't know how to balance, so with some serious changes (and being strict, for a while) I managed to get that control back ...

Not sure if this helps or not ...

For me, I don't mind being "bored" with my food Mon-Fri and getting variety in on the weekends. I actually feel empowered and less stressed eating the same thing during the week. However, I also pick things I genuinely like - for example, my locked-in lunch for months now has been a salad with salmon, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, fresh blueberries, 1/2 an avocado, and balsamic vinegar for dressing. YUM - I look forward to it every day! Dinners during the week are usually fresh steamed veggies, 5-6oz of chicken, and 2-3 eggs over easy coating everything in their yolky-goodness.
Then, on the weekend, I just aim for sensible portions of whatever my husband and I feel like eating. I also don't try to avoid trying new foods when on a business trip, at a party, etc. I've even thrown about 4 parties so far that REVOLVE around picking a certain country/region and everyone brings a dish to share! So, for me, that kind of balance works - keep it simple when it's just me eating, but enjoy the comraderie of exploring new cuisine with friends and family. Since it works out that 5/7 of my days are pretty much guaranteed healthy, and the other 2 are exploratory but sensible, I still manage to maintain or even lose weight.
We have a lot of beautiful food on this planet - and I really like eating it =D

I, personally, have not deprived myself of anything along the way. That being said, I do find that I tend to make healthier choices the majority of the time. Just because something is healthy, doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it. I have made a lifestyle change. This isn't a temporary fix for me so I need to be happy with what I am doing to be able to keep with it for the rest of my life. I also have found a love of exercise. I like being active. I feel and look so much better inside and out.

It is a balancing act!!! What works best for me is - Monday through Saturday I'm 'hard-core'....I make healthy choices and stay within my calorie goal and I workout like a beast :bigsmile: Sunday is a 'spike' day...or fun food day, although I'm thinking of changing that name to Bacon Day lol. Anything goes as long as I don't 'binge' and stop eating when I'm full. When I'm on vacation I eat whatever I want!!! I don't get too many of them and I plan on enjoying myself and NOT counting calories! Fortunately my boyfriend and I are really active so even on vacation were hiking, biking, watersports, walking ect, I like to think it evens out the food consumption. And as always.... I make sure I don't overeat or binge.

Since I started this new lifestyle of healthy, trying to be "clean" eating I really haven't struggled. I have tried many of times to follow programs and have been successful with them- losing 30lbs on Weight Watchers (but then again I was 21 years old, in university, no children and able to spend 2 hours everyday at the gym) 10 years later I am 31 years old, 2 beautiful children (2.5 and 5 months) and am back to the weight I was many years ago when I started weight watchers.

Something really clicked for me this time and maybe it is the fact that while I do care for the number the scale reaches, I don't focus all my energy on that. I really just want my children to see me eat healthy, exercise and be the best I can be. I try to make healthier versions of foods that I love and I have to measure out everything to practice portion control. I've stopped buying "junk" food and have been limiting my processed foods. I switched everything to whole grain and always make sure there are a ton of veggies with my meals- half of my plate is always a vegetable, while the other half is 1/4 lean meat and 1/4 whole grain product (whether it'd be a whole grain rice, pasta or maybe a potato or sweet potato).

My main issue is that I can not have sweets in the house or even bake them because I have a really hard time with self control. I bake cupcakes, there is no way in the world I can only eat just one...it has to be 3 or 4, so I just don't bake them. I made a banana loaf (the only this I have baked since I started this journey 3 weeks ago) and I ended up making a Eat, Shrink and be merry BRANana loaf, with whole wheat flour, flaxseed and wheat germ, I also put more than half the loaf in the freezer.

Really what I am trying to say is don't limit yourself to foods you hate, try and make better versions of the foods you love. To me there is no point in eating foods you hate. Also, have portion control and exercise, even if it is just walking. You can always make the foods you love healthier by opting for whole grains instead of enriched flour, more vegetables instead of startches etc.

I think it depends on whether you are dieting or making a Lifestyle change. Either, initially one may have tight restrictions on intake to lose weight and get some understanding where they want to draw the line. After a while people who are making a Lifestyle change will make adjustments, either saying they will use moderation in choosing indulgences (usually a set amt per wk or month) or that they will not have certain things because they can not live with it, it will always be to much of a challenge. A Dieter, however, will eventually go back to eating the way that brought him/her to that point because all they have done is restrict and limit via sheer will power and made no attempt at behavior modification. Dieters will be doing the same thing over and over and over again...So if you are making a Lifestyle change, it will take time for YOU to retrain yourself (about everything relative to food and beverages and activity), to find what will work for YOU. Be PATIENT with yourself and Forgiving when you go off track now and then, just hop back on quickly. Like a child who is learning to walk, every fall informs them of their boundaries and next time they learn to balance themselves better until one day "they get it!".


ETA: If you ever go to PHILLY, FORGET the TV Hype. The BEST Cheese Steak is Jim's on South and 4th Street! Hands Down!

I've done very limited diets and while the weight comes off, it always comes back on. Also, I'm really mean while doing these diets, well, meaner than usual. For me balance is about accepting that I won't be the super slim L I once was by clicking my fingers, calorie counting down to the last gram and taking on a huge amount of exercise. This works, btw. Unless someone is suffering a metabolic disorder there's no reason why it shouldn't work. Personally I'd rather take my time, learn to appreciate my food, make a few mistakes, start to enjoy exercise and develop a healthy mental attitude toward the scale.

I think that I'd rather sacrifice a few months of what a lot of people would term good health in order to work my way out of bad habits. Obviously, as you say, life is short, but it's short whether you sort yourself out slowly or go gangbusters and end up right back where you started a year down the track. I do think that where I'm at now is fairly balanced; I eat out often, enjoy dark chocolate regularly, won't cook anything that requires a nonstick pan (to me that says diet) and don't find myself wanting to binge. I'm not going to inconvenience other people while at the opera or theatre by insisting that we can't eat dinner beforehand or have a lovely supper afterward. My favourite theatre is near a brilliant French restaurant that does some of the nicest steaks in Sydney. Damned if I'm going to miss out on that.

That said, I realise my diary probably falls into the 'clean' category. I make pretty much everything from scratch and eat loads of fruit and veg, seeds, nuts, lean meat, tofu, lentils, etc, etc. So if I'm eating good, wholesome, reasonably portioned food most of the week, what are a few great dinners and the odd pistachio macaroon?

I have lost and gained back 50 pounds so many times I cant count. So obviously... I like food. That said, I am at a point right now that I am eating to live, and not living to eat. I want to change how I look at food. I dont want eating healthy to be a chore or consume all my energy in shopping/preparing food etc. Because of that , I eat way too many prepared foods.. because they are convenient. Im trying to make sure I get dairy, fruit, and veggies in every day. But it is way too easy to grab a Smart One rather than putting chicken on the grill in this heat we are having.

For me to balance everything in my life and not get stressed out about getting healthier, I have set very few boundaries on myself. I eat 1300 calories daily...and include dairy, fruit and veggies. I do the treadmill for 30 minutes at least four times a week. Once my calories are gone...they are gone. I never eat back my exercises calories.........and that is something that may get me in trouble down the road...I may have to eat a little more.

I am a full time grad student, and I work 25-30 hours a week. I know that I could make better choices, but right now...I am doing OK and staying motivated to make little changes at a time.