Is it ok that I just ate cake?

So. I just had a lot of cake...I love cake. My roomates made Pumpkin cake from scratch and it was amazing. It was about like every other kind cake as far as ingredients go, so I am going to go ahead and say each piece I had was roughly 300 calories. I had two pieces. So. 600 calories. Now ... this sounds really bad since I am watching what I eating and exercising everything. BUT here is the thing...Before the cake I was only at 1000 calories for the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, a couple snacks), and they were very healthy calories of whole wheat bread, skim milk, vegetables, and fruit. I also did 45 minutes of cardio tonight. In a day I usually aim for between 1300 and 1600 calories (that is my recommended amount for losing weight). SO my question is...is it ok that I ate this cake? Since it has so much oil, refined white flour and sugar, could I sitll  gain weight from it even though I it didn't bring my calorie count above my daily goal? I should probably figure this out so that I don't continue making this error if it is indeed harmful to my diet! Thanks.

Always remember its the amount you eat, not what you eat. It doesn't particularly matter where the calories come from, all that matters is the amount. You also burnt a lot of calories, so I wouldn't worry about it. As long as you burn more calories than you put in, it won't affect your weight loss. So to answer your question, yes it is completely fine that you ate the cake. Just maybe don't do it all the time!

When I have a desire for cake, which doesn't happen often, I'll pick up an angel food cake from my grocery store's bakery.  Only 800 calories in the WHOLE cake.  One good size slice is only 100 calories.  Angel food cake has the fewest calories of any cake, I think.

i'd first like to point out that a 1500 calorie minimum for teens is what we condone here at CC and anything less is essentially a form of "starvation" since it's likely that you're not getting all of your nutrients. Aside from that, yes it's absolutely okay that you had cake. 600 calories could have been better used elsewhere but you don't eat cake everyday so don't worry about it.

Original Post by skelsey123:

Since it has so much oil, refined white flour and sugar, could I sitll  gain weight from it even though I it didn't bring my calorie count above my daily goal?

Nope, it can't make you gain weight if you're within your calorie goal.  The problem with eating lots of cake & similar foods on a daily basis is that either you don't get the nutrients you need, or you get the nutrients you need + you eat the cake and thus go over your calories for the day.

But, it's totally fine to have treats in moderation every day, and replace the nutritious foods with treats occasionally! It won't hurt you at all. And even going over your calories for the day won't make you gain weight - sure, it might show up on the scale the next morning (due to water weight), but that'll even out after a couple days - you can't gain "real" weight by overeating for one day (unless you overeat by 3500+ calories).

Don't post the same threads twice....

I think you've got a rather skewed idea of how much energy you need to maintain your weight and how much energy (calories) you need to lose weight.   Because you don't know the score, you're anxious about eating some cake and anxious about gaining weight.  You've been anxious before that eating bread will make you fat.... not true, of course.  If you understood things better you'd be less anxious

Use this calculator to see what your total energy needs are http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html  reading off the 'Daily Energy Requirement' that matches your typical amount of activity (total activity as opposed to formal exercise).  

To lose weight you need 500 cals less than this number on a steady basis.  To gain you need 500 cals more than this number on a steady basis.   Where you get the calories from does not have much of an influence.

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