Dessert

So my mom just made this absolutely amazing lemon bar cake thingie that I really like. The thing is, I now want to eat too much of it, and I've eaten waaay too much of it already, to the point of, "What on earth am I doing?"

Any suggestions on how to avoid a very good dessert, and how not to eat some tomorrow, as about half is left?

My trick with food I have I can't eat is 'sharing'. Friends, family etc. Everyone thinks I'm so generous too! Haha.

Other than that, cut it up into tiny portions and box seperately. Maybe have a little each day as a treat. Give your mum plenty. Grab her recipie and analyse it here to see how decadent it is. Or see if later you can make a low-fat substitute!

Anytime you go to grab a piece, think about how much you ate of it already. Grab some water, or a piece of fruit if you're hungry.

Its about self-control. Sometimes you have to take larger steps to help you, like giving it away or packing it away, but you'll learn.

I try really hard to avoid the chocolate cakes on offer for me. Its ok when I have to buy them, but when they're there....

I totally agree, its all about self control.

Small portions that fit into your daily calorie intake is totally fine.  You may have to cut out something else to make room for the calories, but we all deserve to be treated today.

I brought a cupcake to work as part of my lunch this morning.  100 calories.  I had to bump something else out though.

And as long as it doesn't become an every day thing, were you are always eating desserts, then its no biggy. 

phoenix121, if you deliberately deprive yourself food you like, then you'll come to the point when you can't stop yourself.  How much cals were in "What on earth am I doing"?  Were you able to eat any other food after you had cake?  How was your protein/fat/carb balance?  The other day I went to Applebee's and had sizzling apple pie that, of course, was not on the Weight Watchers menu.  When I got home, CC told me that it had over one thousand cals!!! All I did is go to the gym, and threw in some extra cardio.  There is no need to panic if you happen to indulge yourself once in a while.  If you are a sugar junky like I'm, then try to follow bigtwinky's advice: have a reasonable ammount of food that you love every day, but make sure to factor it in properly within your cal totals.  Also, look into finding "good" sugars in fruits and berries.  There are plenty of helpful ideas on this site. 

You are welcome to visit my journal to see how I manage to eat what I love and still lose weight.  Also, you could post your menu and I'd be more than happy to course-correct you if necessary.  Best of luck.

wow, bigtwinky, where do you find 100 calorie cupcakes?? Send me some!

They are 103 actually.  My wife made them.

They are small, without frosting lol.   About 26g per

But they still give me my chocolate fix when I need.

Sharing is nice, sure -- great idea! What I do is, I DON'T TOUCH it (I LOVE challenging my willpower, which is pretty darn good if I say so myself!), and I tell myself, "let THEM eat it all and get FAT and I won't!" You could also announce "I'm not having any; I'm trying to watch it, thanks" that way people are kinda watching to see if you have any and you don't want to be a hippocrite, now do you? haha

Personally, if it's something I think I'll lose control on I just WON'T even look at it; other times just ONE bite does it for me. :)

Oh! That's another thing -- the one above said "grab a piece of fruit or something" -- well, if you do that, it's most likely going to give you an aversion to the desert. Try that! I know that if I have a drink of cranberry juice or eat a few grapes, I have NO desire to eat any of those lemon bars!

Another idea: This works for me!!! I find out how many fat and calories are in that desert. That'll turn me off every time. In fact, whenever I decide I AM going to eat something "bad" I won't even look at the cal count because I know if I do I won't eat it. You could try that!

If I'm trying not to eat too much dessert, I'll usually try to encourage others in the house to eat it instead of me.  Sometimes just telling myself someone else will eat it and I won't have to deal with it anymore is enough to keep me away from the sweets for a while.  Of course, if it's still sitting there two or three days later and no-one else has eaten it, that's when it gets hard not to go for it :-P .

I am discovering that I really like fruit, and jello and yogurt for desserts. One of my favorite desserts is a delicious apple and 1 tbsp of peanut butter to dip the slices in.

If anyone is interested I've concocted some 100 calorie snack bars recipes that use ground up oatmeal or oat bran instead of flour.

• Banana Oat Bread
• Cocoa Brownies
• Oat n Apple Griddle Cake
• Pumpkin - Carrot Cake

I think if you allow yourself to indulge now and then it's just fine. Learning when to stop is the hard thing and part of the trouble is the desserts are high in processed carbs which make you crave more. Have some protein to stop the cravings.

Yeah, fat-free sugar free pudding and Jello with fat-free whipped topping are great for satisfying a sweet tooth.

Those recipes look GOOD Nina! I'm going to make note and try them sometime. Thanks!

i'm also a big fan of the dove's dark chocolate pieces. i never used to like dark chocolate, but it gives me the perfect fix when i'm craving desserts and i'm satisfied after just one! (42 calories)

Those recipes look fantastic.  Thanks so much!

Yep, sharing is good.  Another variation of sharing is, if you have friends over for dinner and dessert (works good for the upcoming holidays too) - send the extras home with them!  That way the food won't go to waste or waist!!

I'm not big on chocolate (my weakness is salty, starchy stuff like potato chips and Doritos), however when I am having a chocolate craving, I'll have one of the chocolate Yoplait Whips (the have straight chocolate plus a couple with different flavors, like raspberry or cherry).  They are really good, satisfies my 'want' for chocolate, and they are only about 160 cals for the entire thing, and low in fat - texture of a chocolate mousse, so for those wanting a decent chocolate substitute, here's one!!

I'll have to check out those recipes, ninav.  I'm always looking for new recipes to try that are weight loss-friendly!!

ninav, I love these recipes!  Would you mind if I shared them with the weight loss group I run on yahoogroups?  It's fairly small - about 130 list members with only about 15 or so actively (regularly) posting.

I just finished up a dessert that I came up with on the fly...

Take 1/2 cup of frozen dark cherries, nuke them for about 30 seconds.  Top with about 2-3 tablespoons of "GoLean Crunch" cereal by Kashi, and on top of all that deliciousness, add 2 tablespoons of Cool Whip Free. 

Approx 210 calories.

Usually when I'm craving something sweet, I take suggestions from Hungry-girl.com, or I use fresh and frozen fruit as a basis for a new dessert to try.  Creative energy in coming up with something new and healthy usually far outweighs the need for something not-very-good for me.

Good luck!!

I have found that if i crave something such as ice cream which is a huge thing for me .....if i can find a friend to indulge with me i will go and most of the time i can not so i don't go or like you when i bake i share the wealth at work and get it out of the house.  The kids do not alway like this but they don't need it anymore then i do.....i also have found that i allow myself a 100 calories for sweets.......like tonight i was under my 1400 calories but was dying for something sweet.......22 m&m's one of those small packs and it took care of my sweet tooth and kept me under my 1400 calories which i was rated at A for nutrition......not a bad night considering i ate a school lunch this afternoon......suggestions for breakfast besides yogurt and oatmeal all of which is between 110 and 150 calories ....i get tired of these on the weekend i eat a poached egg and that works pretty well but still i need more variety.......

cut the dessert up into ervngs, then put them into bags. Share.. if it's  the lemon you like, have sugar free lemon jello and use diet sprite instead of the cup of cold water...

my trick is to find somethng low cal/healthy tha still gives me the flavor I'm craving. I loooooove this lemon merangue (wow I butchered that) pie that the bakery sells, so I have some lemon jello w/ cool whip free. I love pumpkin pie, so I made a low-cal pumpkin pdding for thanks giving. I'm just carrying on haha.

good luck:]