Those of you who work at maintaining a healthy weight... what’s your dessert policy?

[Anonymous]

High calorie desserts are reserved for weekends at night, on regular days, if I really need some dessert, I would opt for a little piece of dark chocolate followed with tea. I can't have sugary dessert everyday, I realize that now, when I do that, it's like getting the wheels in motion and then I 'm on an endless loop of wanting sugary food more and more. Reserving it on weekends at night time keeps me from having too many sugary food in one day. That being said, I do have cheat days from time to time, but this is how I usually manage my sweet tooth on regular days.

[Anonymous]

I try to keep my treats each day to about 10% of my total calorie allotment. The rest of the day I eat nutritionally dense foods. I view wine as a treat as well.

[Anonymous]

I'm 50. I rarely eat dessert and if I do, only a bite. I don't really crave desserts like I did when I was younger. My vice is drinking. I have to cut back on wine which has become my dessert.

[Anonymous]

My desert policy is that I don't eat desserts for a long periods of time. And then I break down and eat a whole box of dates(half of the Costco pack) and the next day a whole bag of sour patch kids! This happens about twice a month and more often after I turned 40. I am now almost 50. When I was younger I barely ate desserts and when I did, I was able to do so in moderation. Probably because I didn't have a sweet tooth. Now, I do. Go figure. Just when I am older and put on the pounds easier, sweet tooth kicks in!

[Anonymous]

I rarely eat dessert. I might split a dessert with DH at a restaurant, but if I do then I make sure to get a lighter meal.

We don't keep desserts in our house, usually. Recently we've been making cookies, but I'll have at most one per day.

[Anonymous]

I eat small pieces of good quality dark chocolate. I usually have some around 2 pm and then some after dinner.

[Anonymous]

6 days a week, I eat no breakfast, a small lunch, a large dinner and a small dessert (under 300 calories usually). I eat a big pastry approximately once a week, instead of my lunch.

[Anonymous]

DP here, does anyone eat dates or other dry fruit as a desert? Or do you file them as a snack?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't find the willpower to eat small portions of sweets, so I eat none except on special occasions. Then it's ugly for a day, then I'm back to abstaining. I am 53 and have come to accept this is how I am.

I am more or less the same. I'm 46. I've never been able to eat a lot of sweets without consequence, unless I'm on vacation and walking an extra 5000-10000 steps/day. (I already walk 10,000-15,000 steps per day - if I walk a lot more than that, I can eat sweets.) Now I will occasionally have something sweet - but to me, I either want a LOT of sweets or none. I'm not one of these "one square of good chocolate every night after dinner" people - I want 20 large squares of whatever chocolate you have around the house, or nothing.

When I was younger, I could more or less eat whatever I wanted - as long as I didn't have sweets or alcohol - and stay at 115. Now I can eat more or less whatever I want, so long as I skip sweets and alcohol, and stay at 125. I'd love to be thinner again but prbly not at the cost of being able to eat what I like, outside of booze and sweets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP here, does anyone eat dates or other dry fruit as a desert? Or do you file them as a snack?

I file them as a snack. Though not a snack I can eat a ton of - like, grapes, I'll eat as much as I want of. Dates, I'll have less. But no, it's not dessert - to hell with that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP here, does anyone eat dates or other dry fruit as a desert? Or do you file them as a snack?

Don't get me wrong, I like dried fruit a lot. But if I want something sweet I don't want to waste those extra calories on dried

fruit, which is calorie dense. Give me chocolate

[Anonymous]

I eliminated desserts a long time ago. The longer you go without that processed white sugar junk the less you will crave it. I do occasional enjoy red wine and dark chocolate.

[Anonymous]

44yo, 5'5, 120 lbs, trying to get back to 115. If I am not in cleanse mode 40-50 percent of my calories are sugar. I don't have anything except coffee before 4pm, then have a regular veg dinner followed by 3-4 pieces of fruit, dried apricots/raisins/dates and popcorn with sugar and honey and peanut butter on rice cakes. In a cleanse I will eat only veggies and 3 pieces of fruit and nuts. The weight melts away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP here, does anyone eat dates or other dry fruit as a desert? Or do you file them as a snack?

I posted I eat them as a dessert. They are cakes that have less sugar than dates! Not a snack for me either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP here, does anyone eat dates or other dry fruit as a desert? Or do you file them as a snack?

Don't get me wrong, I like dried fruit a lot. But if I want something sweet I don't want to waste those extra calories on dried

fruit, which is calorie dense. Give me chocolate

I prefer dates, but I understand your point too!