90% to lose, 85% to maintain

So you have started a new "diet", which is a word I really don't like or maybe you have taken on a new healthy approach lifestyle (much better!) Good for you! But, oh no, it's Saturday night and you are meeting some friends for a birthday, you know there will be drinks involved, delicious appetizers, cake, ahhhh! What to do?!?

Don't make yourself crazy over splurges, it's okay if you are trying to lose weight to have a few splurges throughout the week. Just make sure you chose carefully! Maybe you want a drink and a piece of dessert, but skip the appetizer and instead order some broth based soup or a small salad with dressing on the side. You have to make any "diet" or "lifestyle" fit into your lifestyle, it isn't realistic to think you will have control over exactly what you will eat all the time.

More importantly don't beat yourself up if you do have a splurge, it's good to indulge a little, just watch that over-indulging. Also, let's call these "treats" splurges instead of cheats, meaning they are a good and healthy part of a diet not something that shouldn't happen!

The best rule of thumb is to look at your food over the course of a week and think if I want to lose weight I can be 90% compliant and include 10% splurges and still lose weight. For example, if you are having 3 main meals a day with 2 healthy snacks, 35 meals a week, 10% would give you 3-4 splurges a week. Keep in mind that if you did have the drink, the appetizer and the dessert that might be considered 2 splurges for the week!

As for wanting to maintain your weight, you can play around with %15 splurges over the week and 85% adherence to your newly adopted healthy lifestyle, just be honest with yourself and if you need to cut it to less splurges, adjust accordingly.