Every meal?

[Bean]

I know that it is very important to eat right when you're trying to lose weight, and I know that you need to pay attention to exercise.

What I'd like to know is that do you have to make every single meal perfectly diet friendly or can you get away with the occasional nonsense?

For example, if I usually eat just fine, then I head to an amusement park and have a hot dog, fries, and split a funnel cake with someone, did i essentially ruin my diet, even if I go back to normal proper eating afterward?

If I can eat junk now and again, how often is that allowed without destroying my efforts?

[PamelaPoison]

As long as you don't treat yourself more than once a week, you should be able to get away with a "fun" meal full of garbage and absent in nutrition without doing too much harm. If you have your amusement park food, that might be best left to once or twice per year haha Enjoy!

[Whirlybird]

If you're trying to lose weight, then these types of meals should be very very rare. If you're just maintaining, you can have them on occasion, but still not too much.

[Firefly77]

As long as you stick to your usual eating routine for 90% of the time, enjoying a treat isn't going to kill your progress. It's the difference between having a treat every once in a while and making eating treat foods as a lifestyle.

[KraftMan]

I agree. I also think that while it might not be good for your calories, a rare treat now and again will help you to stay on track. Nobody wants to go a lifetime without enjoying sweet, salty, and fatty foods!

[Charlotte]

Bean, you really do need to have junk every now and again. If you constantly deny yourself eating any fun food that you actually want, all of the time, eventually you're going to cave and likely eat it without less control. Have your treats on occasion and enjoy them. Not every meal has to be perfect. We're not perfect by nature, so there's no way your diet will be either.