Can I cheat once a week on my diet?

Yes. In fact, having a regularly scheduled cheat day each week can actually be good for weight loss by preventing binges, reducing cravings, providing a mental break from dieting, and boosting metabolism—if it’s done in a healthy way.

Can I eat dessert everyday and still lose weight?

Langer said you can eat dessert every day without it affecting your weight or health, but you have to be really careful about what you’re eating and how much of it. Having a couple of squares of dark chocolate a day won’t hurt you, but eating an entire bar might.

Can I have dessert everyday and still lose weight?

If you feel you need something sweet every day, this is totally doable — again, it just comes down to portion size. A square of dark chocolate, a mini ice cream sandwich or a small cookie are all prime examples of a daily dessert that most likely will not sabotage your weight-loss efforts.

How many calories should dessert be?

Choose treats or desserts that have 100 to 200 calories and contain some nutritional benefits. “Read the nutrition label to choose treats that provide some nutrients, especially ones that tend to be missing in our diets like fiber, calcium, and whole grains” says Bedwell.

How much dessert should you eat to lose weight?

While everyone’s needs are different, aiming for a dessert that’s capped at 100 calories or less is a good place to start. Pre-portioned sweets like one cookie or a square of chocolate are also helpful in keeping your intake in check. Ready to Lose Weight?

How often should you actually eat dessert?

“It’s not realistic to tell people to never eat dessert; that’s not something I expect of my clients, or myself!” says Metltzer Warren. So instead of swearing off ice cream, Girl Scout cookies, and doughnuts, she suggests digging into a treat once or twice a week.

Is it possible to eat too much dessert and gain weight?

No, and scientific evidence supports the eat-dessert approach. More on that in a minute. Diets like Paleo propose the magic-bullet theory. This rationalizes a right to eat as much as you want of certain foods because they’re “healthy.” While the foods might be good for your body, if you eat too much of anything, you will gain weight.

Does eating dessert with breakfast help you lose weight?

A research study from Israel found that eating dessert with breakfast might help you lose more weight—and keep the pounds off. One of the most interesting aspects of this study is that it lasted an entire eight months. Through the first four months, both groups (those eating dessert and those not eating dessert) lost a similar amount of weight.