So, I currently have two goals while I'm here on TDP - one is to maintain a reasonable and healthy weight gain during this pregnancy (UNLIKE the 45 lbs I gained with my first), and the other is to just generally eat better food.

I'm doing great on the first goal...I've gained about 12 pounds so far (week 23) and am on track to gain maybe a little over 20 lbs for the pregnancy. So woo hoo!

But I'm having a hard time trying to decide what to do about the junk in my diet. Let me be clear: my goal is NOT to eliminate it completely. I'm an "everything in moderation" sort of gal, and in my world that means Doritos and deep dish pizza are still ok. When I've had the most success with weight loss was when I followed what I learned is called the Hacker's Diet...just eat whatever you want but stay in your calories.

That being said, I'm still having a hard time keeping my junk "in moderation." I'll be good for a few days (good for me = allowing only one junk item per day) but then I find myself sliding.....hmmmm.

Just needed to whine and see if anyone has any suggestions. Also am interested in hearing what other people's opinions of "in moderation" means!

Edit: After reading my own post and thinking for .2 seconds, I'm wondering if maybe I'm focusing on the wrong thing...maybe I should make goals for what I WANT to eat (i.e. x number of fruits/veggies a day) and see I can just crowd out the junk calories. Thoughts?

My version of moderation is the 80/20 rule or my own personal 80-90% rule: As long as I'm making healthful choices 80-90% of the time, the other 10-20% is for fun and splurges. So I leave about 10-20% of my daily menu open for discretionary (not-so-necessary) calories and then I take about 10% of the month off from counting completely. When I'm counting calories, I'll limit myself to 1 serving of frozen yogurt or cookies a day, but on my "free days" I indulge in whatever I want without holding back. Of course, that means getting back on track the next day, etc.

I'm sure everyone has their own version of "moderation", but that's mine and it works well for me.

a beer a day keeps the doctor away


thats what they tell me





dont listen to me Jenn has the right idea.

lol!

A) Beer = gross
B) Beer = generally frowned upon for the pregnant ladies.

I actually was doing some poking around looking for positive goals to keep (as I mention in the edit to my OP) and at the government's My Pyramid site (which is nice because they have special sections for pregnancy and breastfeeding) they have recommendations on all that stuff, and even on how much you should eat in "extras." Right now they say no more than 360 calories a day in "extras" which seems pretty reasonable to me. And pretty close to in line with j3nn's 80/20 rule.

Here's an article with some tips for not eating too many of those "treats":

http://ezinearticles.com/?Weight-Loss-T ... id=1031836