I am on a fat loss diet set up by steven wade that includes the twice weekly carb up, i like most people have quite an affliction for peanut butter and about once a week it seems as if i find myself standing with the jar in hand and end up eatin probably 4 tablespoons. i am currently at 10%bf and 181lbs. eating about 1900 cals. on a normal day with my only carb sources being 1/2 grapfruit in am and 4 strawberries mid morning and greenbeans with meals 3 and 5. my question is how much damage am i doing to my diet by eating this peanut butter and how much do you think it will slow progress otherwise seen by the twice weekly carb load. i have tried to tell my family to not keep peanut butter in the house but they done seem to listen and comments or suggestions on how to overcome this addiction would be greatly appreciated.

jake

Well, 4 Tbsp is just under 400 calories, so that's about 1/9 pound of fat every time you make the splurge. If limited to once a week, that will theoretically slow your progress by about 1 pound every 9 weeks. In the grand scheme of things, that's not detrimental if you're not planning on competing, but it certainly doesn't help. My recommendations:

1. WILLPOWER...Don't make your family give up Peanut Butter if they like it. Evaluate your goal of losing the fat, and if you really have strong desire to do so, there are some sacrifices that must be made.

2. If you just can't seem to overcome your cravings, try substituting Peanut Butter for cream in your shakes every now and then. 1 Tbsp PB per 2 Tbsp cream. This will help control the craving.

3. If none of the other options appeal to you, just try to limit the frequency of your splurges as much as possible. When you do splurge, scoop out about 1 Tbsp (NOT a heaping tablespoon...1 Tbsp), put the cap back on the peanut butter and put it away. Then eat the peanut butter that you scooped out. This may help prevent you from taking a second and third scoop.

Ok, I've got to try this again because the PB monster became Post Reply interceptor and it didn't post!!!

Jake, I'm holding you responsible for the disappearance of my PB!!! LOL

I'm going to say if you're on a contest diet, NOOOOO!!! If I were to say, "It shouldn't hurt, in fact, it may help.", you're going to go hog wild.

Once I get to my desired BF, I can go up to (YES GUYS, I'M SAYING IT AGAIN), 5 - 16 oz jars per week without it affecting my BF. My cardio has to be daily, too. Right now, it is a big ZERO!!!

Frank

Jake...I think it varies from person to person. Some things effect people differently. Although we would like to, we can't all be like Frank. If you look at the jar, 1 tbsp is around 100 cals. A few months back I did 1 tbsp every morning in my oatmeal, my progress (fat loss) stalled. For the following 2 weeks replaced the PB with flax, progress was back on track. I too enjoy the PB, so I did that to see if I could keep it in the diet. I can't, even in the off season. For now, I have it once in a while, for pre-contest I eliminate it completely. I keep it in the house since my wife enjoys it...

You need to firm up your goals. PB once in a while won't hurt. But everytime you splurge, you negatively impact your overall progress.

Good luck!

Dwayne