Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to give up your favorite treats if you want to lose weight. In fact, many nutritionists and dieticians actually recommend that you indulge every now and then to ensure you stay ahead of food cravings and don’t set yourself up for a binge. The trick is to make healthier choices and substitutions, and to enjoy them in moderation. If you want to know how to enjoy dessert and still lose weight, we’re sharing 6 tips along with 21 dessert recipes under 100 calories to set you up for success!
How to Eat Dessert and Still Lose Weight
While we typically feel excited and motivated to start a healthy eating regime, sticking with it long-term can be a little more difficult. Family celebrations, work events, and travel can make it challenging to make healthy eating choices all the time, and the idea of never being able to enjoy dessert again can feel…awful. The good news is that it IS possible to eat dessert and still lose weight. Here are 6 tips to help you indulge without sacrificing your hard work!
1. Enjoy Dessert Regularly
One of the reasons people ‘fail’ to lose weight – and keep it off – is that it’s not realistic to follow an overly restrictive diet for an extended period of time. Cutting back on calories and avoiding the foods we love causes us to feel deprived, and when we inevitably give into our food cravings, we find it difficult to stop. A much better approach is to allow yourself a treat every week. This avoids feelings of deprivation, ensures you stay ahead of food cravings, and makes you less likely to binge on unhealthy foods.
2. Plan For It
While we’re all for enjoying dessert on the regular, the idea is to enjoy one serving of a treat rather than indulging in a full-on cheat day to ensure you aren’t erasing all of your hard work. The more you plan, the more successful you will be! I personally track all of my meals, snacks, drinks, and treats using My Fitness Pal – it’s very user-friendly and allows me to plan my daily macros around a glass of wine or a decadent cookie.
3. Don’t Drink Your Calories
While delicious, liquid calories like frappucinos, milkshakes, and daiquiris offer absolutely no nutritional value to your diet. We often grossly underestimate how much sugar these types of drinks contain, and while they may hit the spot initially, liquid calories don’t fill us up. Alcohol in particular can lower your inhibitions and make you more prone to make poor food choices, so tread carefully!
4. Use Healthier Substitutes
As you’ll see in the list of desserts under 100 calories we’ve curated below, there are lots of great substitutes you can use to make desserts healthier. Coconut sugar, raw honey, maple syrup, stevia, dates, brown rice syrup, and monk fruit are all excellent sugar alternatives. Frozen bananas are a great substitute for ice cream, apple sauce can often be used in place of butter, and cinnamon is a great way to add a little sweetness without adding calories!
5. Order Syrups and Sauces on the Side
While desserts definitely taste amazing when they are smothered in chocolate, strawberry, or caramel sauce, try to order sauces and syrups on the side. They are completely devoid of any nutritional content, and won’t do your waistline any favors!
6. Use Your Next Meal As a Chance to Start Again
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve read as it relates to nutrition and weight loss is to own your indulgences, and use your next snack or meal as a chance to start again. We all have moments of weakness where we make food choices we’re not proud of, but instead of using them as an excuse to go completely off the rails, remind yourself that every meal is a chance to start again!
21 Desserts Under 100 Calories
If you’re looking for desserts under 100 calories, these ideas will NOT disappoint. They are easy-to-make and really hit the spot, allowing you to indulge without the bulge! We’ve included the total calories per serving for each recipe so you can easily budget them into your meal plan.
Frozen Yogurt Bark with Blueberries & Pomegranate | The Nutrition Twins | 18 Calories
Healthy Peanut Butter Fudge | Desserts with Benefits | 35 Calories
3 Ingredient PB2 Protein Peanut Butter Cookies | imheatherr.com | 38 Calories
Skinny Frozen Peanut Butter Whips | The Creative Bite | 47 Calories
Chocolate Cream Cheese Bombs | Chocolate Covered Katie | 52 Calories
Chocolate Cake Baked Donut Holes | masonfit.com | 55 Calories
Oreo Cookie Butter | masonfit.com | 58 Calories
Brownie Muffins | Yes, Please | 60 Calories
No Bake Energy Bites | Salt & Baker | 63 Calories
Low Calorie Banana Bread Simply Low Cal | 74 Calories |
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream | I Heart Vegetables | 77 Calories
Blueberry Greek Yogurt Muffins | Fit and Frugal Mommy | 81 Calories
Secretly Healthy Brownies | Yammie’s Noshery | 87 Calories
Gooey Cinnamon Rolls | Beautiful Eats & Things | 95 Calories
Banana Bars with Chocolate Chips | Well Plated | 98 Calories
Double Chocolate Greek Yogurt Muffin | Fit and Frugal Mommy | 99 Calories
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites | Eating Bird Food | 100 Calories
Chocolate Mug Cake | Butter with a Side of Bread | 100 Calories
Healthy Buckeye Balls | Veggie Balance | 100 Calories
Skinny Cookies & Cream Popsicles | The Skinny Fork | 100 Calories
Grain-Free Nut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies | Nutrition in the Kitch | 100 Calories
I hope you enjoyed this collection of desserts under 100 calories as much as we have!