When you are at home it is quite easy to not have cake-and-eat-it/">dessert, and if you feel hungry after a meal you will know what snacks you are allowed.

If you are eating out however, it becomes a lot harder. You don’t usually have time to let everything settle and for your body to decide that you aren’t hungry any more – desserts are an impulse purchase!

Quite a few restaurants now offer “Weightwatchers” desserts or low carb/low calorie alternatives, but your self control is a key factor here – do you really need cake-and-eat-it/">dessert? And just because the cake-and-eat-it/">dessert is ‘low’ in something, it doesn’t mean you can have two…

But what if no alternatives are available, and you feel socially obliged to eat something? Well, stop conforming to the expectations of everyone else! Seriously though, go for damage limitation. One cake-and-eat-it/">dessert does not ruin a diet, but it can spoil your progress for that day. Something like a fruit salad is normally a good option, even if your diet is telling you to avoid fruit – I’m sure that your diet will be more forgiving of eating fruit than eating the giant size cookie ice cream chocolate double dip taste sensation with extra fatty sauce.

That’s a problem right there. Many people scoff at the idea of a “day off” from your diet, but if you have a single day off rather than secretly binging every day, it works. You know when you can have your favourite treats, and you avoid them until the designated time. It does not ruin your entire diet. Imagine the man who has lost 60 pounds, suddenly decides to eat a whole chocolate cake – he doesn’t wake up the following day having regained those missing 60 pounds. It takes a lifestyle to lose or gain that amount of weight, it doesn’t take a day – and you are aiming to change your lifestyle.

So when you have had your cake-and-eat-it/">dessert, count the calories or carbs or whatever system you are using, acknowledge it was probably more than you should have had, and get on with your life and your new lifestyle. If you worry about it, you’ll probably end up comfort eating, and then your whole lifestyle change is out the window.

It does require dedication, it does require self control, but life is too short to say no to every piece of cake.