(photo courtesy of 7th Decade Redhead)

I pride myself on self-discipline when I’m consciously sticking to my diet. I avoid sugary stuff and when I want a snack, it’s usually fruit or Greek yogurt or both. For seven months, I’ve stuck to this behavior, and it hasn’t failed me.

So, why haven’t I researched low calorie desserts? Because dieters don’t get desserts. We are overweight and shouldn’t even contemplate eating sugary treats.

How absurd…..

Where does it say that a diet doesn’t include dessert? Nowhere....

What we are doing is hard. We eat a lot of food that is low in calories, we agonize over those choices every freaking day. We weigh and measure food, agonize over how many calories we are eating, and spend time tracking and logging our eating and exercise.

You know what I figured out? I figured out that I have to stop thinking that my diet is a punishment for being overweight. It’s simply a treatment for a problem I wish to solve. This is true for all of us on any kind of weight loss plan. Therefore, if we can find a way to make this diet easier, more palatable, then hell yes, we should take it! Sweet foods are not the enemy.

The beauty of a calorie deficit diet is that it is all about calories, so you can eat your Greek yogurt with berries, as I do, or you can make a low calorie, protein boosted brownie (see recipe links below). 

I do have to add, however, that it is better to choose a dessert option with protein in it rather than a dessert that is mostly fats and carbs. Your body will burn more calories working to metabolize the protein than the carbs and fats. 

So, let’s find some calorie-friendly sweet treats and stop using dessert denial as a punishment! Yeah, I know, I know, I gotta practice what I’m preaching.

I did a little research to get you started. I haven’t tried any of these (remember I’ve been punishing myself) but I’m going to. Below are some links to some yummy (hopefully) treats:

Greek yogurt brownies (91 calories per serving):

Greek Yogurt Brownies (Under 100 Calories!)- The Big Man's World ® (thebigmansworld.com)

Peanut butter blondies (55 calories per serving):

Peanut Butter Protein Blondies (Low Calorie & Easy) | Hayl's Kitchen (haylskitchen.com)

Sugar Free Raspberry Sorbet (80 calories per serving):

Sugar-Free Raspberry Sorbet Recipe (Only 4 Ingredients!) - The Conscious Plant Kitchen

Low-fat apple cake (137 calories per serving):

Healthy Apple Cake (No Butter or Oil) - As Easy As Apple Pie

Healthy Chocolate Cake (98 calories per serving):

Healthy Chocolate Cake (Less than 100 Calories!) - The Big Man's World ® (thebigmansworld.com)

Whole Wheat Chocolate baked donuts (134 calories per serving):

Whole wheat chocolate baked donuts - Family Food on the Table

Light Strawberry Ice Cream (90 calories per serving)

Light Strawberry Ice Cream - Lite Cravings

Raspberry Bliss Frozen Yogurt Bark (50 calories per serving)

Raspberry Frozen Yogurt Bark (Weight Watchers) - Food Meanderings

Healthy Cheesecake (93 calories per serving):

Healthy Cheesecake- Less than 100 calories! - The Big Man's World ® (thebigmansworld.com)

One other dessert I used to make when I was doing my keto diet back in the 90s was a mousse made with low calorie whipped topping and sugar free, fruit flavored Jello. I would make the Jello first, then put it in the refrigerator to cool a bit. Before it would start to harden, but was no longer piping hot, I would whisk in some whipped topping and then let it set. It chilled and set into a nice creamy fruit mousse.  There are so many types of 'diet' whipped toppings out there now that you will have to find one that is low calorie and watch your portion size. Two tablespoons of whipped topping can be anywhere from 10 to 25 calories. 

And finally, if you are just don't have the time or the motivation to try any of these recipes, get yourself some low-calorie Greek yogurt and some fresh berries. I prefer the Two Good brand yogurt, which is 80 calories, and I eat it with a 1/2 cup of berries. I like having that hit of protein before bed. 

I hope you get motivated enough to try one of these or maybe another calorie-friendly dessert that you might come across. If you have a favorite, share it in the comments. I’m going to try a few and follow up later with a post about the results.

Remember, we all deserve a treat now and then.

Update:  I decided to try and make the sorbet recipe today. I input the recipe in My Fitness Pal. Here are some photos and my thoughts on it.

I think I used the wrong type of frozen berries. Those frozen berries (which I believe came from Costco) are what we already had in our freezer, so I didn't want to go and buy something else.  I weighed them instead of measuring them in a measuring cup and weighed out the equivalent amount of the mixed berries. There were huge strawberries in the frozen fruit, which made it hard to get them to grind down because they were much bigger than the other berries. You can see how little progress I was making in the blender per the photo above. I had to keep adding tablespoons of water.  I ended up using at least twice the amount of water in the recipe if not more.  I could not get the berries to mix and grind down in the blender. Maybe next time I will try a food processor instead and see if that gets a better result.

I used agave syrup, and initially, I thought the unfrozen mixture was way too sweet when I tasted it. I was concerned that I should not have used the whole amount of sweetener the recipe called for, which was two tablespoons.  However, it wasn't as sweet after being in the freezer several hours. 

The recipe also says it yields four servings, 3/4 cup each. I measured the mixture, and it came to two cups total. Which means that my serving size is now a 1/2 cup. 

The per serving calorie count that I came up with are 83 calories per 1/2 cup, which is about the same as a container of low-calorie Greek yogurt.  The calorie count for the total recipe is 330 calories, 120 for the two tablespoons of agave syrup and 210 calories for the three servings of fruit.  The lemon juice is a freebie because you use so little of it (although it could use more to offset the sweetness). There are 20.8 grams of carbs, 7.5 grams of sugar.0.8 grams of protein, and 0.4 grams of fat per serving, according to My Fitness Pal.  Your recipe may differ in calories from mine.

I was afraid to try it because it was so sweet when I tasted it before freezing. I have to say, after letting it sit in the freezer for about 5 hours, it was a soft consistency, more like soft serve ice cream than slushy, and It was not too sweet. I have to say that I enjoyed this dessert and will probably try a few experiments with it. I'm already thinking that sorbet could be a layer in individual servings of a trifle/torte where I layer the sorbet with lemon Greek yogurt and fresh fruit. 

To summarize, go with frozen raspberries or fresh raspberries that you've frozen up a bit, rather than the frozen fruit I used. The mixture may taste sweeter before freezing than after freezing, if you use agave syrup. Measure out your mixture before you put in a container to freeze it, so you know exactly what your serving size and calorie count is. I input the recipe in My Fitness Pal that I used, and the app did all the work for me. 

Don't forget to treat yourself!

Check out my other diet-related food posts in this blog:

I’m Having a Crisis (An Eggxistential One) (publish0x.com)

I Just Wanna Veg…. (It’s Not Easy Eating Green) (publish0x.com)

Fruit – OMG!!! SUGAR!!! (publish0x.com)

Meaty Subjects….(Moo, Peep, Oink) (publish0x.com)

The Booze Blues – (Whatcha Drinkin?) (publish0x.com)

Something Fishy’s Goin’ On (I don't like fish.... really) (publish0x.com)