Remove treats from home or just try to improve my willpower?
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I will start with out of sight and out of mind. If you don't see something good to eat, you will rarely go searching. Therefore, if you have treats in the house, but them in an out of the way place. That way you really have to want one to have one.
My wife and I are pretty good bakers. Home-made trumps all other treats. If we don't bake, I don't get treats. When we have to bake for some work event, we have one or a small batch at the house and take the rest to work. If some are left-over, I convince my co-workers to take them home to their wife or children.
There are two ways to look slimmer. One is to diet or log calories at MFP. The other is to fatten up everyone around you. Giving away treats will make you look slimmer.0 -
My husband doesn't 'snack' much unless it's cookies and milk and an occasional ice cream. My mom lives with us and she is the snacker - chips, cookies, ice cream, etc... and it's always around and always here. I'm an in between snacker - can take it or leave it but if it's not here, I generally will not go buy it if I'm in the mood. I will just replace it with something else sweet. Whether it's in the house or not, I know if it's in my plan to eat it that day. Most of the time I will just avoid it.
Once in awhile I do indulge but the guilt of going over my daily limit will be there and like I said, most of the time for me it isn't worth it. It's a simple choice for me. Do I want to be thinner and healthier or do I want to sit and gorge on cake, pie and ice cream. It's much more expensive for me to gain. That means new clothes and buying junk foods. I have a closet full of 'skinny' clothes that are exciting to get back into as I lose.
Fit your snacks in but limit yourself. You don't want to use your calories for snacks every day. Make it something to look forward to and enjoy it in smaller bites, savoring it. I bet as you get going with eating healthier, you will not want to blow your plan for the day on most of that stuff. It's empowering when you make your mind up and stick with it.
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That larder is crazy. You should be more alarmed by the sheer quantity you buy. What you are calling sugary treats arent really treats are they? They are your way of life.
They were built up over a long period of time. There is a lot of variety in there but it's not like I have a gallon of ice cream or 20 packets of biscuits stored. I regard them as treats because I'm not eating them day in day out. Not sure without knowing me how you can determine that they are my way of life? I'm at maintenance and am not snacking on this stuff all the time. My diary is full of items that I regard as healthy - home-cooked meals, fruit, and plenty of veg. I just want to reduce the treats with something better.
I dont know you, thats right so I just go on the information that you provided. You mentioned you had a "rather large stock of frozen cheesecake, ice cream, cakes, and the cupboard full of candies, cookies, chocolate bars, pastries, and the rest" and now you are saying "but it's not like I have a gallon of ice cream or 20 packets of biscuits stored".
Confused.com
My point is that when you add them altogether then I regard that as being a rather large stock even if I only have a few of each item. It might be "crazy" as you put it if I had 10 cheesecakes, 30 chocolate bars, 5kg of sweets, 20 packets of biscuits, and so on. Fact is I don't and I don't see that statement as being contradictory or confusing.0 -
Usually it's best for me to have a little bit of something treat-y around that I could have if I wanted. Then I can say yeah, I could have that if I want, maybe later, if it fits in my macros, if I have enough extra after exercising, etc.
If I am feeling out of control for whatever reason (it happens sometimes) I don't keep certain things in the house at all. There was a B2G1 on 12packs of soda and I had to decide whether it would be OK to have it there and consume it at a reasonable rate, because sometimes it is not...it's "bad" and I have to get rid of it by consuming it as fast as possible. Obviously not a healthy attitude toward food, and something to work on, but sometimes it is just better for me to keep it away.0 -
I try only to keep in the house what I want to be eating (My adult brain, not my five year old brain). I'm lazy enough that if I put the bar to treats high enough that I have to go out and GET them, it's much easier for me to stick to the diet I have set up for myself.
It requires me to plan for treats. Which I do. So I can enjoy things without blowing my calories.
Other people use other methods, but that works for me. I figure a sale isn't a savings if it's going to mean it will be consumed in a way I don't want for myself long-term.0 -
I hold my hands up and admit that I have terrible willpower when it comes to sugary treats. To battle this weakness lately I have been consuming my rather large stock of frozen cheesecake, ice cream, cakes, and the cupboard full of candies, cookies, chocolate bars, pastries, and the rest. The shelves are almost empty now so I'm hoping that the "out of sight, out of mind" approach is going to work.
Do others try the same tactic and has it helped?
Simply by not making it readily accessible or at a minimum more inconvenient to have will initially help to stave off the less than healthy choices - especially if you do a lot of mindless eating.
And there is strong science behind that the more sugary crap consumed the more we crave it. It's a vicious cycle ... think of it in terms of nicotine affects on the brain. SO you may be surprised that by going cold turkey for any length of time will actually reduce the cravings ... eventually. The first 2-3 weeks will be the toughest but it does get easier.
Good luck!
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I don't see the point in keeping things around and relying on willpower, especially if you already know you don't have much of it. You're essentially testing yourself all the time and eventually, you'll have a bad day and will probably fail. As an example, my husband brought home a block of chocolate he was given. Bad day at home alone, and I ate it all. But only because it was there, I wouldn't have gone out and bought one.
I do have some treats in the house. But it's things that I know I can moderate myself on, like dark chocolate squares. Anything else, I have to be motivated enough to walk into town to buy it. And I'll only buy a single portion, to save the rest being eaten later.0 -
I started off by only having sweets on Sunday and even then, it was one serving. I was a complete stuff-your-face sweets addict at that point. After several months, I was able to be a bit more flexible about having a serving here or there through the week. Just keep in mind that you have to be flexible while getting fit. What works for you today might not work for you one month or six months or a year from now. If you need to not have it in the house for now, that's fine.0
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yeah , much like a lot of folks. Sweets outside the home or at restaurants are easy to avoid, but at home.. forget it. We do not keep it in the house. I can justify eating an entire sleeve of oreos if they are in the cupboard.0
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I bought a 6 pound bag of gummy bears at Sam's. 6 friggin' pounds of ridiculous, sugary goodness. Before when I'd bought it, I would tear into it by the double handful. I sat down with it and negotiated this time. A serving is about 15 bears (46g I think), so I busted out the scale and the mini-bags and portioned out 7 days worth. The rest I put up high out of sight. I keep the 7 bags in my drawer and I remind myself that's all I get for the week. If I nosh them all, they're gone until next week. So far I've kept myself to one a day and I'll usually pull out a bag, eat 3 or 4, and find the craving has been sated.
Cakes? No effing way. I'm not there yet in terms of willpower. Baby steps, baby steps. LOL0 -
These foods aren't something that you can stay away from forever. I currently have Oreo's, Dove's chocolate, Rice crispy treats, and an assortment of potato chips and other stuff at my house because my husband likes to eat them. I, however, don't touch them. I make sure that I keep my "low cal" snacks around that I can have instead.
To me it's a decision about eating more for less calories. I could have those 3 Oreo cookies for something like 130-140 calories, or I could have a strawberry smoothie pop (pretty decent sized) that is only 60 cals...or I could have 2 and still be under what those 3 Oreo's would have "cost" me in daily calories.
Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to eat it...0 -
i can't keep junk in the house! if i really want something i will go out and get it. and since i have small children, and they have candy/cake/cookie radar and zero self control, i try not to keep that stuff in the house. i guess it depends on what your eating philosophy is. personally, i would rather not eat candy/cake/cookies (even if i were thin as a string bean) because i know that type of food is not really good for me, so i don't really want it around to tempt me.0
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yeah , much like a lot of folks. Sweets outside the home or at restaurants are easy to avoid, but at home.. forget it. We do not keep it in the house. I can justify eating an entire sleeve of oreos if they are in the cupboard.
This is how I am (well was, I'm much better now) with saltine crackers. "If I leave this partial sleeve of crackers in the pantry, it will just go stale and I'll have to throw it away. I may as well eat them all right now. With butter on them."
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Appreciate all the positive responses. It's still early days and I do find myself looking in the cupboard and being disappointed at the lack of options available. However, I do make sure I have apples and other fruit at hand as a replacement when this happens. Am definitely finding that being busy is my friend and boredom most definitely the enemy.0
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Get that stuff out of your house. I don't know what your workplace is like, but here at mine, the solution would be to put the items in the break room with a sign saying "help yourself."0
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TavistockToad wrote: »at some point you're going to come across cake and stuff again... learning moderation is a much better idea than pretending it doesnt exist!
^ This.0 -
There are a number of replies suggesting/implying that the OP is "forever" trying to ignore moderation or "forever" eliminating these snacks from her home.
I don't agree with that.
If you lack the willpower to moderate your consumption of certain food items then I think temporarily removing them from your immediate environment is not a bad idea at all.
However, when you find that you're missing these foods from your life, you should consider gradually reintroducing them into your living space in smaller quantities and in a less prevalent manner than you currently have. So for example, less visibility and less overall variety of "junk".
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I think it depends on you and your self-control. If you can ignore the 'bad' foods in your pantry, then keep them so that your family and friends will have snacks when they visit. If you have no control - give them away. If they aren't there, you won't reach for them...
Talking about when you see them at friend's homes - well, then it would be a treat to have it on that occasion... and less of an every day occurance.
good luck.0 -
Sorry but why on earth do you have all that junk in your house?! It's not going to just sit there forever, it's going to get consumed. Don't want to consume it? Don't buy it in the first place. Seriously, just DO NOT BUY any of that stuff and you won't be able to eat it. Simple as that.0
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I didn't realize how much I snack until the kids started complaining that I eat things before they get a chance to have any. So, now I am ignoring the cheesecake in the refrigerator because eventually my daughter will want some. It would be easier for me if there were no temptations but I don't know how realistic that is. I have a sweet tooth, so I do have fruit in the morning and a fiberone bar at night which helps.
I am not sure I understood your first post. You ate all the food at once so it wouldn't be there later? I probably would have given it away if I didn't want it in the house.
I dread Halloween because we always have some candy left over. My husband brings some into work and the kids dentist will buy back candy so we have a few options to get it out of the house.0
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