Why can't I just stop eating when I'm full?

ahamm002

Calliope610 wrote: »

razzjam334 wrote: »

I believe it means food is an addiction for you and your family also for mine I grow up the same way and I believe this to be the reason I'm over weight

No, it's probably more of a Pavlovian response. Over years of repeated behavior, you have "trained" your body/brain to expect a dessert shortly after dinner. You have to "untrain" yourself by establishing a new behavior. Train yourself to walk around the block after dinner. Replace your dessert habit with a healthier habit.

^^This. You're used to dessert so you crave dessert. It's really that simple. Changing habits takes time. Avoid eating dessert after every meal for a couple months and then you'll stop missing it so much.

I'm not saying that you should never eat dessert. But dessert after every meal is going to make it a lot harder to stay within your calories/macro goals.

ahamm002

double post

brianpperkins

The big issue not addressed yet is does this eating pattern put you above your maintenance calories for the day or do you eat at a deficit? How are you determining the caloric content of your meals and snacks?

"Normal portion" is relative. Some people are more comfortable with several small meals throughout the day. Others find one large meal works best for them. Some do intermittent fasting of one format or another.

meganjcallaghan

I love ice cream. and cake.....etc. So I eat it. It's much easier to make sure you can get what you want when you plan ahead, though. I generally plug in my planned exercise for the day as well as my usual breakfast, lunch and dinner and see what I have left available and plug in my snacks and whatnot after that. then I'll know beforehand if I'm going to need to add an extra 5km to my run to get as much ice cream as I want or not. lol

Gosser

1 went on a liquid diet for a week. Milk, soup, fruit smoothie, etc.
I was really hungry all the time for the first couple of days, but eventually I realized I wasn't actually hungry as I was eating enough calories. My stomach shrank as well which helped curb the large meals I had been able to eat

After that I realized that I wasn't hungry when I thought I was and could then cut down and swap in healthier alternatives for dessert and treats.

I still make space in my food diary for everything from crisps and chocolate to cake and sweets but it is in moderation and I can now have half a portion without expecting to eat the whole thing.

Everything in moderation works. If I start to fall into old habits I go back to a liquid diet for a couple of days.

BoxerBrawler

I'm the same way and there is a big difference between being hunger and just craving something. I've learned that it's simply a habit with me. For a long time I would think about what I'd have for dessert after dinner. It didn't matter if I was still hungry or not and sometimes I didn't even crave a sweet but I'd have it anyway. Have to learn to make a new habit, take your mind off of it until you break the old and learn the new.

mistikal13

I can't relate to the sweet tooth, but I think that if your brain is trained to expect something sweet after dinner, you could try to replace it with some fruit or a hard candy.

_lyndseybrooke_

KathleenHope2015 wrote: »

It doesn't matter how delicious and satisfying that lunch or dinner was, I ALWAYS feel the urge to eat "dessert" within 5-45 minutes of eating. Even if I should be full, I feel like I just need to have dessert! It adds ~200-300 additional calories to my meal.

Unfortunately, in my family I have grown up this way, I've watched my parents eat this way. I'm in university and am still living at my parents, so it's not like I can just decide what we keep in the house. I've been a little overweight since my childhood, and although I'm just on the edge of the "healthy for weight/height range", I haven't reached my fitness goals.

I don't know how some people can do dessert one day a week!
I also can eat like 700-800 calories in one meal and not feel sick, and still eat 3 or 4 hours later. Why can't I just eat normal portions?

Does anyone else have the experience of finding it hard to eliminate sweets or have tips??

Not feeling sick after 700-800 calories and being able to eat 3-4 hours later DOES sound pretty normal to me. I think most people can do that.

As for dessert, I eat ice cream every single night. It's not about being hungry - I don't think one needs to be "hungry" to eat ice cream. I eat it because it's delicious and I want it, so I fit it into my macros each day and it's not a problem. My dinners are 450-500ish calories and my dessert is typically around 300.

I'm almost never "full" after a meal. I can put away some serious calories. Eating 3000-5000 calories in a day is easy and I do it every so often. However, that doesn't mean I have to do it every day just because I can. I make the decision to stick to my goals the majority of the time in order to obtain/maintain the body I want. I'd say most of us could easily eat more than we do, but we simply don't because we know what needs to be done in order for us to reach our goals.

So, the short answer as to why you can't stop eating is this: poor self control. Sorry, but that's what it comes down to. You are the one that chooses what you put into your body. There's nothing wrong with eating dessert every night, especially when you can fit it into your calorie and/or macro goals - which is totally possible. However, if you can't manage to fit dessert into your calories, I suggest to pick a lower calorie dessert, eat smaller meals/snacks earlier in the day to save calories for a bigger dessert, or skip it altogether. The choice is yours, but there's no magic trick to make you not want dessert after dinner.

mikeski52

If you're logging your food well enough, you should know for yourself how many calories you have left for dessert at the end of the day. If you eat that many calories for dessert but no more, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

MamaBirdBoss

1.) Eat less dinner.
2.) Eat a smaller dessert.



Over time, you can decrease the dessert, if you desire.