Mind games with food?

lynnsyoung164

This reveals my relationship issues with food but sometimes I log an entire portion of something and only eat half. I tell myself it is as if I ate the entire portion so if I want to eat the other half later in the day I can. Some days like today I am so happy to remember I have a half a bag of something I can eat and do not have to add more calories in MFP. Even better is when I'm reviewing my day to make sure I added everything and realize I never ate the other half and can remove calories.

Sometimes I feel like it is just a good portion control tool but sometimes I feel like it is very bad that I have to play theses "tricks" on myself to deal with food.

There must be others that play this mind game or something similar?

StacyJ8888

I round up amounts, sometimes double them. Sometimes I put in stuff I was planning to eat but never did, I rarely enter exercise...I am not sure what I am trying to accomplish except avoid the warning about too few calories. I really, REALLY like calorie restriction,the challenge I like the control. I am either eating out of control or starving myself..there is no happy in between in my head.. if anything MFP keeps me eating more than I normally would in this control mode and keeps me focused on sodium and carbs rather than calories.

Timshel_

Mind games with food?

I convinced a Mango it was a banana once.

MamaBirdBoss

I'll log a whole restaurant meal on one day but might eat some of it the next. Other than that, nope.

Timshel_

I always round up food and log any higher calorie numbers. I also under-estimate calorie burn for exercise. Keeps me sure of a decent deficit most the time.

FoxyLifter

StacyJ8888 wrote: »

I round up amounts, sometimes double them. Sometimes I put in stuff I was planning to eat but never did, I rarely enter exercise...I am not sure what I am trying to accomplish except avoid the warning about too few calories. I really, REALLY like calorie restriction,the challenge I like the control. I am either eating out of control or starving myself..there is no happy in between in my head.. if anything MFP keeps me eating more than I normally would in this control mode and keeps me focused on sodium and carbs rather than calories.

That does not sound ideal or accurate to me. If i restrict too much, I binge and I don't perform well when I workout. I don't like to guess how many calories I'm eating so I weigh my solids in grams. That way, I have the best information (because in reality, it's all an estimation) available to me if I need to adjust (like if I'm not losing weight or I'm losing too fast).

OP, I guess the only "mind game" I do is pre-log. I can stick to my plan more oftern if I know that I have room at the end of the day for a decadent treat.

lynnsyoung164

StacyJ8888 wrote: »

I round up amounts, sometimes double them. Sometimes I put in stuff I was planning to eat but never did, I rarely enter exercise...I am not sure what I am trying to accomplish except avoid the warning about too few calories. I really, REALLY like calorie restriction,the challenge I like the control. I am either eating out of control or starving myself..there is no happy in between in my head.. if anything MFP keeps me eating more than I normally would in this control mode and keeps me focused on sodium and carbs rather than calories.

Control. Yep that is something I try to do lots of! I can't underestimate my exercise though. I would shout it to the world if I could lol. I'm too proud of that to reduce it. I have thought of doubling meals though.

lynnsyoung164

FoxyLifter wrote: »

StacyJ8888 wrote: »

I round up amounts, sometimes double them. Sometimes I put in stuff I was planning to eat but never did, I rarely enter exercise...I am not sure what I am trying to accomplish except avoid the warning about too few calories. I really, REALLY like calorie restriction,the challenge I like the control. I am either eating out of control or starving myself..there is no happy in between in my head.. if anything MFP keeps me eating more than I normally would in this control mode and keeps me focused on sodium and carbs rather than calories.

That does not sound ideal or accurate to me. If i restrict too much, I binge and I don't perform well when I workout. I don't like to guess how many calories I'm eating so I weigh my solids in grams. That way, I have the best information (because in reality, it's all an estimation) available to me if I need to adjust (like if I'm not losing weight or I'm losing too fast).

OP, I guess the only "mind game" I do is pre-log. I can stick to my plan more oftern if I know that I have room at the end of the day for a decadent treat.

I like that. I need to try it and plan a day out. I can still choose to lower my portions or exchange things. I am horrid at planning though.

lynnsyoung164

Chaelaz wrote: »

Mind games with food?

I convinced a Mango it was a banana once.

Made me smile.

Lourdesong

I portion out a 1 ounce serving of various snacks and keep them in sandwich baggies in the pantry for me to graze on.

Once the baggie is empty the serving of that snack gets logged.( I did try prelogging the snacks but that just made me want to eat them all quickly since they got logged.)

This keeps me from sneaking bites, while also feeling I can have a small bite or 2 of something right out of the pantry without it always having to be some big fuss of weighing out exactly what I'm gonna eat and logging it.
So my grazing counts, but doing this doesn't feel like it counts, kinda thing.

I also will log a whole meal even if I only plan on eating half now, half later. Easier than logging it twice.