What's YOUR biggest obstacle to eating healthy?

brightresolve
brightresolve Posts: 1,024 Member
in Food and Nutrition
However YOU define "eating healthy" - what stops or trips you?

Me, I mess up when I am stressed and tired, and think I need a "treat" to reward me for prior good behavior. And, when I mess up my day, I tend to eat outside my normal limits because "I'm already over."
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Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Nobody has the same notion of 'healthy'. Personally, as long as I eat under my goal, it's healthy enough for me. And my main obstacle to doing that consistently is my sweet tooth, and the fact that when I do have some kind of dessert, I often end up too hungry and go over my goal.
  • hiker583
    hiker583 Posts: 91 Member
    Mine is chocolate - I am addicted to it like alcoholics, I can never eat just one square, I eat full bar and then find it harder to go for second one. I also sometimes go into binge cycles where no matter how much and what I eat, I just want more. Still do not know the trigger for that.
  • guinevere96
    guinevere96 Posts: 1,445 Member
    The break room at work. Full of yummy chips and sandwiches and hotpockets. However with my calorie goals and office job (not a lot of exercise) I cant fit a whole bunch of snacks into my goals at the moment. So the break room just kills me.
  • domgibson88
    domgibson88 Posts: 78 Member
    Mine is a big mac meal....I could eat one every day.....I get off at work at 430 and if I havent eaten since lunch I will go straight to mcdonalds then go home and make supper (cause I have too feed hubby) and eat a bit of that too!!! So my afternoon break at work is 1.5 hours after lunch and Im not neccisarily hungry I will have a yogurt or a hard boiled egg just so im not starving or craving carbs at 430 and it holds me to supper
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    Exercise I workout really hard two days a week and just 75 min the other five on those two days i eat maybe 1200- 1500 calories its sucks I just don't want to eat. I slam two scoops of protein with whole milk on those days just to meet my protein/fat Macros
  • brightresolve
    brightresolve Posts: 1,024 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Nobody has the same notion of 'healthy'. Personally, as long as I eat under my goal, it's healthy enough for me. And my main obstacle to doing that consistently is my sweet tooth, and the fact that when I do have some kind of dessert, I often end up too hungry and go over my goal.

    I hear you on the individual notions about "healthy," was trying hard to sidestep that discussion :smiley:

    And me too with the sweet tooth - my serious downfall.
  • brightresolve
    brightresolve Posts: 1,024 Member
    guinevere96 wrote: »
    The break room at work. Full of yummy chips and sandwiches and hotpockets. However with my calorie goals and office job (not a lot of exercise) I cant fit a whole bunch of snacks into my goals at the moment. So the break room just kills me.

    Yeah we have one too... and it gets tough sometimes! I try to just get in this mindset that the food there is not really what I would select, not my "favorite" -- and that if I'm going outside the bounds I want to at least do that on something I LOVE, not just something that's "there" - thanks for sharing this, I too don't have a lot of room for extras.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    It finally clicked for me when I realized that I was the one who should decide and define what I believe is healthy eating. All real food is good food, and no food is bad. There is no wagon to fall of, because I eat the way I want to eat every day. If I eat a little more one day, I usually eat a little less the next day. I don't have to behave myself or restrict myself or reward myself or comfort myself with food. I eat because I like it and need it. I don't eat just because food is there. I don't have to eat anything I don't like, or eat it all. I avoid temptation as much as possible, and choose food I can eat to satisfaction for the majority of my meals.

    No, it wasn't always like this.
  • brightresolve
    brightresolve Posts: 1,024 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    It finally clicked for me when I realized that I was the one who should decide and define what I believe is healthy eating. All real food is good food, and no food is bad. There is no wagon to fall of, because I eat the way I want to eat every day. If I eat a little more one day, I usually eat a little less the next day. I don't have to behave myself or restrict myself or reward myself or comfort myself with food. I eat because I like it and need it. I don't eat just because food is there. I don't have to eat anything I don't like, or eat it all. I avoid temptation as much as possible, and choose food I can eat to satisfaction for the majority of my meals.

    No, it wasn't always like this.

    This is LOVELY, and I thank you so much for sharing your point of view! I don't have a purist or restrictive definition of "healthy eating" but even so, I still struggle with a good/bad attitude about food, and fear my own desire for more of the treats that I used to look forward to having. I would like to be where you are with regard to this ... will keep on working for that!
  • aubreyjordan
    aubreyjordan Posts: 276 Member
    For me, it is because I am incredibly picky and really sensitive to textures. For example, I can't eat yogurt with fruit chunks without gagging. It's taken me awhile, but I've learned that it isn't necessary to force myself to eat something because it is "healthy." It only leads to binges on foods I do like. I have been trying to try new things, though some things I won't budge on (sushi for example- I refuse to try it). I also hate cooking. I'm not good at it and I can't eat most meat/poultry that I've handled raw (chicken is the worst). I have learned to work within what I will eat and make it fit my goals. And a lot of the time, my day-to-day menu looks almost identical (dinner is about the only thing that differs from day to day, unless I'm eating leftovers :smile:)
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    One of the things I'm trying to do is watch my sodium... going 100-500 over the goal isn't too bad but going several thousand over I'd like to not do any more. My obstacle is my love of salty foods.
    Pre-logging helps.
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    It finally clicked for me when I realized that I was the one who should decide and define what I believe is healthy eating. All real food is good food, and no food is bad. There is no wagon to fall of, because I eat the way I want to eat every day. If I eat a little more one day, I usually eat a little less the next day. I don't have to behave myself or restrict myself or reward myself or comfort myself with food. I eat because I like it and need it. I don't eat just because food is there. I don't have to eat anything I don't like, or eat it all. I avoid temptation as much as possible, and choose food I can eat to satisfaction for the majority of my meals.

    No, it wasn't always like this.

    This. Once the guilt and shame was taken out of the foods, so was the obsession.
  • 100df
    100df Posts: 668 Member
    Right now I define healthy as not eating calories above my goal. My biggest obstacle is me. I want to handle whatever comes along or whatever situation I am in without overeating.
  • brightresolve
    brightresolve Posts: 1,024 Member
    positivepowers wrote: »
    Once the guilt and shame was taken out of the foods, so was the obsession.

    ^ so good - I think this is the healing goal for me.

    Thanks so much everyone - great to see how others are doing this.

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    positivepowers wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    It finally clicked for me when I realized that I was the one who should decide and define what I believe is healthy eating. All real food is good food, and no food is bad. There is no wagon to fall of, because I eat the way I want to eat every day. If I eat a little more one day, I usually eat a little less the next day. I don't have to behave myself or restrict myself or reward myself or comfort myself with food. I eat because I like it and need it. I don't eat just because food is there. I don't have to eat anything I don't like, or eat it all. I avoid temptation as much as possible, and choose food I can eat to satisfaction for the majority of my meals.

    No, it wasn't always like this.

    This. Once the guilt and shame was taken out of the foods, so was the obsession.

    If I took away guilt and shame, I'd be 200 pounds again... I need that guilt to stop me from overeating.
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
    Mine is comfort eating snacking in the evening. I just love relaxing in front of the tv and mindlessly snack.

    Strangely, when I'm stressed out I can't eat and I end up losing weight during stressful times. It's when I'm relaxed and happy is when I have trouble!
  • brightresolve
    brightresolve Posts: 1,024 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    If I took away guilt and shame, I'd be 200 pounds again... I need that guilt to stop me from overeating.

    I relate to this too. I need to remember that I can have all I want of some things, and SOME of all the things, but not all I want of all the things...

    Or I will once again gain at a rate of about a pound a week, like I did for a couple of months last year -- !
  • maplesyrup10
    maplesyrup10 Posts: 52 Member
    I can eat the "healthiest" meal (salad, vegetable soup, whatever is your vision of healthy), but I'm not doing myself any favors if I eat until my stomach hurts. My biggest challenge is portion control. I'm learning to measure, and allow myself to feel full without the pressure on my stomach. It's a mental game with me, I'm an emotional/bored eater.
  • inglysh731
    inglysh731 Posts: 42 Member
    edited March 2016
    Sometimes I simply don't know what I should even eat... or how much.
    Rode the bike for 5.5 hrs today... had a pound of pasta salad, 2 lb pork tenderloin, a hefty sweet potato... still need to eat 1200-1500 calories... but of what, I have no idea.
    I have a case of Guinness in the garage, kind've want to drink the calories.

    Edit: Sometimes I wish that I was told what to eat instead of having to figure it out myself.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Nothing stops me from eating healthy. I think anything is healthy enough within the context of a balanced diet. What I struggle with is eating too much in general.
  • rsleighty
    rsleighty Posts: 214 Member
    Fatigue. When I'm over tired I over eat. I try to have healthy foods precooked and preportioned in the fridge so I can eat while I am cooking for the rest of my family. When I don't I eat way too much of all the wrong things.

  • erialcelyob
    erialcelyob Posts: 341 Member
    Chocolate. It is my weakness if I'm tired, stressed or just damn hungry
  • mjwarbeck
    mjwarbeck Posts: 699 Member
    Was ADHD....
  • CatherineElizabeth13
    CatherineElizabeth13 Posts: 212 Member
    Stress. I use chocolate and a cup of tea to keep calm. An apple and water just doesn't cut it.

    I'm working on that.
  • Matt200goal
    Matt200goal Posts: 481 Member
    1) Portion control & 2) "grazing" throughout the day.
  • trjjoy
    trjjoy Posts: 666 Member
    I'm not into cannibalism so no, I won't eat Healthy.
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
    Grazing... and self control.
  • Malenurse51
    Malenurse51 Posts: 181 Member
    guinevere96 wrote: »
    The break room at work. Full of yummy chips and sandwiches and hotpockets. However with my calorie goals and office job (not a lot of exercise) I cant fit a whole bunch of snacks into my goals at the moment. So the break room just kills me.

    This, and "community meals" that we have @ work.

  • AigreDoux
    AigreDoux Posts: 594 Member
    1) portion control
    2) portion control
    3) portion control

    I know how to cook and have always eaten pretty healthy. My DH won't eat red meat, and so we eat a lot of veggie dishes and seafood, a little turkey/chicken. I know how to cook healthy. But I do just really like a big old plate of food! Or two!
  • DKG28
    DKG28 Posts: 299 Member
    biggest obstacle: having to pack 2 meals to take to work everyday (lunch and dinner). I can pack a lunch everday, but the prep to pack lunch and dinner doesn't always happen and I end up going fast food for dinner.

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