Do you stop while you still want more?
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rankinsect wrote: »I plan the portions in advance, so I just measure out the portion I chose and eat until it's gone. It doesn't feel like stopping, really, so much as finishing.
Me too.
I do have more issues with wanting to eat a lot of salty foods but don't want to exceed the sodium goal by too much. Seeing the numbers for calories and sodium helps me to set an appropriate amount for the foods I want to eat before I start. It isn't going by feeling. Planning, knowing the numbers and striving to meet my body's nutritional needs helps more.
Yes I could eat an entire sleeve of saltine crackers or a bag of salty chips and still want to eat more food I'm sure but I prefer to use most of my calories on other more filling foods (that I also like) with more nutrition. My feeling is that eating those foods isn't as satisfying or worth it anymore so a lot of times I don't choose them at all.1 -
rankinsect wrote: »I plan the portions in advance, so I just measure out the portion I chose and eat until it's gone. It doesn't feel like stopping, really, so much as finishing.
Yes, this is what I do.
If I take a serving, I am fine stopping, even if I could eat more (and think I'd enjoy eating more). I just don't think of eating as something I do until I can't eat more. And I don't eat out of a larger container or grab more than the serving I want to eat (the hardest thing for me not to overeat is something like a bowl of naan or tortilla chips at a restaurant on the table--if I really wanted to limit these I'd take my serving on my plate and decide that's it. Often I simply budget for these situations, which are somewhat rare, and decide it's a dinner where I can overeat some, because I've worked it into the week.
Other than this, where I get into trouble is if I graze--like there are small treats in the break room and I decide to grab something when passing by and then snack off and on all day. So I avoid doing this, especially if it's going to be an excuse to go eat to avoid doing something I don't want to that day.0 -
With any food, not specifically treat food, I make sure I have an appropriate portion of whatever it is I'm eating on the plate/bowl, and once that's done I usually feel 'not hungry anymore' rather than stuffed, I could definitely eat a little more - I need to let my food settle for 15 minutes or so and then I'll feel totally satisfied and full.
Yes, this is me too. It's definitely not just treat food. I used to overeat because I'd cook/take too much and finish my plate. Now I portion out the amount I want and finish it and am fine.0 -
I agree stopping vs finishing is the right mindset.
I was one of those who did the portioning and ate the portion and was finished...I got out of the habit...and it's not good.0 -
If I have a taste for something junky/treat-ish, I log it or look up the calorie count just so see how many calories it will cost me and often that is enough to make me not want it. On Sunday I was out for dinner with a friend at Le Pan Quotidian and I had a salad that I have had there many times, so I knew the calorie count, but then she cut her brownie in half and I mindlessly ate the other half and it was like 400 calories for the half or some equally outrageous amount and I was really upset at myself (not something is wrong with me, I have disordered eating upset). It was yet another A-HA moment about paying attention to how I spend my calories. The brownie was delicious, but I probably would not have chosen that for myself. So if I log something and see it's going to cost me like 1/3 of my daily amount, I am less likely to want it so badly. Or I will have less of it. There are several foods I cannot have in the house or I would eat the entire thing, no self control at all. Again, not trying to start a "no foods are bad" thread again, it's just me. Pie? I could eat the entire cherry pie, so if we need a pie for an event, I get apple because I don't like that enough to spend my calories on it. Portioning is helpful too--as lots of other folks have mentioned. With treats I have to remind myself that a) this particular food is not going to disappear from earth if I don't eat ALL of it RIGHT NOW and therefore b) I can have another normal portion tomorrow. I do that with cookies (my all time favorite binge food). Pace yourself--one a day instead of the whole package in two days.
Mindset--it helps me a lot to think of my daily calories as currency and how am I going to spend them. Also if I found the time to work out, I really don't want to cancel that out by going home and eating all those calories back. I don't have that kind of time to waste!!!0 -
kommodevaran wrote: »Up until right now, I belived I was special
But @Larissa_NY said this in a thread I'm following:If you want salty, fatty, high-calorie food you're going to have to learn to stop eating it while you still want more.
I have chosen to mostly avoid typical "treat"/"junk" food because they don't satisfy me, or, any reasonable amount doesn't satisfy me. When I start, I just want more, I get frustrated if I can't continue, and I can eat very large amounts before I start to feel sick. If I don't start, I still want it, but it's just a want, it doesn't feel like a need, or that I can't control myself.
Many of you eat treats (candy, chocolate, ice cream, cookies, chips) often. I understand that it won't impact overall nutrition or calorie goal. I'm more interested in what it feels like. Are you content after - say - 100 calories worth? Or do you have to force yourselves to stop? Does the want decrease after you've finished?
I want to hear all sides
I've been at this for around 4 years now, and one thing that I've learned is that I have to remove pretty much all emotion from eating. I still eat all the foods I like, but now I eat those in the allotted portion (what fits in with my calorie goals), and then I walk away and it's done/out of my mind. I don't really ever have times now where I want something beyond what I've already planned/eaten.
Last week we were out of town and I lived out of a hotel/ate out the whole week. There were numerous times where I could have splurged, but I just didn't have a desire to. We walked to McDonalds one of the days for lunch, and that morning I figured out what I would eat, based on what I could fit into my calorie goals for that day (I had to fit in the McDonalds with the pizza we were having that night for supper, lol). When I got to Mcdonalds it didn't even cross my mind to order something extra, and when my son didn't finish his fries I threw them out without even thinking about it. It just wasn't even on my radar to eat the fries.
This definitely wasn't the case a few years ago, but it's something that I've just learned to do over time 1 -
In my experience, sometimes it is easy to stop at one portion of a treat and sometimes it is not. I usually have a pretty good idea before even eating the treat which way it will go. I like to think that each time I have one portion without going back for more, it's like practice for the next time. And you know what they say about practice.
I figure that I can't go my whole life either avoiding treats or pigging out on them, or cycling back and forth. So, I am training myself to think differently about things. Specifically, when I am having a hard time, I remind myself that whatever it is that I want more of will still exist tomorrow or next week. I don't have to eat it right this minute as if I will never eat it again.0 -
Sometimes I'm fine, sometimes I want more and I have to tell myself no more, I ate my serving size. I used to have much less willpower, and cravings more often, especially when I was anemic and I had pica cravings for ice.1
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I LOVE chips and salsa. If I'm out at a restaurant, I try not to think about restricting myself, but there is still a part of my brain that says "Okay, chick, slow down."
When I am at home, depending on how many calories I have in my budget, I will weigh out 1 or 2 ounces in a bowl, put the bag away and feel fine, content and satiated. It is the package being put away that turns it off in my brain. What I have in front of me is what I have. Period.
I also LOVE See's candy. I can only get it twice a year here, so at Christmas, I bought some and put it in the freezer. Back in the day, I would have eaten 4 or 5 or 7 pieces before I got tired of the taste. Now, I take the package out of it's freezer protection, open the box, pull out 2 for me and 2 for the S.O. and put everything back. Again, once it is back in the freezer, all bundled up, it just doesn't enter my brain to go through all that again. 2 is my serving and that is that. Content. Satiated.
Putting the rest of the item away is the key that works for me. If I break a protein bar in half and leave it on my desk, I'm GOING to eat it. If I break it in half, wrap it up, put it in a zipper baggie, put it in the drawer and close it, it's done. Gone.0 -
With treats I have to remind myself that a) this particular food is not going to disappear from earth if I don't eat ALL of it RIGHT NOW and therefore b) I can have another normal portion tomorrow. I do that with cookies (my all time favorite binge food). Pace yourself--one a day instead of the whole package in two days.
Mindset--it helps me a lot to think of my daily calories as currency and how am I going to spend them. Also if I found the time to work out, I really don't want to cancel that out by going home and eating all those calories back. I don't have that kind of time to waste!!!
The first part made me laugh! You are so right!!
Your "Mindset" is me too!! I definitely think of my calories as currency and my allotment and what I have left as my budget.
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In all honesty, I always want more. Of everything. It's taken me about two-three years of reduced calorie eating to not enjoy the feeling of being stuffed. Doesn't matter if it's pasta, salad, ramen, tortilla chips, whatever. It's psychological, and I'm very aware of that.
The easiest for me is to not keep it in my house and eat certain foods only on social occasions. I haven't banned anything, but I know I shouldn't keep a family sized bag of chips and dip at home. Salty snacks and I still have issues. I'm not content after I eat five bites of nachos. I'd rather eat them until I feel disgusting than eat just a few, so they're now very limited in my diet.
With meals, it's a lot easier now that I don't want to feel super full. I pick a portion and eat mindfully. (I've always been a slow eater, but now I'm infuriatingly slow. Sorry, dining buddies. I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this burger and eat each spear of asparagus with tiny, methodical bites.) I'm sometimes still hungry or know I could eat more, but I'm ok with that. I can just stop and know I'll get to eat later. Again, this took a very, very long time.1 -
For me, meal planning is a way to combine instant (or at least not distant) gratification with long term goals. It feels illogical to plan for something that is of no benefit to me. When I meal plan, I look for foods that gives me both pleasure and nutrition. I don't usually value foods that just gives pleasure, high enough to bother to try to fit it in. I really don't want it. Eating foods I know provides no benefit, is just an impulsive action. Planning helps me avoid many impulsive destructive actions. I still get tempted, and I still surrender, but not as often.0
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I am a chip aholic, no joke, i can eat a whole bag (big) no problem
, so i buy my husband chips that i dont like. I also buy mini bags to take to work sometimes, and no im not satisfied, but it helps me somewhat. chips are by far my biggest down fall 0 -
kommodevaran wrote: »It feels illogical to plan for something that is of no benefit to me. When I meal plan, I look for foods that gives me both pleasure and nutrition. I don't usually value foods that just gives pleasure, high enough to bother to try to fit it in.
This makes me think of those people that say don't use food as a treat, we're not a dog. We're animals, we're highly motivated by things, which includes food. I still have chocolate, but now it's evolved into more of a treat - not an everyday occurrence. I enjoy it more, and still make sure to fit it into my calories.
For regular meals, planning and prep cooking is the safest bet for me, otherwise it becomes a run to fast food, and yeah sure curly fries what the heck and then a 1k calorie meal. Dangit.0 -
Its all a mind game, isnt it?!! I too agree that I tend to use my calories like a budget, and I want the best that my calorie money can buy. So I have to mentally assign the value of something and decide if its worth it. Or, if I just exercise a bit of restraint, I can have something even BETTER tomorrow. Or at the end of the week. Thats how I keep my excess eating of anything under some control. I also have found a few substitute foods for ones that that I absolutely love, and I know that I can have them everyday (and often do) but the one portion is satisfying enough. I also play a little game with myself. For example, I have a portion of food measured out (lets say my beloved Kellogs Special K cracker chips, salt and vinegar flavour). I have some almost every night while hubby and I compete on Jeopardy. I will only have a chip during the commercials. Or when Alex says "Daily Double" - remember the drinking games played at school? Kinda like that!!!0
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kommodevaran wrote: »For me, meal planning is a way to combine instant (or at least not distant) gratification with long term goals. It feels illogical to plan for something that is of no benefit to me. When I meal plan, I look for foods that gives me both pleasure and nutrition. I don't usually value foods that just gives pleasure, high enough to bother to try to fit it in. I really don't want it. Eating foods I know provides no benefit, is just an impulsive action. Planning helps me avoid many impulsive destructive actions. I still get tempted, and I still surrender, but not as often.
I guess I think of pleasure as a benefit and I also have a hard time separating out food that provides just pleasure vs. nutrition -- it leads me down a path of weird pleasure denial and overdoing it.
For example, let's say I decided my common post dinner treat of 200 calories of ice cream was "just pleasure." For me, that leads to the thought of whether cheese is just pleasure (what's the difference, really?), and if so should I really add it to my omelet or pasta since I can make those taste good without it. And that line of thinking tends to lead to the thought that I should minimize the mainly for pleasure aspects of cooking (which would include oil and butter, beyond a minimum, fattier cuts of meat, so on, since I could get the "benefits" of those foods without the extras). I'm better off just thinking of food more holistically and trying to focus on both eating an overall nutritious balanced diet with adequate protein, lots of vegetables, healthy fats, whatever it is my nutrition goals are, and freely including somewhat more decadent foods as part of the mix, whether that means a little piece of high quality chocolate or some ice cream in sensible amounts or cheese or butter or occasional pulled pork instead of just lean meat or a dinner out at a Mexican restaurant on occasion.
Not saying you should think of it this way, of course, just why it wouldn't work for me.0 -
There are several foods I cannot have in the house or I would eat the entire thing, no self control at all. Again, not trying to start a "no foods are bad" thread again, it's just me. Pie? I could eat the entire cherry pie, so if we need a pie for an event, I get apple because I don't like that enough to spend my calories on it. Portioning is helpful too--as lots of other folks have mentioned. With treats I have to remind myself that a) this particular food is not going to disappear from earth if I don't eat ALL of it RIGHT NOW and therefore b) I can have another normal portion tomorrow. I do that with cookies (my all time favorite binge food). Pace yourself--one a day instead of the whole package in two days.
Mindset--it helps me a lot to think of my daily calories as currency and how am I going to spend them. Also if I found the time to work out, I really don't want to cancel that out by going home and eating all those calories back. I don't have that kind of time to waste!!!
Very true for me. I don't keep candy in the house unless I plan to eat it all that day. Which is fine. I just know I can't portion certain things out. Like chocolate candy, gonna eat all of it. Ice cream, probably gonna eat all or at least too much of it.
I still eat fast food burritos and hamburgers on a regular basis. I plan them out when I will have a light lunch and can afford the calories. Sometimes I realize it is a mental craving, and like the post above remind myself that today is Monday and I am gonna eat that burrito on Saturday. I don't need to eat it today. It will still be there Saturday. I am not cutting burritos out of my life permanently. That means sometimes I can wait, I don't need to have all of the food every day. But there is still some struggle, in ye olden times I would have gotten a burrito and something else and felt stuffed. Now 9x out of 10 I am good at just getting the burrito. Thanks to retraining my stomach, I usually regret getting something else (feel full/unhappy). That doesn't mean I still don't make that mistake, it just means I make it less often than before.
Also definitely helpful to think of my calories as budget. Spend on absolutely what I want. Sometimes you have to pay the bills (blah, lean chicken breast tonight, BO-RING!) but not gonna waste $20 on a t-shirt I don't even want. Not gonna eat a high calorie meal that isn't absolutely worth it.0 -
It depends on my mindset and whether I'm in good condition. Normally, I can stop at 100 cals of just about anything and be content. I'm assuming you mean when I'm not actually hungry and needing a meal.
When I'm not in good condition (too much exercise on too few calories and not enough sleep), then I tend to overeat or find myself searching through the cabinet for something to munch on.
Also, when I'm feeling deprived. A family member decided to do a low carb diet not long ago. I visit them and stay over on the weekends. When I'm in their house, I follow their rules so I while they were on this diet, I was stuck with low carb, too. Sunday nights then found me back at my house on the sofa eating Oreos (or whatever equivalent) until I was just starting to feel uncomfortably full. About half a bag.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »For me, meal planning is a way to combine instant (or at least not distant) gratification with long term goals. It feels illogical to plan for something that is of no benefit to me. When I meal plan, I look for foods that gives me both pleasure and nutrition. I don't usually value foods that just gives pleasure, high enough to bother to try to fit it in. I really don't want it. Eating foods I know provides no benefit, is just an impulsive action. Planning helps me avoid many impulsive destructive actions. I still get tempted, and I still surrender, but not as often.
I guess I think of pleasure as a benefit and I also have a hard time separating out food that provides just pleasure vs. nutrition -- it leads me down a path of weird pleasure denial and overdoing it.
For example, let's say I decided my common post dinner treat of 200 calories of ice cream was "just pleasure." For me, that leads to the thought of whether cheese is just pleasure (what's the difference, really?), and if so should I really add it to my omelet or pasta since I can make those taste good without it. And that line of thinking tends to lead to the thought that I should minimize the mainly for pleasure aspects of cooking (which would include oil and butter, beyond a minimum, fattier cuts of meat, so on, since I could get the "benefits" of those foods without the extras). I'm better off just thinking of food more holistically and trying to focus on both eating an overall nutritious balanced diet with adequate protein, lots of vegetables, healthy fats, whatever it is my nutrition goals are, and freely including somewhat more decadent foods as part of the mix, whether that means a little piece of high quality chocolate or some ice cream in sensible amounts or cheese or butter or occasional pulled pork instead of just lean meat or a dinner out at a Mexican restaurant on occasion.
Not saying you should think of it this way, of course, just why it wouldn't work for me.
For me, it's the pleasure that is weird, the pleasure of certain foods ("junk foods") is just "too strong" to be part of my everyday food plan. I'm not saying that I've stopped eating chocolate, ice cream, candy and chips, but I choose to reserve it for special occasions (and not "create" "special occasions" for myself, like I used to. I really did overdo that.).
I love food, enjoy the hell out of it, and I'm not very strict - I eat cheese and nuts, add butter to porridge and oil to salads, nuts and honey or maple syrup to full fat Greek yogurt, choose the fattiest meats, have parmesan on pasta, cream in Alfredo sauce, make real cocoa with whole milk and sugar, eat lots of fresh fruit. Today I had pita bread filled with tuna salad made from canned tuna in oil, mayo and chopped onion. I don't feel I'm depriving myself and I really think my menu is holistic enough
I have no need for chocolate, ice cream, candy and chips; to me those are more or less nutritionally void. What I have is a "greedy desire" that I don't want and don't like.
It's about dosage and concentration - sometimes I will mix up things like (my newest invention) sesame seeds, honey and salted peanuts. My reaction to it (a sort of frenzy is the closest I get to describe it) tells me that it's "too much"; honey and peanuts mixed with yoghurt is great as part of my evening meal alongside fruit and vegetables, and I use sesame seeds and honey and olive oil on oven roasted parsnips, wonderful side to my Sunday steak - but taken out of context and destilled like that... my system can't handle it properly. It has nothing to do with "emotions" (at least, very little), it's physiological. I know I'm not the only one, that feels kinda comforting
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kommodevaran wrote: »Many of you eat treats (candy, chocolate, ice cream, cookies, chips) often. I understand that it won't impact overall nutrition or calorie goal. I'm more interested in what it feels like. Are you content after - say - 100 calories worth? Or do you have to force yourselves to stop? Does the want decrease after you've finished?
I've never had a problem eating just one of something and then putting it away.
Perhaps it has something to do with the way I was brought up. My mother had us on a fairly strict diet. We had a certain amount of food breakfast, lunch, and dinner + a small after-school snack + a small late-evening snack.
There was no dessert except on weekends ... and then it was one small serving.
The after-school snack was one cookie and milk. The evening snack was one piece of fruit. That's it.
So even now, when I'm going to have a cookie or something, I will get out one cookie ... and that's it. The rest will be there tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day ...
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