Moderation or Deprivation? Which works for you personally?

sijomial

Moderation.
I can do short term deprivation to achieve a short term goal but for me that's a miserable experience I have to endure for a specific greater reward.

I wonder if most of the people choosing deprivation are meaning while losing weight or for the rest of their lives?
Personally I would hate to go shopping or go to a restaurant and think "I can't have that".

Enthusiast84

Moderation hands down for me. I would have lost no weight if I deprived myself from chocolate, crisps, biscuits and all the other food I love as I would have given up. I think that's why other diets have failed for me in the past as so many food were off limits.

ladyreva78

When I deprive, I binge.

So I'm slowly learning how to moderate. There's days I'm successful. There's days I'm not. I just log it all and move on with my life. Someday, moderation will be second nature and that when I know I'll have long term success at keeping the weight off.

paperpudding

Moderation.
-( another thousands plus poster on moderation team)

However, like amusedmonkey said, it isn't entirely a polarised deprivation vs moderation equation.

Some things I deprive myself of for period of time eg Lent or keep for weekend treats. Things like non-diet soda I have not banned but I drink very rarely because not worth the calories and easy alternative
I also practice some of the 'don't ban but make it harder' strategies mentioned - eg keeping chocolate on top shelf of pantry where I have to get step ladder to reach.

Lounmoun

I'm not an all or nothing sort so probably a bit of both with moderation mostly.
Moderation might mean buying the food rarely or in small quantities not just having piles of it in my face daily and using awesome willpower.
I have very little trouble with sweets. Just don't have a huge sweet tooth.
I have trouble with saltier stuff like cheese puffs or goldfish crackers. I can moderate some salty foods but not others as well. Wasabi peas are great. A block of cheese is fine. Pickles are fine. Bread is usually okay. Chips are borderline. Saltine crackers are better not started. Goldfish crackers are very difficult. Cheese puffs are... well, I still wouldn't trust myself with a large container of them.

tinkerbellang83

All or nothing is what caused me to yo-yo for so many years and never truly lose weight. So all for moderation, sometimes I fail to moderate but those instances are far less frequent than they used to be.

amusedmonkey

tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

All or nothing is what caused me to yo-yo for so many years and never truly lose weight. So all for moderation, sometimes I fail to moderate but those instances are far less frequent than they used to be.

I think this is important to understand. Moderating doesn't mean being perfect all the time. Sometimes we overeat some things and that's okay. It sure is much better than the huge and more frequent backslides or the temptation to completely blow it or even quit when breaching a bright line. It's less damaging to my diet and to my mental health when I don't get sucked into a guilt cycle created by rigid rules and complete abstinence.

sw33tie

Keri8680 wrote: »

I agree! I tend to do much better avoiding the temptations than if I tell myself “just one bite”. That “just one bite” turns into me obsessing about the food and focusing on how good it tastes. That is so much harder to control than the imagination of what it must taste like!

Exactly how I feel! I don't really miss it when I'm not having it, but once I taste it. I remember how much I love it! Ughhh

sw33tie

kommodevaran wrote: »

The answer would be "don't deprive yourself, because...".

Cultivating the "all or nothing" mindset, and demonizing foods we love, makes those treats into irresistible gems, cravings into overpowering urges, anticipation soars, one little bite means failure, feeling of failure leads to "to hell with it". And you don't even get to appreciate the taste, because you think you shouldn't be eating it in the first place, so you eat more, to try to get the satisfaction you feel missing out on, and the satisfaction your brain promised you. At some point you start to really fear certain foods, and you start to doubt your own ability to control your intake, you eat the forbidden foods to calm yourself, but eating it makes you even more anxious; a self-fulfilling prophecy and a vicious circle.

An attitude where no food is forbidden, but that a rational management of available food resources is our personal responsibility, is a healthy attitude, in my opinion.

Our society is one of overabundance, and a culture that praises instant gratification, which means we are told that everybody should have anything they want, all the time, but this leads to impatience, dissatisfaction, greed, envy. When boundaries are mentioned, people often think of them as deprivation. It's not the same. We all need boundaries in order to function. We can't say yes to everything all the time. But we can't say no to everything all the time, either. A time for everything, is a good thing. This will be a bit different for each person. Some people have ice cream and/or chocolate every day. Some have it once a year. Both can be regarded as moderation.

Very insightful! I'm still new to this, trying to practice moderation on the things I love most.

sw33tie

JaiNicole7 wrote: »

Deprivation.

I have to basically completely eliminate pasta and rice. It is extremely hard for me to keep it within my calories, have an appropriately sized portion, not go totally berzerk. Having recently found out that I'm borderline diabetic I don't feel too bad cutting them out except for special occasions and occasional cheats. I HAVE enjoyed them in moderation, but I almost feel like it isn't worth it.

I literally feel like Pookie in New Jack City-ashy lipped & cracked out, looking at the pasta pot like "it be calling me, man, it be calling me....& I just gotta GO TO IT." LOL. A work in progress for me.

Hahahaha

jwilk241

Both. If I'm trying to break a bad habit I will "deprive" myself. Once I no longer feel like I NEED those things, I add them back in and I'm able to control my portions much easier.

sw33tie

tiptoethruthetulips wrote: »

I don't see it as deprivation but as abstaining. I don't moderate well at all, I have an all or nothing mentality so generally abstain on trigger foods.

Neither one is better than the other, do what works for you.

https://gretchenrubin.com/2012/10/back-by-popular-demand-are-you-an-abstainer-or-a-moderator/

"Trigger foods". Yep! I have those.... And at this point in my journey I think I have to stay away

sw33tie

mlm7281 wrote: »

Deprivation for sure. I’m doing IF now 19/5 and it works great for me (only on day 5 so far - part of my Holy Week sacrifice, but I hope I can stick to it because I just don’t think about food any more).

I'm doing IF too *high five* I lost 8lbs in 10 days! But I also eliminated concentrated sweets

LivingtheLeanDream

Moderation works well for me.

smolmaus

I practice moderation because its the most sustainable choice for the rest of my life.

In reality, I'm fine 99% of the time but I do still have binge-days, usually caused by earlier panic attacks or anxiety and there's no point having a list of foods I can't have around just in case that happens because I will binge eat anything. A whole loaf of bread? Sure, I don't even like bread that much normally, but okay! Peanut butter straight out of the jar? Yep. Will I even bake a mug-cake from scratch when there's no other food in the house to binge on. You betcha.

rheddmobile

What works for me is a combination. I'm a diabetic so taking my blood sugar helps with moderation - if I have too large a portion of anything carby, I see the results in my numbers.

Certain foods and drinks such as Coke, I do much better just giving them up completely than trying to moderate. I know already that the amount of pizza I can safely eat (about one or two slices, thin crust, less than one slice of thick crust) will just make me feel sad, so it's better to think of it as off-limits. Who wants to pretend to be happy eating half a donut? Instead, it's better to find something else I enjoy and forget that donuts exist.

When I was first diagnosed I eliminated added sugars and refined grains almost completely for about six weeks. I think this is helpful because it allows your taste buds to readjust to tasting natural sugars instead of foods that are hyper-sweet, and for many people it does reduce cravings. Then I gradually added back in small portions of sweet foods that I really enjoy.

sardelsa

Moderation works very well for me. If I want something more calorie dense, I have a small bit or if I want a larger portion I plan for it in my week. Deprivation short term I'd imagine if I wast trying to get super ultra lean.

Running_and_Coffee

Specific foods have an impact on my brain. Like if I eat some cheese or almond as a snack, I don’t think about food again until I’m hungry. If I have an equal calories’ amount of crackers or oatmeal, I will think about food until the next meal and crave specific things that aren’t as healthy. So I don’t eat the foods that set off the cravings. But because I lack cravings, I also don’t feel deprived. I don’t see it as deprivation...it’s knowing myself well enough to set myself up for success.

LifeWithPie

Moderation. Life's too short to never enjoy a donut again.

Silentpadna

Moderation.

With a plan in place and constant focus on the big picture. If I have a planned deficit of 500 and I decide to have a couple of extra chocolate chip cookies (extra because I have them pretty much every day) that bring my deficit to 350, then oh well. There are plenty of days that I don't fret over having a 700 calorie deficit instead of my planned 500. When I have the extra 2, I make it a point to enjoy them. Otherwise what's the point?

Moderation helps me to enjoy things. Deprivation helps me to crave things.

I realize we're not all the same in this area, but that's what works for me.