"You have to eat everything on your plate..."

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  • peachfigs
    peachfigs Posts: 831 Member
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    I prepare smaller portions that I know I can eat, and eat more regularly.

    Plus, working out makes me extremely hungry so I know I'll definitely eat it!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I like the idea of "free food" too...putting it in the fridge for later...esp lately I am famished now and just finished lunch about 1.5 hours ago...mind you there was none left...
  • lsmsrbls
    lsmsrbls Posts: 232 Member
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    I'm a guesstimator. On rare occasions I will measure something just to verify that I'm close to knowing what a tablespoon or cup looks like.

    If I don't want to eat everything on my plate, I don't eat it. If I want more, I get seconds.

    I have no interest in spending time measuring food.
  • FarAway02
    FarAway02 Posts: 211
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    Why would anyone force themselves to eat it all?? If you're full you're full!

    I guestimate what I eat for the most part. I've never really had problems with portion size...my problem is more WHAT kinds of food I eat so I'm normally quite good at self-regulating portion size.

    That said, I've been losing weight/inches and changes physically quite consistently. If I'd been eating better for, say, a month and hadn't seen any changes I would definitely be looking at weighing my food/getting stricter about it.

    One of the things I do for foods I'm not too sure the calorie count on I weigh out the amount I would normally be eating and from there I know roughly how much to pour out of x food to make 30g (for instance if I have cereal for breakfast I know what 40g looks like just at a glance - give or take a few grams!).

    If I haven't eaten everything I've logged I just guess at roughly how much I left behind on my plate. If it was about 1/3 left over then I log that I only had 0.6/7 of the meal (ie. 0.6/7 of jacket potato with x and x)

    Guessing is fine. But if you're ever struggling to get weight off one of the first things one should look at is portion size & accuracy!
  • JskC1893
    JskC1893 Posts: 156 Member
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    I'm sorry I read that your title in my mother's voice .. though there was usually a reward at the end .. "to get dessert!"

    Fortunately my parents did not torture me with that!! I had one relative who babysat me for a weekend and made me eat everything I put on my plate, and I definitely overscooped. I was probably around 6 years old. haha, one of those memories....

    Actually, at the time it wasn't torture, I didn't get to where I was leaving food on my plate.

    I'm glad it wasn't torture for you!! I can still envision my large plate of cashew chicken i had created for myself, turns out I didn't even like cashew chicken O-O
  • JskC1893
    JskC1893 Posts: 156 Member
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    The 'problem' I keep having is I weigh/measure my food and often times don't eat it all.

    Its not a problem really, I can just give myself less food/get more if I want more. The question I have is how do other people handle this in regards to logging food?

    Are you someone who is obsessive about accuracy? Or just guess-timate your portions actually consumed?

    For example I just measured out 3/4 cup of spaghetti squash and a 1/4 cup of sauce and did not eat all of it, but I logged all of it.

    Just curious how other people deal with this :) A friend of mine says she just forces herself to eat it all. Shes logging it and keep at her calories and eats it even if she is full.

    I do this, too. I figure the few times I don't eat everything I log will in part make up for the times I eat a small amount of something un-loggable (taste of sauce while I'm cooking, ONE french fry off my son's plate). I suppose it all evens out in the end. I lost almost thirty pounds this way, so it must work, right? :wink:

    Funny i'm at a 27 lb loss too at this point, SO I guess we must be doing something right!!
  • JskC1893
    JskC1893 Posts: 156 Member
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    Why would anyone force themselves to eat it all?? If you're full you're full!

    I guestimate what I eat for the most part. I've never really had problems with portion size...my problem is more WHAT kinds of food I eat so I'm normally quite good at self-regulating portion size.

    That said, I've been losing weight/inches and changes physically quite consistently. If I'd been eating better for, say, a month and hadn't seen any changes I would definitely be looking at weighing my food/getting stricter about it.

    One of the things I do for foods I'm not too sure the calorie count on I weigh out the amount I would normally be eating and from there I know roughly how much to pour out of x food to make 30g (for instance if I have cereal for breakfast I know what 40g looks like just at a glance - give or take a few grams!).

    If I haven't eaten everything I've logged I just guess at roughly how much I left behind on my plate. If it was about 1/3 left over then I log that I only had 0.6/7 of the meal (ie. 0.6/7 of jacket potato with x and x)

    Guessing is fine. But if you're ever struggling to get weight off one of the first things one should look at is portion size & accuracy!

    I'll do that too if what I'm not eating seems substantial!!
  • JskC1893
    JskC1893 Posts: 156 Member
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    What's a leftover?

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,022 Member
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    It's not always "silly" to keep eating if you're "full." I'm very precise about calculating my calories and macros, weighing and measuring food, and logging absolutely everything I eat. It is all planned very well so that I know when I sit down to eat a plate full of food, it's as close to being the exact amount of calories I'm supposed to eat (for my body and my goals) as I can get. So I may think I'm "full" when I've eaten half of my dinner, but I know if I don't eat all of it, something will not go well. I won't sleep as well I normally do, I'll be hungry way sooner than I should be the next day, or my training will be off.

    Besides, I'm a great cook, and I'm not going to leave delicious food on the plate when it fits in my calorie/macro goals for the day. It just seems dumb.
  • da_bears10089
    da_bears10089 Posts: 1,791 Member
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    force it down!
  • JskC1893
    JskC1893 Posts: 156 Member
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    I guess-timate to the best of my ability. I even add about 200 calories a day just in case I under guess because it is not realistic for me to measure every single thing precisely.

    I take it as a good thing when I eat a little less and get full.

    I also wouldn't force myself to eat if I were full. Maybe your friend can do smaller portion sizes?

    I definitely agree that smaller portions would help her, but shes on a roll with butter (thats what she says). :D
  • ehorn625
    ehorn625 Posts: 144
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    I'm sorry I read that your title in my mother's voice .. though there was usually a reward at the end .. "to get dessert!"

    LOL-That's what I was thinking. The reason I am overweight was that we were always taught to eat everything on our plate because there are poor starving children somewhere!!
  • dakitten2
    dakitten2 Posts: 888 Member
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    I'm sorry I read that your title in my mother's voice .. though there was usually a reward at the end .. "to get dessert!"

    I thought the same thing along with the statement that followed.......there are starving children in Africa.

    My sisters and I spent many hours sitting at the dining room table after dinner until it was bedtime. Then we found this tiny tear in the wallpaper right below the chair railing and found that we could stuff our broccoli or whatever into the wall. Needless to say eventually when the "smell" starting becoming quite evident and my mother was convinced there was a dead mouse in the wall and my dad had to tear down the wall, our secret was exposed.

    When I had children I vowed I would never make them clean their plates and I never did. I would ask them to take one bite of something new instead of just saying that they didn't like it.
  • JskC1893
    JskC1893 Posts: 156 Member
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    It's not always "silly" to keep eating if you're "full." I'm very precise about calculating my calories and macros, weighing and measuring food, and logging absolutely everything I eat. It is all planned very well so that I know when I sit down to eat a plate full of food, it's as close to being the exact amount of calories I'm supposed to eat (for my body and my goals) as I can get. So I may think I'm "full" when I've eaten half of my dinner, but I know if I don't eat all of it, something will not go well. I won't sleep as well I normally do, I'll be hungry way sooner than I should be the next day, or my training will be off.

    Besides, I'm a great cook, and I'm not going to leave delicious food on the plate when it fits in my calorie/macro goals for the day. It just seems dumb.

    I agree with you. I don't think that there is a right or wrong answer, or even an 'all the time' answer.

    I definitely understand wanting to eat great cooking. Its funny how full i get with less delicious food, and how much delicious food I can eat.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    If this happens once. Just stop eating and log the whole thing, or if you can eyeball it like a half or a third you can erase the 1 and put .5 or .333333. That's what I do.

    If this happens over and over. Start serving and measuring yourself half the amount. Finish it and if you are still hungry have a completely different food to get you to your cal goal.
  • EatClean_WashUrNuts
    EatClean_WashUrNuts Posts: 1,590 Member
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    EAT ALL THE FOODZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • EmilyOfTheSun
    EmilyOfTheSun Posts: 1,548 Member
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    For example I just measured out 3/4 cup of spaghetti squash and a 1/4 cup of sauce and did not eat all of it, but I logged all of it.

    Just curious how other people deal with this

    Measure left overs
    Subtract from original entry
    Save lefts overs
    Eat later and re-log
  • LBNOakland
    LBNOakland Posts: 379 Member
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    I'm sorry I read that your title in my mother's voice .. though there was usually a reward at the end .. "to get dessert!"


    Lol. I heard my dad saying "Eat the dang peas girl!"

    LOL Biggest fight my father-in-law had was when he told my kids to clean their plates! Oh No!! That's why I look like this. YOU made their plate, not them so it isn't a case eyes bigger than their stomache. You want the plate clean, YOU clean it! Hubby just looked at me and shrugged. He knew I was right.
  • LBNOakland
    LBNOakland Posts: 379 Member
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    I'm sorry I read that your title in my mother's voice .. though there was usually a reward at the end .. "to get dessert!"


    Lol. I heard my dad saying "Eat the dang peas girl!"

    LOL Biggest fight my father-in-law had was when he told my kids to clean their plates! Oh No!! That's why I look like this. YOU made their plate, not them so it isn't a case eyes bigger than their stomache. You want the plate clean, YOU clean it! Hubby just looked at me and shrugged. He knew I was right.

    Sorry!! To the OP! Cleaning my plate is still a hard habit to break so I like to leave a little food. It makes me feel I am practicing self-control. I count it all because I am afraid it may be under-estimated. I eat back exercise calories and I am afraid MFP overestimates that. Trying to balance it all out is difficult!
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I'm sorry I read that your title in my mother's voice .. though there was usually a reward at the end .. "to get dessert!"

    I was thinking this too. Only "happy plates" will get a dessert.

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