Depriving myself?

Awineburg

So I am confused if I am depriving myself, or just trying not to over indulge. So for example: If I get a sandwich, and one sandwich is one serving. I only eat half, and dont let myself eat the other half. Is that depriving myself? I also ate a banana. I was still a little hungry (I think) but I drank some water and tried not to think about it. I told myself that I had enough and I need to do work or whatever. I still felt that little hunger "pain' but I dont want to overindulge. So... am I depriving myself? Or just trying to avoid overindulging? :frown: :embarassed:

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taso42_DELETED

Don't worry about "serving size". That's a crappy metric. And besides, most of the time I need to eat 2 servings of something to have a reasonable amount of food (example most cans of tuna are 2 servings, but for me, and i bet most people, it's 1).

Just look at it in terms of your overall calories for the day. If you're eating good foods and hitting your numbers, I don't think you should be feeling too hungry. If you are, then perhaps the numbers MFP is giving you are off, which is the case for many, many people....

BamBam1113

Both. You should take some time to really look around on peoples' diaries and see what they are doing. I don't have a hungry point in my day. I eat at 7:30am, 9:30, 10:30. 11:30. 12:30, 2:30. 4:30, and home eating dinner at 6:30 with dessert by 7:30-8:00. Trying to lose weight is not starving yourself. It's readjusting your habits to a new lifestyle choice. I still eat everything i like (except fast food), but it's all home cooked, wheat instead of white, light instead of regular, and fat free if possible. Don't starve yourself or it'll be too tempting to cheat and fall off the wagon.

I also weigh and measure all my food. If the packasge says one serving is 1 cup....that's what I have.

MyNameIsNotBob

Well, I guess it comes down to how many calories you end up having over the course of the day. If you're under 1,000, you're probably depriving yourself. If you're in the 1,200-1,800 range, you're probably just exercising willpower.

Awineburg

I though it was one! Hahaha

TS65

I had to look at your diary to see what kind of sandwich we are talking about here. I think it was a good exercise in willpower. One of those sandwiches is 481 calories - no one needs to eat a 481 calorie sandwich in one sitting. HOWEVER, there's a difference between real hunger and head hunger. If your tummy was growling and felt empty, then you were still physically hungry and I think it would have been o.k. to eat a few more bites. IF it was just head hunger (meaning it was so good you wanted more even though you were physically satisfied), then eating more is just giving in to temptation. I don't think you were depriving yourself by just eating half. Depriving yourself would be if you REALLY REALLY wanted that sandwich (for weeks) and refused to have it. Deprivation like that will only lead to giving in and eating the whole thing (or two! :laugh: ) JMO.

akwagner25

Just be sure to eat the calories that MFP gave you. Don't worry about serving size except for helping you calculate your calories and evenly distribute those calories throughout the day. The 1/2 sandwhich thing sounds like you might be depriving yourself depending on what the sandwhich is and how often you eat during the day. I am a 3 meals a day with the occasional filler snack in between. When I have a sandwhich it is a full one and then I'll add some filler like steam vegetables or if you don't feel like cooking, I'll have a serving of Baked chips (I don't eat normal chips any longer). It looks like we both started from the same general weight area so I hope this helps you.