How do you know you're done?

amalthea23

So, my husband left half of a chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookie on his desk at work today. HUGE cookie, like, larger than my hand with outstretched fingers, and not one but TWO staff members commented on how amazing it is that he can eat half of a cookie. That is, he eats some cookie, feels satiated, and STOPS! What a novel idea! We all find that amazing. One of them actually said to him "wait, you're going to leave that?" He says "yeah, I'm full of cookie." I said "that is amazing." He asked why, and I explained that with things like cookies, chips, etc, I'm NEVER full. I can eat forever. I'm done when there's nothing left. He said "how do you know you're done?" I told him "well, usually, you finish eating snacks first and I get ashamed and decide I'm done." He was amazed. AMAZED. Of course, he's 2% body fat and looks like a porno actor. So my question is, am I alone in this? I feel like I have NO sense of being satiated. I'm just ALWAYS ready to eat more, so no matter when I stop, I'm sad about it. I never get that "reward" in your brain. For anyone else with this, how can I defeat that issue? I'm DYING to leave behind half of a cookie, or some doritos, but I cannot imagine it.

Penelope2Plyr

Wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but alas, I am just like you! NEVER do I leave half a cookie on my desk or anywhere.

sc1572

bump...i'd love to know!

darrcn5

I am like you when it comes to goodies. I can and will eat a whole cookie cake, pie, or cake. I bought a half a pound of fudge last week while I was on vacation, and I ate a half a pound of fudge later that night, so yeah.........

LuckyAng

I feel you on this one. Although I usually leave half of a cookie, it's because I'm not a big fan of sweet stuff. But savory? Oh, I always want more more more!! :grumble:

theitalian3721

I am the same as you!!!!!! It's lonely out there, being this way. I am small by many's standards, and eat more than people twice my size easily. Makes a 1,200 calorie a day limit VERY difficult.

heatherterp

Your husband is the odd one. Most people eat the whole cookie. Me, I am just trying to not start the cookie in the first place Good luck if you ever figure this out let me know. I want the cookie, even half of it.

njmp

Most people don't eat half a cookie. Although if it's as big as you say it is...MAYBE. But nope, like most, once I get into that cookie, it's mine. Me: 1 Cookie: 0. I win!!! Sort of.

So no, sorry, I don't think I can help:blushing:

sunshinekind919

My friend's boyfriend can do that. I'm getting better... though not always. I have to put the other half/portion away ahead of time, as in mentally process the fact that I will NOT eat the whole thing and that this part is for now and the other part is for later or never if I can foist it off on a friend, coworker, or boyfriend.

littlelaurie14

He must have superpowers :laugh:

Christine1110

I think the same thing. I care for children....they can have a small bowl of ice cream, and have 1 or 2 bites left and they say the same thing. I'm done. I always think there is only a bite or two left. I would have ate it all....and maybe thought about getting another scoop. I'm not sure why....I wonder what makes me like that. I have since stopped eating it for that reason.

TrailRunner61

I can do that with asparagus but not cookies!

timmymon

Practice doing it! It will be hard to do at first of course but after leaving a few half cookies behind maybe all the cookies will be half eaten from then on!

Then again, what is wrong with working super hard so you can just eat the whole damn cookie???

LovingLisa2012

I know how you feel, my husband has had an ice cream bar in the freezer for a few weeks now, I ate mine the moment he walked in the door with it ( ice cream truck)

I can't keep stuff like that on hand, or I won't stop till its gone .. Idk how he can just ignore it .. :grumble:

htmlgirl

This is just how I think:

I think it part of it has to do with the "clean your plate" mentality. "If you don't finish the cookie(s), then it'll go to waste and there are starving people in the world."

Another thing, I find it's easier to do portion control, when I measure it ahead of time. Make your own 100 calorie snack packs when you first open the package. If I don't do that, I tend to eat the whole thing at once. Typically, I only do this with "bad" foods like chocolate or whatever. Then when I finish the bag, it's not bad, because it was a single serving.

christa96

The salty carb foods get me... chips, crackers, etc. Sometimes I get in those moods where I just want to keep eating even when I know it's wrong! I know I shouldn't even buy the crazy stuff and eventually I'm going to have to stop because it is a trigger food for me! Just not quite yet... : )

dward2011

Here is what I did: I ate. Period. No tv. No radio. No cell phone. I ate. I had a conversation with my husband. If I was using a fork/spoon, I put it down completely after every single bite. If I was eating something by hand (like pita chips) I only took one chip at a time and broke it in half. I ate one half at a time, and waited until I was finished chewing to pick up the other half. I drank water along with my meals, not just at the end to "wash it all down". I started to notice the tastes, flavors, textures of each bite while enjoying conversations again. I did this for weeks. One day, I went to pick up my fork at dinner after eating about 3/4 of my meal, and a teeny tiny thought/voice said "you're full". I barely noticed it. So, I put my fork down. I was done with dinner.

As the weeks and now months have passed, this voice has become louder. I can eat and watch tv again, or check emails. My "you're full" voice is pretty loud now. I am satisfied with less and less. It was hard and frustrating (and I did cheat in the beginning) but it slowly got better. I don't even eat chips anymore. I would rather enjoy something homemade and full of flavor until I am full.

knk1553

Sweets is really easy for me to leave leftovers, I don't have a sweet tooth at all, and if I do its like....after 1 bite. Now put something salty in front of me...and I can probably eat it all, so I really have to pre-portion out what I want and put the rest away so I won't eat anymore.

jillian769

Can I have the other half of that cookie??? LOL Just kidding....I am the same way, I would never leave the other half of ONE COOKIE!!! I am also amazed by those people.:grumble:

beraggled

I know how you feel.I can be like that.But since i have changed the way i eat not so much.Dont even get the cravings.I read a book about six weeks ago called "the Gabriel method".It really helped me understand why i was eating the way i was.It goes into why we eat not as much of what we should eat and how much.For me it was really worth the read.Some of it was a little bit out there.But over the years of my yo-yo dieting i have finally learnt to listen to my body.And have taken bits and pieces from different dieting plans i have done over the years.Not sure if this helps at all but if you can get hold of the book it might be worth ago.Good luck on your weightloss journey.

irefusetoquit

Some people call it will power. Others call it mind over matter. Others ask, "do you really need those extra calories?" I've learned that its a balance of all three.

Use the will power of your mind to remind yourself everytime there's a temptation whether you need it or not.

A few years ago when I got into exercising and eating nutritionally, I started asking myself this: "will this food help me get closer to my goal or push me farther from it?" That helped me for a long time, and it still does.

Since most foods are here on MFP, look it up before ordering it. If you've already ordered it, eat only half of it.
(just leave the other half - or take it home for another day).

emnk5308

Instead of eating from the container you separate one serving for yourself and when its gone, its gone. That is the advice.. =( It is hard to follow.. I've eaten an entire family sized bag of doritos in a day before.. Even if I'm full, I can still have a desert, and entire desert.. It is more of will power thing. Get yourself a small serving and tell yourself when its gone, I'm done.

jerber160

when you stick in a fork and it comes out clean an easy..

Venturin

I simply stopped eating all junk food because I want to lose weight more than I want to eat a cookie.

cbirdso

You are not alone! But with me it isn't just goodies...it is all food. I belong to the clean plate society. I find it nearly impossible to leave food on my plate. It always SHOCKS me when someone says, I can't eat anymore. I'm like WHAT??? I CAN always eat, but of course for weight management, I CHOOSE not to eat more than a predetermined amount. If I had short term memory loss, I would never know when to stop eating because if I make a body check, I always feel about the same, whether I stuffed myself or haven't eaten in a while. Oh well....

njmp

Sorry I forgot to ask...where did the other half of said cookie go??? Just askin...like for curiosity's sake. Not like I want it or anything. Cause that would be weird.

Hezzietiger1

100 calorie packs.

MB_Positif

For me it helps to just take only what I "should" eat. If I want to only eat half the cookie, I break it in half and wrap up the other part for later or give it to someone else.

mom2mozart

Most of the time I just give myself a portion. If I want chips, I count them out. If I want cookies, I count them out. When my portion is done, I'm done. I know that each bite has calories and I just allow myself to eat what I've portioned. That is not to say I haven't eaten too much on occassion. However, I usually feel physically ill when I do. I don't like that feeling. I don't like to feel too full. I find that drinking while eating treats helps. I savor a cup of coffee, tea or milk with my treats most of the time. It helps me feel satisfied. I also try to eat my snacks/treats slowly so I can enjoy them longer. Little bites allow you to feel like you are eating more. I never understood why people gobble down goodies. The whole point is to taste them. Unless I'm starving, then I could probably over-eat. I try to eat regularly when I'm awake so I rarely get to the point of feeling famished.

littlepinkhearts

I can do this with all things chocolate. My friends at work used to laugh at me when I bought a chocolate bar from the machine, took a bite out of it then stuck it in my lunch bag for another day. A chocolate bar usually lasted me at least a week. I can do this only because i'm not a big fan of chocolate. I would eat them only for a treat and for the other ingredients in them mostly, such as coconut or whatever.

wild_wild_life

I believe this is a brain chemical thing. This is not a character flaw. I recently read of a study, can't find it now, comparing the activity in the reward or pleasure center of the brain when anticipating or eating something sweet. Overweight people had more brain activity when looking at and anticipating the food and less when eating it, whereas thin people had more when actually eating it (or something to that effect).

I know for myself, the anticipation is very strong but actually eating the item isnt always satisfying so I often I feel like I need to keep eating more in order to be as satisfied as I think I should.

Tl;dr: Blame dopamine