Doritos are not meth.

I am a food addict, I don't understand moderation.

That's just an excuse, everyone understands moderation, you just have to say NO to yourself and see it through.
It isn't easy, but it's not impossible if you keep trying.

I'm sorry, but are you a psychiatrist? A medical doctor? If not, perhaps you should not try speaking with authority on topics you do not understand.


It's great that you can eat crap in moderation. Don't shame the people who cannot. It's just plain rude, and it makes you look like a jerk.

I'm sorry? I don't understand, really? I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt & lost the weight, so please, go on & tell me how I do not understand.
No actually, I was saying it in a stern encouraging "it is possible, you can do it" way! No shaming intended.


It's nice to see that after a year MFP still has people who jump the gun & ride high horses.

Dear, you are 19 years old. You are not an expert. I congratulate you on your weight loss; that is no easy feat. It took a lot of effort and insight on your part, and for that, I applaud you.

Just remember that what is true or what works for you is NOT necessarily true for others. I notice you didn't quote or argue with the part of my post that said that food does actually act as a drug for some people, and therefore as an addiction, cannot be controlled with will power alone. You believe that self-knowledge and will power to eat in moderation should be enough for everyone, because they worked for you. That is incorrect.

Telling someone that their addiction is just an excuse most certainly IS shaming, regardless of your intentions. Would you tell an alcoholic that their addiction is just an excuse, and that they should be able to suck it up and have just one drink?

Some of us HAVE to completely refrain from eating certain foods. Period. We do what works for us. You do what works for you. We all lose weight. Yay!

I am a food addict, I don't understand moderation.

That's just an excuse, everyone understands moderation, you just have to say NO to yourself and see it through.
It isn't easy, but it's not impossible if you keep trying.

Easier said than done, I have been on this journey for a very long time. I know what works for me. Not having these foods works best for me.

Don't judge me, until you have been in my shoes and certainly don't tell me I am using it as an excuse. That is your opinion, not fact.

I am so glad for you, that you don't suffer with my problems.

While your post is correct - it is only practical once you have a healthy relationship with food. Everyone has different triggers and are at different stages in their struggle to have a healthy relationship with food. Moderation works for some right from the start, others have to work through some issues with their 'drug' before they can incorporate it back into their diet.

Evidently, binge eating on a single food was never your issue.

Hot Cheetos. They will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I’m hesitant even as I write this, because I don’t want this to turn into some horrible flame war thread, because I write this with good intentions and not to judge or bully anyone. But it’s been on my mind for some time so I want to write it out…

Everywhere I look on this site I see threads or comments where people are losing their damn mind because someone brought cupcakes into work, or their mother-in-law made pasta for Sunday dinner, or they had to drive past a Taco Bell last Wednesday and it’s been giving them night terrors. They refuse to eat these things in moderation, or fit them somewhere in their daily/weekly/monthly goals and instead spend hours freaking out and obsessing about what they ate, didn’t eat or almost ate.

If someone brings cupcakes into my work, and I decide I’d like one – I eat it, I think “What a delicious cupcake.”, log it as best as I can in my food journal and continue with my day. I never think about it again, I don’t skip dinner or do an extra workout or pray to the Weight Loss God. I don’t shiver and sob on my bathroom floor while rubbing Sensa crystals all over my body. I ate a cupcake, I didn’t hit someone with my car and keep driving, so why should I feel guilty?

I’m not saying I don’t make bad choices some days. The other day I ate an entire bag of tortilla chips and an entire jar of queso dip. And not throughout the day or at a casual social event. I sat on my couch and crammed about 1500 calories into my mouth in 20 minutes. Did I regret it afterwards? Of course I did. Do I now think I have a queso addiction and refuse to have it in my house? No. There is a bag of chips in my cupboard and a jar of dip in my fridge. I like to enjoy a serving of each some nights after work.

The big picture is, food can not own or control us. We have power over our own minds. You are not addicted to chocolate. You are not addicted to carbs. There’s no shifty dudes hanging out in the alley trying to sell you Cheetos. Doritos are not meth. Losing weight to me has nothing to do with looking smokin’ hot in a bikini, one of my biggest goals is to continue to learn and implement my own self control. To learn how to keep things in balance, and make good decisions. I will slip up sometimes and moderation can fly out the window, but I’d rather learn from my mistakes than constantly worry about these “bad foods” and when they’re going to get me. I want to be free from these restrictions we put upon ourselves.

I’m not saying you have to keep eating junk food. If you don’t want to, don’t. If you want to eat clean (whatever that actually means), then go nuts. Just stop giving food more power than it has. I am so sick of people talking about food like it’s a drug. “Oh, I can’t control myself around sweets.” Yes, you can. You just never have. “I can’t have chips in my house!” Sure you can. Sometimes you’ll ration them out serving by serving throughout the week, and sometimes you’ll eat the entire bag at once and regret it afterwards. In my opinion, you will learn more from that than from walking through life with your eyes closed pretending chips don’t exist.

They do exist. And they are delicious.