abstainer or moderation
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WifeofPJ
Posts: 312
I read an article in Good House Keeping today about how although many people beleive that Moderation is key and it is for many people but it may not be so for some people. The women who wrote this said that she does much better when she abstains from certain foods. This past weekend I was in the wedding the wedding was someone in my imediate family so I did not concern myself with what I was eating that day. This sent me in a tail spin of craving sugars carbs and being constently hungry and having constent cravings. After reading this I thought exactly I am not one who can have a few french fries no I have to have the entire plate of them. I realized it's ok to be an abstainer that some of us have to abstain from things in order to be successfull. In fact I have tried to loose weight by eating things in moderation and have never been successfull but when ever I abstain I am able to loose weight. Of course since I am insulin resistant that has a big play in why abstaining works better for me because my body craves those "bad" things and when I get a taste for them my body craves them and sometimes I can eat them uncontrolably.
So what do you think is best for you? Are you able to eat things in moderation or are you like me and need to abstain from the "bad" foods?
So what do you think is best for you? Are you able to eat things in moderation or are you like me and need to abstain from the "bad" foods?
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Replies
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While I agree that people have to do what works for them...were you abstaining from those foods before the wedding?0
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I completely agree here! I posted on a community thread about the things I'd "resisted" that day and a commenter mentioned it might be easier to moderate than abstain. So I really thought about it and realised I don't have the willpower for it. It's like one little nudge and the whole house of cards falls over.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the comment and it was food for thought (as opposed to food for hips, tee hee)
I'm better at moderation when the limit is clear... like say for example if I had a big bag of potato chips I will eat and eat till the bag is gone. But if I buy one mini candy bar and walk away I can deal with that. Never buy a bag of mini candy bars. It's the same principle as the potato chips.
Abstain:
Chocolate/ candy
Potato chips
Mayonnaise (god I could eat it on everything...)
Cakes/ patisserie desserts
Cheese
Moderate
Pasta
Bread
Lattes/ drinking my calories
Alcohol... weirdly I can stop after one or two and switch to lime and club soda or diet coke. I know. Surprised me too!
Actually looking at this, it seems I can't moderate fat but I do better at complex carbs!0 -
I've just convinced myself I don't LIKE rich, greasy, sugary things! That way I can eat around people having chicken fried steak, donuts, ice cream. . . Nothing tastes as good as being a size 6!!!0
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's like booze, no? some people can do moderation. for others, one drink is one drink too many.0
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A few weeks ago I had a regular instead of small pizza from Solo's and was going to take half of it home. Well I didnt' take 1/2 of it home but I ate the rest when I got home. But it seems that since it was whole wheat crust it didn't send me into the tail spin that this weekend did. This weekend I had Cake, cookie, croissant, white bread stick, and kisses. And that sent me into a tail spin for a few days afterwards. I need to abstain from the Simple Carbs which makes sence being that I am Insulin resistant.
I posted this so other abstainers knew it was ok at other people are the same way.0 -
's like booze, no? some people can do moderation. for others, one drink is one drink too many.
This is true.
You do what you need to do. I can moderate, mostly, or at least substitute. If I cut something out completely, I'm more likely to over induldge later. If I get a bit of it now and then, the craving just isn't that strong and easier to resist or ignore.0 -
For me its abit of both. Thre are days when i know even one bite will not satisfy and i cant fford the calories to eat more than that so i abstain. When i do decide to eat something calorie rich and nutrient poor, i try to serve myself my allotted amount then put away the rest before i even take one bite. Sometimea i still have weak moments and go back for more but less oftwn when i work it that waty.0
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Some of both, as well as a mindset change.
Instead of telling myself I CAN'T have something (and in turn, making myself want it, as someone else mentioned), I just choose not to eat stuff like cake, donuts, pasta, bread, etc. I'm gluten-intolerant - it won't kill me (as perhaps an allergy, which I have to shellfish), but it's not worth feeling like crap after partaking. I do some gluten-free cookies, but that's where I exercise moderation - every few months.0 -
Moderation for me. I'd snap and eat all the cookies or french fries if I forced myself to abstain from them.0
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It's a combination of both...I eat my favorite things EVER in moderation (I have a cookie every day. Only one...it's enough!). But I completely abstain from liquor (I used to binge a lot on weekends...it was really unhealthy), take out breakfast foods (Hardee's was my favorite), and fried food. But I abstain from them because when I used to consume that stuff it made me feel crappy.0
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If you can abstain for the rest of your life, then by all means...
Otherwise, how are you ever going to learn how to actually eat and not yo yo up and down if you don't learn moderation. IMHO, moderation is practiced an learned...MFP is a training ground0 -
Moderation doesn't always mean small portion, it can also mean large portion infrequently. If I only eat it once a month, I don't mind taking a 2000-calorie item. It's okay to pig out once in a while, as long as you make sure your weekly average looks good.0
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Moderation and abstaining both lead to bingeing
i eat what i want and exercise it off
it w orks ggod for me- 27 pounds gone., 10 percent of body w eight a nd 2 inches off waist0 -
I am fine with moderation.
I know some people have to abstain though.0 -
can we drink yet?0
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d. none of the above.0
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Moderation and abstaining both lead to bingeing
i eat what i want and exercise it off
it w orks ggod for me- 27 pounds gone., 10 percent of body w eight a nd 2 inches off waist
Not a very good mindset of having to burn off everything you eat. And both moderation and abstaining lead to binging?0 -
's like booze, no? some people can do moderation. for others, one drink is one drink too many.0
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I had to abstain in the beginning from my triggers because it was too much for me to manage the change to my lifestyle AND not go overboard. After I lost a lot of the weight, I learned what it means to just have a single small serving of something or to work for something larger.0
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So what do you think is best for you? Are you able to eat things in moderation or are you like me and need to abstain from the "bad" foods?
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I have some things like pasta, all baked good from white processed flour and white rice I have abstained from since April 10th and feel good physically as well as mentally and have seen results. The rest of all food I treat with moderation.
In my case it is knowing my trigger foods ( I could easily eat two cups of rice with every meal every day ) and knowing what I can handle.0
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