abstainer or moderation

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WifeofPJ
WifeofPJ Posts: 312
in Health and Weight Loss
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?
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Replies

  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
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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?
  • freemystery
    freemystery Posts: 184 Member
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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!
  • ksuetorres
    ksuetorres Posts: 139 Member
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    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!!!
  • glovepuppet
    glovepuppet Posts: 1,710 Member
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    's like booze, no? some people can do moderation. for others, one drink is one drink too many.
  • WifeofPJ
    WifeofPJ Posts: 312
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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.
  • galenofedgewood
    galenofedgewood Posts: 146 Member
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    '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.
  • JustPeachy044
    JustPeachy044 Posts: 770 Member
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    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.
  • shar140
    shar140 Posts: 1,158 Member
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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.
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    Moderation for me. I'd snap and eat all the cookies or french fries if I forced myself to abstain from them.
  • kganc001
    kganc001 Posts: 317
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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.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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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 ground
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    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.
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
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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
  • meredith1123
    meredith1123 Posts: 843 Member
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    I am fine with moderation.
    I know some people have to abstain though.
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,473 Member
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    can we drink yet?
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
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    d. none of the above.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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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?
  • DVaughan1975
    DVaughan1975 Posts: 158 Member
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    's like booze, no? some people can do moderation. for others, one drink is one drink too many.
    QFT and experience.
  • theCarlton
    theCarlton Posts: 1,344 Member
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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.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
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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?
    [/quote]

    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.

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