I *honestly* do NOT understand...

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Replies

  • jamiemommy
    jamiemommy Posts: 58 Member
    I can't have it in the house:( I'm weak...but logging y mistakes seriously helps me take a step back. I'm sure this week will be better for you! good luck
  • yksdoris
    yksdoris Posts: 327 Member
    I never bring the whole package with me to eat. I measure out a portion, and have to go back to the kitchen to get more.

    THIS!

    for added effect; as soon as you measure out your portion, put the bag away, log the calories and walk to a different room to eat your treat. That way you know exactly how many calories you still have "left" should you want a 2nd portion; plus you have to walk all the way back to the kitchen, fish out the bag, pour out the portion, log the calories again... loads of steps during which to reconsider ;)

    I used to be exactly like that too! potato chips; I'd always eat the whole bag, no matter how big the bag. like a compulsion...
  • k_winder
    k_winder Posts: 65 Member
    Simple answer: I don't buy them.

    If I don't buy them, I can't eat them. So for me it's all about having self-control and totally avoiding those aisles while at the grocery store.
  • JingleMuffin
    JingleMuffin Posts: 543 Member
    i just plain old dont buy my trigger foods. I dont keep icecream, chocolate or any kind of chips in the house. I also dont buy fries or anything like that. those things i love but they are treats and not every day food. once in a blue moon,my friends and i will head out to an awesome ice cream place and enjoy a scoop of my favorite kind. or every couple of months when were out and about my husband and i will hit a chocolate shop and we will each get a piece of choclate or a truffle. having it less often makes it more fun when you have it. thats how i do it. may not work for everyone. :)
  • skinnymalinkyscot
    skinnymalinkyscot Posts: 174 Member
    How I finally conquered my trigger foods was to get angry, angry at myself for being too dumb to realise that the thing on a plate in front of me no matter how appealing, was just a thing. It was exactly the same kind of thing that a cigarette was when i gave up smoking. It was me against this thing that didnt speak, had no control over me except what I let it have. Nobody made me pick up either cigarettes or chocolate or put either in my mouth.
    So I had to really stop and think why would I put bad things into my mouth that are going to make me hate myself in the long run. So yes I let out my anger and stiffened my spine, I was angry that I couldnt eat what I wanted like my husband and stay slim, I was angry for getting so huge in the first place. It doesnt matter how nice something tasted if it was ultimately going to spoil my long term goal for myself. So now when I look at a crispy piece of bacon or a bar of chocolate they dont look appetising to me anymore, they look like FAT, fat which is going to get inside my body and stay there.
  • blessedmomof3girls
    blessedmomof3girls Posts: 61 Member
    So far my method has been to substitute a lot of foods with other things that are similar, and also if I want something that bad I make sure I work for it. Like for example, the other day I walked for 90 minutes about 3.5-4mph, and I had enough calories to allot myself a bag if I wanted. It was 290 calories for the entire bag. Now even though I 'worked' for it, I sure didn't feel like undoing every ounce of my hard work for a bag of chips lol. I ended up grabbing the Special K crispy cracker chips (110 cal for a small bag, about 31 chips), and calling it good. To me, it wasn't worth the all that extra effort for that. So I got my treat of chips, even if it wasn't what I had initially planned. If think about the amount of time you have to work to earn a treat, or how long you have to workout just to work off that candy bar I guarantee you that you are going to think twice before you eat it lol.
  • smemorgan
    smemorgan Posts: 2

    I think any food like chips, pretzels, or anything you eat a tiny bit at a time are quite difficult to stop eating. You know those "fun size" chocolate bars? Oh, they're not that many calories, and so you eat 1, then 2, then 19.

    ^^^This!!! haha! So true!
  • pwnderosa
    pwnderosa Posts: 280 Member
    I have some cute little tiny plates I use, measure or weigh a serving size in the kitchen, put away the snack packaging in the cupboard (somewhere high up preferably) and then bring my snack to the other room to eat it. I also eat it reallllly slowly, which took some time to teach myself to do LOL!

    Once I'm done I try to get another activity going right away, play a game on my phone, do a sketch, do a quick round of cleaning, just anything to keep busy for a few minutes to sort of signal to myself snacktime is over. *Usually* works...
  • willdob3
    willdob3 Posts: 640 Member
    Completely eliminating processed foods worked for me. Eating "a few" simply is not going to happen for me. No matter what size the package is I translate to "one serving."

    I never thought I could eliminate all processed foods but it turns out that the only hard part is thinking about doing it before making the decision.

    With no processed foods I am able to eat three meals, no snacks and be satisfied. Not even temptation to to eat late at night and I used to be Queen of night-time snacking.

    All I need to do is add one processed food in & I'll want to eat non-stop. It is scary, like flipping a switch.
  • RivenV
    RivenV Posts: 1,667 Member
    How I feel about every birthday cake in the office...
    6f5.gif
  • Renegade706
    Renegade706 Posts: 209
    What helped me is when I started eating small , balanced meals every 3 hours. It keeps your metabolism higher than just eating breakfast lunch and dinner..Im not going to lie and say I never crave the bad foods, but it does seem to happen alot less frequently since I started eating this way and drinking a gallon of water a day. Having said that if its someones birthday and the sweet sheet cake is in the house, its going down....and its going down with ice cream on top!
  • sweetpea129
    sweetpea129 Posts: 755 Member
    I also had problems with trigger foods (doritos, chocolate). Its gotten a lot better now. I still dont really buy them but once in awhile we will wind up with them in the house. What i do is make myself wait a certain amount of time (30 minutes or so). If I still want them, I will take out one serving size and put the rest away. After my serving size, if i find i am still wanting more i will have a piece of fruit. Usually some cherries or grapes or slice of pineapple. This works 99% of the time for me. Still sweet and yummy and makes me feel better (empowered) that I chose the fruit over the chips.
  • Aspieb
    Aspieb Posts: 26
    I can say with all honesty, I no longer have any foods I 'can't stop' eating. Right now I have a half a pan of brownies that sat there for a week and will be going out with the trash today. I intended to put them in the freezer before they got stale, but just forgot about them.

    I've done this in two ways. One intentional, one accidental. The accidental one was when I discovered from my doctor that I was one of those people (and there are more than you might think) who actually, *need* more salt. I started salting my food as much as tasted good to me, and my cravings for junk food (usually high in salt) were very quickly gone. My body needed the salt and had to get it somewhere.

    The way I did it intentionally was simply to eat the food I'm craving - Every day if I wanted, every meal if I wanted. It wasn't long before I got tired of it and I could take it or leave it.

    I *never* substitute something else for the food I'm craving. My body knows the difference and my goal was to get rid of cravings - to take away the food's power - not just put them off for a time and have to fight constantly be fighting cravings.
  • recoveryjunky
    recoveryjunky Posts: 162 Member
    I completely understand... I am that way with chips. Well not so much chips as ruffles sour cream and cheddar chips. OH MY GOD I love them. So does my boyfriend which means that they will be around (I tried asking him to leave that stuff out of the house but I felt like a jerk). So I had a conversation with him and we decided that I will not eat them when he is not around and, with any meal now, he can ask me "do you really want that?" Not in a judgy way but in a "I know you're trying really hard to lose weight and I love you and care about you. That one _________ might derail you" kind of way. I wouldn't have lost 30lbs without him :)

    Find yourself a helper if you can't do it by yourself! It's not bad to ask for help :)
  • MrsKunz
    MrsKunz Posts: 151 Member
    i have to say for me its sweets... cookies, brownies, cake, ice cream, snack cakes, candy, etc. For me i just can't buy them. If they are in the house i will eat all of them. My husband too. But you know for me i log everything. Shame makes me determined. So if its shameful i will post it to teach myself not to do that. I.E. pepsi is my crack!!! but after seeing how much it was adding i started supplementing for sweet tea little by little and now i get one pepsi a week and today was that day.
  • MrsKunz
    MrsKunz Posts: 151 Member
    What helped me is when I started eating small , balanced meals every 3 hours. It keeps your metabolism higher than just eating breakfast lunch and dinner..Im not going to lie and say I never crave the bad foods, but it does seem to happen alot less frequently since I started eating this way and drinking a gallon of water a day.
    I loved this! This was the biggest thing my trainer taught me and it works!!!!
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    The way I did it.. I don't know how it would work for others... I measured out a serving - per the package instructions - and then ate just the actual serving size and LOGGED it.... then you see it in the numbers you go... "Whoa! ok.. enough of that!"
    IDK - it works for me most of the time..
    I need chocolate.. I mean NEED so, I made sure I am allowed to have it every day. I would not make it through this if I couldn't, so again I measure (2 tbsp of mini chocolate chips) into a plastic snack cup and take that to work with me everyday. Some days I have more when I get home, but not always. Most of the time that is enough.

    Try different things, replace the chips with popcorn maybe? You look amazing and are doing great so maybe it's not that bad anyway if you are not doing it everyday?

    This one. Measure out the serving. Close the bag. Put it away. Log the calories. Enjoy the food. Lick the bowl. Put it in the sink and run water in it. Walk away.
  • I wouldn't be able to eat 4 chips either. I don't bring them into the house because I find it's too stressful to have to limit my intake. I employ the control methods that others have already described, but it ends up being a bit of a white-knuckle experience, and I find myself waiting on pins and needles for them all to be gone. A single serve bag is way better for me mentally. That way I can have them and be done with it. Sometimes my husband caves and buys some when he's at the store. I ask him to hide them because that's really the only way I can keep from obsessing over them. I find I can exercise portion control over all kinds of treats, but chips are different for some reason. :blushing:
  • Joanitude
    Joanitude Posts: 171 Member
    ...how someone (not me) is able to STOP eating chips or bugles or cookies (insert trigger food here.) My trigger food: potato chips - or anything salty really. If there is a bag or box of something salty in the house I cannot NOT finish the entire bag or box.

    This is my new favorite salt craving - http://www.amazon.com/Popcorn-Indiana-Extra-Virgin-Olive/dp/B00CTJ1OAK/

    I am not saying it is healthy to eat a whole bag - just that it is better this stuff than the other options.
  • PoisonElix
    PoisonElix Posts: 39 Member
    My trigger foods are salt and chocolate. Manly chocolate. Cant keep it in the house or its gone as soon as I see it.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    What helped me is when I started eating small , balanced meals every 3 hours. It keeps your metabolism higher than just eating breakfast lunch and dinner.
    It helps with satiety, but doesn't raise metabolism any more then 3 meals a day. This is an ongoing myth in the fitness/diet industry.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Here is what has worked for me.

    1) Educate yourself on the impact. (If I eat this... My blood sugar and pressure will go up. My weight loss will stall...)
    2) Refuse to buy it. Ever. Skip the snack aisle. Stop going to the places that sell it. (Convenience stores, for example)
    3) When you see it, imagine it is a pack of cigarettes. Would you have "just one" of those? Nasty.
    4) When you think about it, change the subject. Don't dwell on it. Pick up a book. Go paint your nails.

    Take the issue of "should I have some?" Off the table. The answer is simply no. When you've reached your goal weight and maintained it for six months, you can revisit the question.

    The good news is that once you've stayed off the chips/junk for a while, you stop wanting it.

    Good luck!

    SIS
  • Deleted (duplicate post)
  • rhinesb
    rhinesb Posts: 204 Member
    My husband would suck down an entire bag of chips in one sitting. I got tired of the waste because as far as I was concerned that bag should have been on the side of a sandwich or something and should have lasted at least three or more separate meals for the two of us. So I completely stopped buying them for I would say almost 5 years. Just recently I started buying them again after he's gotten in shape and now he doesn't gorge himself. Those bags actually last now. I'm very proud of him

    There were foods that I couldn't have in the house. I couldn't have cookies, cakes, doughnuts, icecream etc... in the house without completely demolishing them. I mean I would literally eat them breakfast lunch and dinner until they were gone. I don't know what has changed but I can buy two or three quarts of icecream for the kids now and not even touch it. Actually for the past 10 + quarts I have only had one bowl of icecream. I seriously do NOT know what has changed. I don't even crave it like I used to. Cake too. I have four daughters so you can imagine how often we have a birthday cake *6 cakes a year* plus relatives and holidays etc... After one of my daughters party we had about 1/3 left. Now normally it would tempt me to no end and since I know I usually give in I decided to give each person in our neighbor's home a slice of cake. I left just enough for two more slices...one for the birthday girl and one for hubby. I was very proud of myself. Doughnuts I just won't buy. And if some how I just have to have them...then I make sure to share the doughnut love so that everyone gets some and no one gorges. It has been amazing.

    Now I totally skip the aisle that I know are just junk.

    Also one of my biggest triggers is chocolate bars like snickers, twix, butterfinger etc... Now mind you I don't buy them as I know I can't stop. I have issues at my grandmother's house as she has a HUGE stash of them and if I don't make sure I eat before I go to her house then I WILL bite that bullet and gorge on chocolate. Now at home I decided to help curb my sweet tooth by getting gourmet jelly beans. I really like them but they absolutely are not a trigger for me. When I feel that I need something sweet then I go grab 5-8 beans. For some reason it works for me.
  • Heather_Rider
    Heather_Rider Posts: 1,159 Member
    So this is really going to sound funny.. but when i first started.. i had a lock box. I filled bags of (at that time, chocolate was my trigger) chocolate pieces into ziplocks. I put serving sizes, or whatever i had alloted for the days calories into one baggie. The rest went into the lock box... and the key went to work with my husband. I would snack on the chocolate through the day.. (usually M&Ms) KNOWING at night, when i was in bed... i HAD to have some of that.. it was the end of the day, in bed i wanted it the most! Well, a few days.. i didnt have it.. and OMG it was horrible! Well, after that, i wouldnt TOUCH THEM all day.. then it dawned on me. If i can go all day without touching them.. why not go a few days? then a week? then two? then, i just stopped eating them all together. Before i knew it.. i had THREE BAGS (large bags, cuz thats what hubby bought) in the lock box!! So, he gave a bag to each of the kids, with the stipulation that if they slipped mom any... they lost their bag! Well, it never bothered me. Maybe i just got sick of them? Maybe the sugar was totally out of my system? IDK! But i just didnt want anymore! It was great!

    Now... lol.. im having issues with pasta! LOL! If i can kick that, ill be good! but omggggg it smells freaking amazing! <3
  • skinnymalinkyscot
    skinnymalinkyscot Posts: 174 Member
    The other thing i forgot to mention in my post regarding junk trigger foods is because I now visualise the trigger food as basically poison, that cute exterior whether its chocolate or chips is hiding the fact its composed of hydrogenated fats, sugars and salts. So I dont feel Im denying myself anything at all , now i feel Liberated, like ive escaped from consuming poison.
  • rhinesb
    rhinesb Posts: 204 Member
    I can say with all honesty, I no longer have any foods I 'can't stop' eating. Right now I have a half a pan of brownies that sat there for a week and will be going out with the trash today. I intended to put them in the freezer before they got stale, but just forgot about them.

    I've done this in two ways. One intentional, one accidental. The accidental one was when I discovered from my doctor that I was one of those people (and there are more than you might think) who actually, *need* more salt. I started salting my food as much as tasted good to me, and my cravings for junk food (usually high in salt) were very quickly gone. My body needed the salt and had to get it somewhere.

    The way I did it intentionally was simply to eat the food I'm craving - Every day if I wanted, every meal if I wanted. It wasn't long before I got tired of it and I could take it or leave it.

    I *never* substitute something else for the food I'm craving. My body knows the difference and my goal was to get rid of cravings - to take away the food's power - not just put them off for a time and have to fight constantly be fighting cravings.
    I wonder if I've had this problem. I actually NEVER added salt to ANYTHING EVER. Not joking at all. I only ever used it in baking recipes for get togethers.

    But here recently I've started adding salt to taste on my food. And also here recently I am no longer constantly craving sweets. Makes me wonder...hum....
  • tessi1993
    tessi1993 Posts: 186 Member
    im the same (i also smoke some weed at nights, which doesnt help lol) my boyfriend can stop and i cant.
    latley i have been making my boyfriend hide anything that i dont want heaps of which seems to work.
    but i also dont buy them anymore. i buy 1 snack (like a packet of tim tams or cookies etc) so he can have them but as much as it pains me i have to say no!
  • FixIngMe13
    FixIngMe13 Posts: 405 Member
    What has and is helping me is putting a picture of me at my biggest on my fridge, on my stove, my pantry and anywhere I go to reach for food. I have written under it.... Is it worth the calories? Is it worth the extra time in the park or in the gym? It has brought me to reality actually and I have done very well with it. And it isn't just for my trigger foods, but it is for all other foods also that I seem to binge on because I'm bored or upset.

    The photo idea has worked wonders with me...and I don't want to continue to look like that, so that is my motivation to stop while I'm ahead so I don't keep looking like that. It has worked.

    Good luck and I do hope that some of these ideas you are getting helps you. :flowerforyou:
  • jen_zz
    jen_zz Posts: 1,011 Member
    If you eat because you're hungry, you stop eating when you stop being hungry.

    If you eat for ANY other reason, what is the cue for you to stop? There isn't one. If you eat because you're stressed, bored, seeking comfort, out of habit . . . you will continue to eat compulsively past your point of satiety because you are seeking but not achieving an outcome that food ultimately cannot provide.

    Try to eat to satisfy hunger, nothing else. If you find yourself eating for any other reason, find an alternative activity to meet those needs.

    If you crave salty things, maybe you need more salt in your diet.
    :drinker: