How to overcome "all or nothing" thinking with food?

kimmymayhall · January 2014

MFP is a great tool for this. You ate a piece of pizza. Put it in your food log and see what it does to your day. Chances are it doesn't ruin anything. Adjust your eating for the rest of the day or add some exercise if you need to. Being a little over calories isn't going to do you any harm, but if you let it defeat you so that you end up eating several hundred calories over goal every time it might.

christinemadden0223 · January 2014

I have the same problem, but I have been doing well lately and here's my advice:
I tell myself ahead of time that I'm going to have a treat at the end of the night- be it ice cream or a cupcake or a cookie- I save room for it (or points as the case may be because I also do ww). I also add healthy things to it so I am eating a LOT of dessert but for less cals. For example, I'll have a 250 cal cupcake alongside a bunch of cut up strawberries with low fat cool whip- kind of makes it into strawberry shortcake

If I want other junk, I try to pick a healthier option so I CAN eat more and I decide exactly how much I'll eat ahead of time.

Examples:

Burger and Fries: I season my own lean meat and cook it on a skillet, put it on a whole grain bun with veggies, make 22 ore ida baked crinkle fries (1 1/2 servings) and cut up half a cucumber on the side. Sometimes I add "thin cheese" (thin cut slices= taste but less cals

Breakfast: Fiber 1 pancakes (best tasting), turkey bacon, fruit or cut up tomato

Pizza: you can't beat a few slices of pizza, just choose wisely! Look at my diary- Pizza hut hand tossed veggie lovers with "light cheese" is 150 cals per slice! I ate 4 last night and feel great this morning! Also, I normally add a salad. I like to make my meals look large

Pasta: 1 serving noodles (I like the thin kind), 1/2 c sauce (make your own for real calorie saving) and 1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese on top to make it creamy and more like lasagna

Message me or friend me if you want any other fun food options, OR just look at my diary- it's open

devil_in_a_blue_dress · January 2014

First of all, how many calories do you eat in a day? When I am eating at a deficit I'm at 1,700 and can eat a slice of pizza cupcake and still have plenty of calories for all my other meals. I see you are trying to lose 20 pounds, so your caloric intake should be around there.

Second of all, there are no bad foods. Some food provide more nutrients. Some provide emotional satisfaction. Some foods, like pizza do both. Just because you like something and it doesn't have "diet" written all over it doesn't mean it's "bad". There really isn't a reason to feel guilt or like you've blown it if you eat pizza or cupcakes. It's not an all or nothing situation -- any food can fix in your day.

If you find yourself eating more at work, then plan smaller breakfasts and dinners. There is nothing wrong with eating a 900 lunch and splitting 6-800 calories between the other meals. Just gotta find the balance that works for you.

brandnewsnickerpuss · January 2014

I am a food addict and I think the one thing that helped me was a bit radical. The advice my counselor gave me was None is better than One and what she meant by that is for a food addict like myself it is better to have no piece of cake (whatever is your weakness) than one piece that would turn out to be a whole cake worth of slices. I am a food addict so I don't know if this will help, but thought I would share my way of dealing with this demon.

Word.

Also, I'd like to add that sometimes you need to give yourself some space... some time... to make that decision about either the first piece of pizza, or the decision to say "screw it" and eat everything else. Give yourself a minute to really think about it. Do you really, really, really want that pizza? Or are you making the decision so fast that you're not really thinking about it? For myself, whenever I actually slow myself down (put myself into slo-mo!) I find that mostly I DON'T really want that thing. You have to give yourself time to rewire your brain. Anyways, "Pizza" sounds good, but cold pizza from a box at work is usually gross and not worth the calories... if you think about it.

carol5047 · January 2014

A slice of pizza or two for lunch every day wouldn't "blow it." If you stop giving "good" or "bad" names to food, you'll find it easier. All foods are allowable, just log them and succeed!

AWESOME ADVICE! and so spot on!

animatorswearbras · January 2014

On top of others great advice like pack your own lunch and healthy nibbles and don't eat anything that you didn't bring or if you are tempted come on MFP to see exactly how many cals it is and is it worth it, can you have a word with your colleagues to be a bit more supportive too. I do feel like some think its perfectly acceptable offering (or even peer pressuring some one to accept) cake or pizza if someones on a diet but wouldn't dream of offering a scotch to a recovering alcoholic.

Also everyone falls off the whole healthy eating wagon (I pretty much do every weekend without fail lol) as long as you pick yourself up and carry on you'll end up having more good days then bad.

KnM0107 · January 2014

I agree that logging every bite works. If you pig out, record it anyway, and then adjust over the next few days.

Also, and I'm not joking here, eat with skinny people. Order what they order and stop eating when they do. For instance, I learned from one skinny friend how to eat salad dressing. She orders it on the side and dips her fork in it before digging into the salad for each bite. So the first taste in each bit is the salad dressing, but there is actually very little on the fork, and she seldom eats more than a teaspoon of dressing with the salad.

And motivation -- I've finally gotten into the habit of reminding myself how much my knees hurt before I order. If I lose weight my knees won't hurt as much.

I would be carefull with this. Depending on how active the skinny person is, they might be able to take in more calories, but not gain. My lunch yesterday was over 1200 calories and my husbands was close to 2000 (he has never been fat). I would not recomend someone follow my diet unless their tdee and activity level were similar to mine.

WendyTerry420 · January 2014

William Shakespeare.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"

the apostle Paul, to the early Christians in Rome

"I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean."

How to overcome "all or nothing" thinking with food?

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