Getting used to eating "Fear foods"

I don't fear any food, but I definitely have a healthy respect for the more calorie-dense foods and try to limit my portion sizes when I do eat them. When I make something from scratch that could end up being a calorie bomb (pizza, mac & cheese, etc.) I always enter the ingredients into the MFP recipe calculator to get a rough estimate of how many calories I'll be eating per specific serving size and adjust the serving size to whatever my particular goal is for that day. If you watch your portions you can eat pretty much whatever you want and still maintain.

No fear. My diet is really not the best right now either. (When you work nights, you do things like eat pizza for breakfast.)

I eat everything I love. I don't say NO to anything.

What do I say no to?
-I say no to eating it EVERYDAY. I love you salt n' vinegar chips but I cannot eat you everyday. (I still have you more than once a week though.) I have one day where I eat like a bird.
-I say no to overindulging all of the time. (Instead of eating two bowls of cereal post-dinner, how about just a light snack? Or how about just one bowl of cereal for breakfast? Or how about a small bag of salt n vinegar instead of a huge one with a giant Arizona iced tea for lunch?)

I don't avoid. I know it will just inevitably lead to me eating everything around me. And then I won't stop. I love food too much to say no. Just take it slowly---reintroduce the things you love in small portions that fit into your calories for the day.

I like this !

I followed the Atkins plan to lose weight so all the restricted foods were gradually added back in small amounts to test for tolerance during the pre-maintenance and maintenance stages of the plan. This made life easier since it's really all about learning portion control in the end. It was a bit scary but I found a lot of things didn't taste as good as I remembered them. Too bland, too sweet.

There is one item I no longer eat - sour gummy candies. If I ate one I use to eat the whole bag, which is like 1k cals. The sight of them still strikes fear in me tho, even tho I'd probably gag on them now.

I fear shellfish due to anaphylactic shock. I fear gluten because celiac disease HURTS! I fear egg yolks because I hate throwing up. I am afraid of the foods that make me sick.

I didn't stop eatong anything while I was losing. Especially not sheopherd's pie. I modified some favorites to use leaner meats and more veggies. I discovered I am less hungry when when I add more protein to my breakfast, so I eat less cereal and more yogurt. I don't really enjoy potato chips anymore, but I love Five Guys fries. I discovered I like almonds. I gave myself permission to eat more pecans.

I am at maintenance now. I eat the same as always. You can measure anything and eat it without fear.

Thanks for starting this, it's an interesting discussion. I had seen all the advice elsewhere on the forums that cutting things out can be a bad idea as it makes you more prone to 'falling off the wagon', binging and getting discouraged, but I hadn't realised it had this other disadvantage too of creating 'scary foods'. So I will joyfully continue with my approach of eating whatever I want in smaller portions, logging religiously and going over once in a while, in no particular pattern, because I feel like it. I am going to the Chinese Buffet tomorrow night, and I now know it's for the good of my mental health. Hooray!

OP, this sounds like a real challenge for you, but I believe you can do it. If you could adjust your eating patterns so effectively that you got this far, you can adjust them again to get a healthier attitude to food. Just remember, even if t'm numbers aren't exactly precise on one meal, if you're trying to be accurate, it will all balance out.

I say this as someone who, for work, has to calculate the weight of enormous ships by adding up rough estimates of the weight of every item on board, from engines and cabling to cutlery and armchairs. A million little rough guesses can add up to a pretty accurate end result. It all really does come out in the wash.

I fear buffets, from restaurants to potlucks. I have to plan in advance: I'm only going to take 1/2 cup of rice. No breads (that includes no naan, no pita, no tortilla). I'll take about 4 oz of meat, 1 cup of this veggie, 1 cup of that veggie, 1/2 cup of beans (maybe), sauces and condiments counted by the spoonful. I try to do it quietly so others don't notice and make a big deal out of my dietary changes.

I really fear pasta and pizza, which I love. I've almost given them up entirely since I've been counting calories on MFP. I had a terrible craving, so I made my own spaghetti and meatballs at home. Carefully measured out my portion, which was quite a bit less than I was used to eating. Also included a healthy salad (romaine, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion) to provide additional nutrition and fill me up. I felt really frustrated and still went way over my calorie goal on that day. So I haven't made any pasta dishes since.

I've relatively new (joined about 6 weeks ago). Don't know what the answer to "fear foods" is, but this is an interesting thread.

Listen to yourself and be honest.

There is no "need" to eat any specific dish. If you know that you have certain trigger foods that launch of a binge, it's fine avoiding them until you get to a point where you can have them under control. It's such bad advice to tell somebody who has binging issues to just "eat in moderation". If it were that simple they wouldn't be asking the question, or having "fear foods" to begin with.

I accepted long ago that ice cream was never going to be something I would be eating in "moderation". I use to be "afraid" of it, and most sweets. Those days are over, not because I learned to have a little each day, but because I have more then enough deficit built into my IFing lifestyle that I can have a couple days a month where I eat as much ice cream as I damn well please, and still lose.

But I restricted sweets for years back in the day when I was weak and eating every sweet in sight. I gained back the 70lbs I lost, plus an additional 70, from losing control for years. The ONLY thing that got me on track was time and restricting sweets until I was a stronger person, in a different mind set.

There is no hurry to eat shepherd's pie, or whatever else. Take your time. There is NO rush in reintroducing any food. Be realistic about your weaknesses and don't listen to anybody who doesn't understand what YOUR issues are.

I'm apprehensive eating pretty much anything that I haven't prepared myself. Most recipes I make I can accurately figure out with help of the recipe builder, but I get a little twitchy when someone else cooks for me. I'm working on getting over this, its hard to let go of that control sometimes. But I realize its part of real life and I need to adapt to it.

This is my issue too, I am fine with what I make normally, and try to eat what I want for the most part, about 80% of what I eat is pretty darn healthy I think (atleast compared to what I used to eat ) But I get a lil nervous when I eat what someone else prepared... especially when I have dinner at my parents, my dad is not health conscious at all lol.