Avoiding foods you overeat

violaninja
violaninja Posts: 12 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Many of my favorite foods are those that are healthy but really high in calories, e. g. nuts, avocado, and hummus. I struggle to control portions with them. Yesterday, I ate probably about a cup and a half of trail mix, and I haven't weighed myself since, but I can tell I've gained fat from those 1100 or so calories. Should I give up such foods permanently?

Replies

  • Cheyenelikewyoming
    Cheyenelikewyoming Posts: 52 Member
    Maybe you could buy the individual packs of those things. I think an individual pack of trail mix would be about 100-200 calories.
  • CindyMarcuzAdams
    CindyMarcuzAdams Posts: 4,007 Member
    I am going to say no to that. Ziploc baggies are your friend. Measure out your servings and have a baggie when you want. Log it and carry on.
  • tabbyrose727
    tabbyrose727 Posts: 23 Member
    I am going to say no to that. Ziploc baggies are your friend. Measure out your servings and have a baggie when you want. Log it and carry on.

    This has been the best solution for me.
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
    There are some things that i won't stop eating until the package is empty. So i either buy a small package, find someone to share with (not hard for me, i live with 3 boys and dh) or just buy it waaaaaay less often.
  • emmacken
    emmacken Posts: 161 Member
    I think it is a personal preference. I tend to destroy a bag of potato chips once they're opened, so I don't keep them in the house. I do still eat them, just usually when I visit a friend or go out to eat.
  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
    Depends on who you are.

    I grew up fat thanks to the regular overconsumption of high carbohydrate foods. "Moderation" didn't do jack for me.

    Abstinence did. After a few years of low carbing off/on eventually my cravings for a good 80% of those old trigger foods died. I don't exclusively low carb anymore, but my cravings never returned for bread, pasta, crackers, cereal, pizza, chips and like food. Avoidance changed my entire relationship with those foods for good. I almost never crave those foods, and when I do have them I can easily go months or years without having them again.

    It didn't, however, with certain sweets. I can avoid eating certain kinds of cookies, cake, and my favorite food, ice cream, but eventually I give in and I tend to over consume those. Avoidance killed the immediate cravings but eventually I'd want them and give in. I moderate those now by eating as much as I want, when I want, but limiting how often I have them.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    I use a food scale to measure portions and prelog all of my foods. For example, I could easily mindlessly eat 2,000 calories of pecans (yum!) dipped in peanut butter. Instead, I weigh out 1 serving of each on a plate, put away the packages, log them in myfitnesspal, and eat them. I can go back for more if I want more, but I have to log it then too. I know that I'm crankypus if I have fewer than 700 cals left for dinner at the end of the day, so I will only have extra snacks if they leave me enough calories for dinner.
  • bluntlysally
    bluntlysally Posts: 150 Member
    weigh portions, individual sizes, or work them into your day.

    i ate a whole avocado with dinner. i eat a lot of good fat, but weigh everything that isn't an individual size.

    side note - today at the cardiologist he told me that i could eat more than 35% fat if i wanted to. not news to me, but great to hear from a doctor!!
  • bluntlysally
    bluntlysally Posts: 150 Member
    for hummus, eat this with veggies instead of things like pita chips. the veggies are way less calories than pita chips, so you can eat lots more hummus!
  • canadjineh
    canadjineh Posts: 5,396 Member
    weigh portions, individual sizes, or work them into your day.

    i ate a whole avocado with dinner. i eat a lot of good fat, but weigh everything that isn't an individual size.

    side note - today at the cardiologist he told me that i could eat more than 35% fat if i wanted to. not news to me, but great to hear from a doctor!!

    I eat maintenance at over 40% of my calories from fat - nuts, olives, avocados, high fat organic yogourts (11%), and really good cheese and grass fed beef & buffalo. No problems. No weight gain as I keep my fats & high carbs separate and keep carbs below 150g/day (after subtracting fibre).

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/health/low-carb-vs-low-fat-diet.html?_r=0

    "...The new study was financed by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It included a racially diverse group of 150 men and women — a rarity in clinical nutrition studies — who were assigned to follow diets for one year that limited either the amount of carbs or fat that they could eat, but not overall calories...."
  • cynthiamm67
    cynthiamm67 Posts: 52 Member
    I do both avoidance and premeasuring. I avoid cookies and chocolate, but buy premeasured peanut butter. Expensive, but I can't be trusted with a whole jar
  • libbydoodle11
    libbydoodle11 Posts: 1,351 Member
    I am going to say no to that. Ziploc baggies are your friend. Measure out your servings and have a baggie when you want. Log it and carry on.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^this^^^^^^^^^^^

    This is your answer...
  • GoForLew
    GoForLew Posts: 22
    Something that works for me is portioning things out and then putting them away where I can't see them all the time (like a cupboard I don't open often). That way, I don't overeat them on two different levels.
  • NikkieLite
    NikkieLite Posts: 126 Member
    I am going to say no to that. Ziploc baggies are your friend. Measure out your servings and have a baggie when you want. Log it and carry on.

    I've been doing this and it helps so much. Not only am I not eating 3 or 4 servings of pretzels or veggie straws, they're not going stale as fast as when left in the open bag they came in.
  • Soggynode
    Soggynode Posts: 1,179 Member
    Like a lot of people posting here I use pre-measured portions to control my snacking. I haven't eliminated anything I really like from my diet I've just gotten better at controlling them. In some cases I've found healthier versions of the things I like and have added a lot of things I never thought to try. Some things that I was kinda on fence with anyway like avocado I gave up without much fuss. If I haven't learned to like it by now, I'm not going keep trying. I've got other places to spend those calories and fat.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    First if you gained anything from those 1100 calories it's 1/3 of a pound at most... you won't even notice.

    Second, just weigh a serving and put the bag away. Or don't buy them, and maybe after a while you'll realize that having a little of what you like is better than having none.
  • daffodilsoup
    daffodilsoup Posts: 1,972 Member
    I don't allow certain foods into the house - tortilla chips, baked goods, trail mix type snacks. If my fiance brings them home, I ask him to hide them and not to tell me about it - I will tear the whole place apart if I know there's an open bag of tostitos somewhere.

    With things like peanut butter, I leave the jar in a closet in a bedroom or something - out of the kitchen. When I need some, I measure out two tablespoons and it goes right back in the closet.
  • frisco111
    frisco111 Posts: 44 Member
    I would strongly recomend kitchen safe with time lock. Take a portion and sight away put the rest in the container and set the lock for whenever you feel its ok to have another portion. Its a life saver. I keep all my sweets there, open in the morning when my will is the strongest and set the time lock for next 24 hrs.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Some things I just avoid. Cookies, popcorn, and potato chips -- I don't care how pre-measured the serving is, I will go get more. I only buy them when I'm about to go to a party and can share, or when I've done a monster workout and can justify them.

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