Preventing temptation..what do you do?

I love your great attitude!
Before reading your post I thought this was going to be another one of those... I am never having ice cream again...

But instead its a great example of how we need to make choices to live our lives... not diet!

I am soo proud of you!

Now for mine ... I keep Lindt Dark Choc Truffles on hand. Its portion control... I can have one at the end of dinner, if I choose, but I dont have to have it every single day!
I also have LOTS of smarties (at 25 calories a roll they are a great dessert)

I do pretty much the same things. I read a long time ago that Kim Kardashian dumps her drink on her dessert at restaurants when she's full to stop the temptation to keep eating, and I've started implementing this technique as well. Whenever I go to restaurants I feel the need to get my money's worth and eat every bite (and sometimes my eyes are just bigger than my stomach), but I always go home feeling sick and exhausted because I've gorged myself. By essentially ruining the food once I feel full, I stop that from happening. I've also found that with a lot of my cravings I'm really only craving the initial taste, everything after that is just extra, so I plate everything I eat (even snacks) to prevent taking the whole bag/container to the couch and mindlessly eating.

I do try to look at what I want to eat before I go out. I always still look at the menu and end up ordering something completely different. I never really thought about not looking at the menu. Thanks for that tip!

I agree with you and everybody else! Lifestyle change = better than "diet".

Anyhow I also love ice cream.
I have recently discovered the Skinny Cow. They come in little cups, which is a bit more expensive then a gallon. And actually they have a few more calories then the slow churned ice cream, but Its actually much easier for me. When I get a whole gallon of Edys, its really hard for me to measure and stick to one serving. With Skinny cow, I just eat the little cup and I'm done.

Other things I enjoy instead of ice cream, are yogurt with 1 tbsp chocolate chips. Or I have recently found an organic pudding that's really good with banana slices.

I cook a ton! I always have healthy things portioned out in the fridge. I've learned to buy ingredients, prepare them and portion them out so when I get hungry I can eat something right away before I feel famished and cheat on something bad. EX: 1/2 c. plain fat free yogurt, mix in a bit of splenda and vanilla extract, top with 1/2 c. frozen berries and a tbls. of slivered almonds. Put them in containers so they're ready in the fridge. When I get hungry for something sweet that definitely kicks the craving. Also I cut up my veggies, carrots, cucumber red peppers and put them in 1c. portions in zip lock baggies and eat them with hummus when I need something salty. This has helped me get to my goal weight along with regular exercise. Good luck to you!

Hey anubis, I love to watch Man Vs Food. And other cooking shows as well.
Whenever I used to watch it I would have to get a snack during commercial breaks. But last night was the first time I've watched since joining MFP. Man my moth was watering, but learned that it was only my brain that wanted the food, and not my stomach. I was so happy that I only had a diet 7up during the whole episode!

I do the one bite thing. I have children so there is something that is tempting me I just have one bite off of one of theirs. Then I don't feel like I am waisting the food by throwing it away, but I still have that portion controll. (Trust me if I take too big of a bite they will let me know) LOL.

At work, there are several of us trying to change our habits and someone brought in frosted sugar cookies (Ummm) and we split one cookie into 4 bites and 4 of us shared one cookie. It was a great team effort and we all suppot each other.

Our local Ice Cream shop carries Skinny Cow Ice Cream, I can order the same sunday or flurrie (small) with using the skinny cow Ice cream and I can't tell the difference and it shaves off calories.

There are also a lot of great recipes on here that help you make modification on the food you love. You can alway post a question for help with something you really want to eat. everyone on here are so great and helpful.

I agree with you and everybody else! Lifestyle change = better than "diet".

Anyhow I also love ice cream.
I have recently discovered the Skinny Cow. They come in little cups, which is a bit more expensive then a gallon. And actually they have a few more calories then the slow churned ice cream, but Its actually much easier for me. When I get a whole gallon of Edys, its really hard for me to measure and stick to one serving. With Skinny cow, I just eat the little cup and I'm done.

I'm the same. I have trouble portion controlling my ice cream. If I open a gallon bucket, I'm guaranteed to take at least 1 1/2 - 2 cups out. Instead, I buy the little cups (usually $1 each), and just have that. I get Edy's... didn't care for the taste of the Skinny Cow, and they have artificial sweeteners where Edy's doesn't.

I think the key is to know your personal weaknesses, and work from that. I have trouble portion controlling pretty much any sweet. I have a few things that work for me: I don't buy it so it isn't a temptation, or buy just enough for a single serving so I don't have extra around the house once I've had my treat, or trick myself - right now I have Ghiradelli dark chocolate in the freezer so when I go looking for a snack in the cupboard, I don't have chocolate staring me in the face.

I also keep my eyes open for healthier substitutions for my cravings. I've been going for rice cakes or Veggie Straws when I want something crunchy/salty, Archer Farms fruit strips instead of gummy candies.

Plan out all my meals for the entire week. I also consult with everyone about plans/going out, and make sure to check if there are birthdays, anniversaries, or other celebrations coming up. Then I eat what I write down. [Mostly.] :embarassed:

I used to watch "You Are What You Eat" before we got ride of cable. You can still watch some episodes on YouTube. My favorite part is when the people write down what they eat for a week, and then they put it all out on a table (or sometimes multiple tables) and confront the people with it. They they put everyone on healthy clean eating plans (though they don't call it that), and exercise, and the people lose amazing amounts of weight. They do bloodwork and health stuff before and after. It really proves it's not about "genetics" or just calories, but about the quality of the food you put in your mouth.