The fattest plates leave the deepest scars...

Love this. You really hit the nail on the head. We have been programmed from childhood. The saying I heard was "waste not, want not". Go figure. If you don't eat it all you won't ever get any again. Now thats something to tell a child because you decided to give them more food than they can fit in their little tummies. My family has been using smaller plates since January and we've seen a huge difference in everyone's weight.

Nicely written!

I feel your pain! Great job throwing it out!!

AMEN!!!

My problem is eating out. I haven't done it yet, but I have decided that I am going to get my "to go" box before I eat....divide up the portions (putting what I don't want to eat in the box), and then eat. Out of sight, out of mind perhaps?

I do this also.

Dude, I'm exactly the same.. I was brought up to NEVER waste food and it's so deeply ingrained in me now that I force myself to finish every last damn morsel on my plate. So at the start of my journey I told my wife to give me portions the same size as hers. When I grab my dinner plate now I look at it and think "No way is that gonna fill me up" but guess what?? It does.

I am always disgusted by the large portions served at restaurants.

Yep, so true. We are programmed. And for kids it is important to teach them to clean their plates in the sense that they are getting a well balanced meal (i.e. eat those salad greens or broccoli, etc before you can go play). But when we were kids our parents were controlling our portions and our plates weren't typically so big that we overindulge by eating it all ---its more of a lesson of learning to eat the various types of foods, even the vegetables we didn't like. But that "eat it all, starving people....blah blah" that we heard growing up stuck with us so that when we go out to eat whether it be cheap fast food or a $50 steak we feel we must finish it all in order to not waste it or to get what we paid for. Its really dumb thinking. I can choose to clean the plate and let it go to my hips or it can be tossed out. The only difference is the first makes me fat. Getting over the wasteful mentality is the biggest deal. I like what some people suggest in getting the "to go" container right away and putting half the meal in it for later. That makes really great sense and I've heard it before...but never tried it, maybe I should.

Oh, goodness, yes. With us it was, "Eat everything on your plate . . . or no dessert!" That might have been okay IF I were allowed to choose my own portions! But instead, my parents HEAPED food on my plate--four or five times what a kid should eat, and then admonished me to eat it now or I'd have it for breakfast! We were never taught what a proper serving of cereal was--a heaping, hold-the-cereal-down-with-your-hand-to-keep-it-from-overflowing-when-pouring-the-milk serving was what we got, and it was all SO sweet and sugary! Sugar Smacks, Captain Crunch, Coco Pebbles, Golden Grahams, Froot Loops! It wasn't until adulthood that I actually measured out a real serving--it was 1/6 the size of the servings we grew up with! By the time I was 11, my mother was taking me to Dee's and buying me TWO double cheese burgers, TWO fries, a large coke, AND two ice cream sundaes--one strawberry, one hot fudge. Those were the days before super-sizing, so it was probably the equivalent of a double quarter pounder and a super-sized fry. Wow! When I was ten years old, she would bring home the huge, 56 oz bags of Peanut M&Ms, one for her, one for me. She would bring home Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Butterfingers. Evening activity was watching TV and mindlessly shoveling candy into our mouths. It wasn't always like this--the wild portions and the "everything on your plate" stuff started very early, but her weird, junk food-pushing behaviors didn't start until after she and my father split up when I was ten. My initial weight gain hit when I was seven, and that was inexplicable--I just started gaining with no change in diet or exercise. Docs later thought it might have been the calcification of my pineal gland. But once I was heavier, the food pushing and encouraging of gluttony went into overdrive.

Am I wrong to blame my parents? No, I don't think so. At ten years old, I had no control over what foods came into the house. I had no concept of how to eat well or stay healthy--that was my parents' job. By the time I realized that my intake was responsible for my skyrocketing weight, I was maybe 13 or 14? And I had no clue how to change things--no books or websites to teach me proper portions, nothing to explain to me fats, proteins, carbs, and calories. I had a few ridiculing and sadistic gym teachers ala Carrie, but nobody who actually gave me good, constructive advice. So I starved myself. Repeatedly.

I do have to thank my parents for a few things, though. Because of their example, my son has never been told to clear his plate. He has never been told that dessert (which we rarely have) is dependent upon Hoovering his dinner. I nursed him for over a year, and I have pushed whole grains, veggies, and fruits his entire solid-food life--even when I've been morbidly obese. I know, "do as I say, not as I do," but I was determined to do better for him than my parents did for me.

Kris

I struggle with throwing away leftovers all the time. I have recently started to have more strength to do it...

Better in the garbage than on my hips!!!

I have always struggled with this also. It was so ingrained in me to finish what was on my plate, then I had even extrapolated that to the whole table. If my kids didn't finish their meals....I would clean their plates up as well.. Eat until it's ALL gone - was always my motto. It's still very difficult for me to let food go to waste. But I am improving. Taking smaller portions to start with, is my best defense.

I struggle with the same issue. I have to keep reminding myself that it is better to "waste" the food than to "waist" the food!

Genius ;D

Much better and more succinct than the way I said it

amen