The "open bag" problem - anyone else?

stevepax
stevepax Posts: 86 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is sadly my second round of MFP. My problem is sweets and stress. When stress is up, I hit the sugar.

Interestingly, I've noticed that a closed bag of M&Ms or chocolate chips is not really a problem. If that bag is closed, I won't touch it. But, if it's open, maybe half gone... it's as good as gone. Something about that barrier that stops me.

Just a fun point of interest. Anyone else notice they'll eat from an open bag much more readily than opening up a new bag?
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Replies

  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
    I've been in maintanance for about 5 years. I still can't allow myself to eat out of an open bag...chips, even semi sweet chocolate chips you bake with...if it's opened by someone else and it happens to make it to the couch, I'm in trouble.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    Yup!
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    This is a fun point of interest.

    I take my M&M's out of the bag and put them in mason jars with lids.. So they are always opened to me.. These M&M's are in front of my face almost all time where I keep them.. I will talk by them a 1000 times and not blink. Mind you its not just M&M I have displayed like this.. LOL :)

    When I am dieting as I am right now, they are off base. My discipline is now fairly strong.

    Bags of chips really are never allowed unless I am purposefully buying chips or crackers if you will that will to go with a dip and they will be consumed usually with family in one sitting..
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    I'm not an M&M's guy so it's not a problem for me. The workplace free stuff includes fun size M&M and I have rarely used that as a candy choice. Usually I opt for the 25 calorie Hershey Kiss or the 45 calorie Hershey Nugget and sometimes the Snickers fun size. I compared the nutrition of a Snickers fun size to that of a single Nature Valley granola bar and determined that the Snickers is the more appropriate for weight loss.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Only with Reese's pieces and chips and salsa. In either of those cases? Game on.
  • Catawampous
    Catawampous Posts: 447 Member
    edited October 2016
    If it's peanut M&M's, all bets are off. Any other kind can hang around in any form and I'm ok. Chips open or unopened means disaster as they would be in my pie hole. They are the only thing on my no touch list.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    Single serves for the most part here to combat that. Or as someone else said, weigh out a portion and put the rest away. If I sit with the open bag next to me game over!

    But if it's those new fangled coated nuts (Marmite being a particular vice) there is no stopping me, none. I will eat them until I have to lick the bag............
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,246 Member
    Only with chips, specifically kettle chips. Other varieties or candy I can leave alone, but those kettle chips have a siren song emanating from the bag once it's open. >:)

    If hubby wants some for lunch I just make him take the whole bag.
  • Alidecker
    Alidecker Posts: 1,262 Member
    I am that way with chips and sweets, I have been known to buy the single serving bags to keep myself from eating too much. I mean I could go open a 2nd bag, but I don't. Of all the options, my biggest problem is ice cream...so I buy ice cream bars because I won't open a second one, but I could eat multiple servings of ice cream and go over my calorie goal.
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    I have kids so no.

    An open bag of anything disappears before I can have any more.

    Personally, with sweets, no, my kids used to make fun of me because I'd eat one side of a twix bar at work, wrap it up and put it in the drawer and forget about it, would eat it a few days later when I saw it, and I can eat one donut hole or snack size candy, no problem. I love to taste sweet things but don't like to eat them in any sort of quantity.

    Chips and things like that? Yes, i would keep going back except that my kids eat them. Salt and fat, yep. When I am feeling like that I usually make popcorn, big whompin bowl of popcorn doesn't have many calories.

  • ds41980
    ds41980 Posts: 133 Member
    I thought that I had power over my food choices and so I bought a box of milk duds at walmart. As soon as I opened the box I knew I was in trouble because I was strongly driven to eat the whole box (700 calories worth) at once. Man I was torn between throwing them away and keeping them. I got home, having ate half a serving (80 calories) dumped the candy from the bright yellow box into a sandwich bag and literally threw that bag into the back of the freezer. Sometimes I would remember and grab half a serving to eat and now I am down to the last half serving. I hope to never do that again.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    I picked up this bad habit after years of "clean your plate" parenting. I realize that I can't estimate and don't eat from the bag, dumping chips or whatever into a bowl and then coming back for another helping.
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
    For me it's more like if it's in the house I'll eat it- open bag or not.

    So I keep junk food out of the house but I do have protein cookies & protein bars around so if I need a sweet treat I have that and at least it helps me meet my daily protein goals and less sugar than straight up candy.
  • danika2point0
    danika2point0 Posts: 197 Member
    Yes! The only items I seem to have this with are chips/crisps and wine. Once they are open, I just go to town! It's like I am thinking it's a single serving size! I have no trouble with anything else. So, yes, I do commiserate. My only strategy for avoidance is simply not having them in the house. I've tried the single serve bags and sometimes they do the trick but other times, I am left feeling mentally 'disappointed' because I haven't had the quantity I am used to. Also, yes I am admitting that I do budget calories so I can have the quantities I want sometimes.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    For me, if I take what I want and put it away, I'm fine. If I eat from the bag or leave it out (this includes putting a huge bowl of popcorn on the counter) I will go back and back and back once I start.

    So I put it away! ;-)
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    I don't bring stuff like that into my house anymore. I will eat a sweet if I'm at a friends house or eating out occasionally.

    Having said that I have bought the small Hershey's kisses thats 210 calories on occasion and brought it home to hopefully have a few. It works only if my husband has a few with me otherwise I eat all 10.
  • RandiNoelle
    RandiNoelle Posts: 374 Member
    This is why I LOVE fun-sized candies!

    I do have big bags of coffee flavored and "Boo-terscotch" flavored M&M's but I keep them in the freeze. I get a handful and stick the bag back in the freezer. It has keep me from going back for more, so far! ;)
  • MargaretLunan
    MargaretLunan Posts: 5,299 Member
    yes i am the same
  • herculesmulligan
    herculesmulligan Posts: 6 Member
    I'm the same with salty, crunchy snacks like chips, popcorn, or crackers. Once I open the bag, I portion it out into one or two servings in ziplocs or Tupperware, and hide those in the cupboard. Then I take one or two servings for myself and because the large bag is empty, it feels satisfying.

    The psychology of food and eating is so fascinating, haha. But once they're portioned, I view them as whole future snacks to be eaten later; if I leave a partially full bag, it feels like fair game to just grab a handful.
  • crowgrl13
    crowgrl13 Posts: 6 Member
    Maybe when you buy it, you could portion it out into single servings in ziploc bags. That way you can take one, eat it, and know that it's ok. In that case, you have finished the entire ziploc bag, therefore, it's not an "open" bag.
    I've had to do that to myself, and it actually worked. Along with putting them up in a cabinet that is hard to get to. I have to decide if I REALLY want to go get the step stool out of the closet to get the treats. :smile:
  • mysticlizard
    mysticlizard Posts: 896 Member
    My friend has a seal-a-meal. She takes out a serving of chips and then reseals the bag.
  • silverfiend
    silverfiend Posts: 329 Member
    Yeah, I can't have junk foods in the house. If they are unopened it's about 25% chance I'll eat it. If its opened, its about 75% I'll eat it, and then go back, and go back, again and again.

    Oddly, I don't have a problem ignoring those problem foods in the store. It's when they are sitting next to me that I begin to obsess about them.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    I get the open bag mentality. My daughter baked little blueberry pastries today and left them on the counter. They barely registered for me until my husband had half of one. The other half became instantly irresistible!
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    I love Hallowe'en for its perfectly treat-sized portions of chocolate and chips. I always buy waaaaay more than we could ever possibly have kids come around for. Because you never know. ;)

    I can do a little bag of chips or a small bag of M&M's and not be tempted to open another. Because I finished my package.

    But regular sized bags of chips and chocolate-y things are much more of a temptation once they're opened. It's like they are calling to me from the cupboard. With practice, however, I've gotten much better at not heeding their lonely calls of despair. :)
  • Lynzdee18
    Lynzdee18 Posts: 500 Member
    It's like breaking a $100 bill. Poof. Gone.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    I am proud to say that the last three years, for the first time in my life, I am able to have chips, cake, candies and cookies in the house and, with few exceptions, eat them in moderation, or at least weigh out what I want and put the rest away. I have jars of nuts, homemade cookies, open bags of chips in the cabinet, a dark chocolate bar in the fridge I bought last week and have not opened yet, ice cream in the fridge. It took a long time to get here, but here I am. :)
  • DjPorkchop73
    DjPorkchop73 Posts: 16 Member
    I am the same way. I come right out and tell my wife and daughter to please hide stuff when Im not looking. If it is sealed, I'm good but if it is open, good bye. And I won't even get in to the subject of baked goods. My daughter is a baker. It is sad I have to have her hide cookies and stuff. I am working on it and getting better. I am what is commonly known as a addict. I love to eat am paying the ultimate price for it now too with weight, failing liver and kidneys as well as diabetes.

    I hope you get some resolve to your issue. I know how hard it is. And when people say will power I would like to throat punch them. Will power got me exactly where I am today. I sure the heck am not going to trust it to get me back out of the crunch I'm in. The old saying is "Self Will run riot".

    Take care!

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