My body is not a garbage disposal

I don't have any mantras but I get mad at my husband when he says "You're wasting all that food"

"I tell him this why there is an obesity problem in the US we were raised to FINISH everything on our plates!!" Leave me alone. If I say I am full that means I am full it doesn't matter what's left on my plate.

springlering62 wrote: »

b.) my parents browbeat the starving children in China thing into my head

I was always like "How is eating everything on my plate helping "them" out!!" That drove me crazy when my parents said that

dbanks80 wrote: »

I don't have any mantras but I get mad at my husband when he says "You're wasting all that food"

"I tell him this why there is an obesity problem in the US we were raised to FINISH everything on our plates!!" Leave me alone. If I say I am full that means I am full it doesn't matter what's left on my plate.

As an aside, I don't think that's the reason for the obesity problem in the US.

I do like your mantra. It has a nice ring to it.

I have two mantras.

On diet days, which is 28-29 days a month, my mantra is "Not one calorie over the target, no exceptions, no excuses." If I have 42 calories remaining and there's a 43 calorie piece of Dove chocolate on the counter, I won't eat it. I am very adamant about this, even though it drives the people around me nuts - "Why did you take 3 oz of roast beef for your sandwich and leave half a slice left over in the fridge?", "Just eat the last remaining meatball in the pot, for god sake, what am I supposed to do with it?", etc. But I'm a big believer in "know thyself". An absolute, tyrannical caloric line in the sand is what works for me, and nothing else does.

On the occasional casual day once or twice a month, my mantra is, "Eat like a normal person." I've noticed that normal, non obese people may overeat a little, may have some junk food, and even be a little indulgent, but they don't go crazy with junk food or stuffing themselves silly. They go out to dinner and maybe get a reasonable dessert but that's after a decently healthy meal, not the absolute most fattening, largest thing on the menu. I try to emulate that behavior by saying to myself "Eat like a normal person" on my casual days and eating generally healthy and not to fully-stuffed level.

Usually "eat like a normal person" works well for me. Every once in a while it completely fails, though LOL The thing is, if it only fails once a month, I can absorb it as a rare blip in my overall weight loss program so I'm OK with that.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

dbanks80 wrote: »

I don't have any mantras but I get mad at my husband when he says "You're wasting all that food"

"I tell him this why there is an obesity problem in the US we were raised to FINISH everything on our plates!!" Leave me alone. If I say I am full that means I am full it doesn't matter what's left on my plate.

As an aside, I don't think that's the reason for the obesity problem in the US.

It doesn't help

"Don't do anything to lose weight that you're not willing to do long term, to stay at a healthy weight permanently (except a moderate calorie deficit)."

I thought of weight loss as a time to learn strategies for maintenance: How to eat out, dine at friends' homes, celebrate and connect socially with food in ways that are normal in my subculture, etc. (I'm now in year 4 of maintenance, so maybe that helped?)

In the past, I’ve used the mantra, “I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine” from Finding Nemo. It was helpful and good for a quick laugh.

“The few seconds of pleasure aren’t worth the calories”.

Eating out, I’m mindful of what I’m ordering. If it’s more calories than I’m comfortable eating, I’ll bring home 1/2 for another meal.

This is great! I have such a hard time throwing food away! I'm used to cooking for 6 people and still haven't got it thru my head that most of the kids have flown the coop so there's always leftovers,need to change my thinking or buy less food😆

I like "my body is not a garbage disposal." I tend to be pretty strict with what I eat and generally like the healthier meals when I go out to eat, but will sometimes choose a healthy choice with a not so healthy but loved side like ordering chicken breast and sweet potato fries. I'm finding since cutting back on oils restaurant meals are too oily. I've actually kept eating expecting it to taste better as it was something I used to love, like going to my favorite Chinese food restaurant for my birthday a couple weeks ago. I'm finding I feel sick with a lot of fat so I'm going to use this saying and see how it goes.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

dbanks80 wrote: »

I don't have any mantras but I get mad at my husband when he says "You're wasting all that food"

"I tell him this why there is an obesity problem in the US we were raised to FINISH everything on our plates!!" Leave me alone. If I say I am full that means I am full it doesn't matter what's left on my plate.

As an aside, I don't think that's the reason for the obesity problem in the US.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

dbanks80 wrote: »

I don't have any mantras but I get mad at my husband when he says "You're wasting all that food"

"I tell him this why there is an obesity problem in the US we were raised to FINISH everything on our plates!!" Leave me alone. If I say I am full that means I am full it doesn't matter what's left on my plate.

As an aside, I don't think that's the reason for the obesity problem in the US.

Agreed, it's a much more complex equation than that. There has been a decoupling of energy needs and intake for the past 100 years. Greater spike in the late 70's early 80's. There is not just a single issue. Its multiple. The change in the type of food we eat is one. The fact that many of our jobs are now more sedentary. The rise of two parent working households. Less home cooked meals and a reliance on grab and go meals. The rise of the internet and more effort saving devices. That's just to name a few. It is a very hard put it on just one of those, but more or the perfect storm. Jmho