Accountability Thread - Reduce treats

okay so... this is going to be one of those posts where people realize why I have the username I do. And that they either really like me ... or really don't. It is what it is.

it is not the job of strangers to keep you accountable. It is YOUR job. Not mine. not your husband. Not any other MFP member. YOURS. Your food issues are your own. Just as my food issues are my own. It is not your job to keep peanut butter cups out of my mouth is it? no. it is mine.

I've lost almost 200 pounds. have a bit more to go. not much. my husband, skinny jerk that he is, needs to GAIN weight. Because, of course he does. I've still managed to lose weight, with him having totally opposite caloric needs AND having a teenage boy in the house who eats like a linebacker for the NFL and yet ... is also a skinny jerk. How? Because *I* control what I put in my mouth. Because *I* control how much food I put on my plate. We all eat the same thing for dinner almost every night. They might eat MORE but we eat the same meal.

Regarding sweets and junk food, in particular, there's a fair amount of it in our house. I purposely do not buy the things that i KNOW I can't leave alone. There's not many. Any peanut butter/ chocolate combination is out. I learned last week that the nabisco chewy chocolate chip cookies with the brownies inside can not come in the house again. LMAO. The nutter butter WAFER cookies are a no. the hard ones i dont care about. but the wafers i can sit and eat the entire package in one sitting. So for my boys ... I buy things i CAN leave alone. or only eat a normal portion of. There are PLENTY of things that they DO really enjoy that I dont care about. I love oreos but have no problem only eating a couple at a time. so those are okay. same for most cookies really. chips dont hold too much appeal for me. same for ice cream. I love to bake but really only do it in the fall and winter, but have no problem leaving most of it alone. So, they get a ton of baked sweets and breads and stuff during the cooler months. I will not make fudge, because I can't leave it alone (or i will make it only before a party or something when i know i can send it away with people). So you learn where your demons are, and avoid them altogether. If everything is your demon, then (I'm going to be very blunt here) you are going to have to find a better coping mechanism than food because it is unfair to your family to not have the things they want and enjoy because you are trying to lose weight. if your husband ABSOLUTELY LOVES AND HAS TO HAVE SOMETHING... i would suggest in that particular case ... he keep it at work. but it truly needs to be a one or two item thing, not half the kitchen.

all that being said, you absolutely can fit treats and sweets in. every day if you want. I do. most days, anyway. usually chocolate, but not always. i prefer it to be, though LOL

fyi...pudding cups are a pretty good low calorie option for a chocolate fix thats only around 100 calories theyre even good frozen :P

emmies_123 wrote: »

@callsitlikeiseeit
I have read that thread I am in normal BMI range, i guess that is the better descriptor. Although just barely, on the high end of it. I am happy with my body and what it can do, but I also know I can do better and shouldn't stop here just because it is acceptable.

Afternoon update: Staying to my goals. Had a healthy breakfast and lunch, and planned out my dinner. I'm going to Costco tonight and that will be a test to make sure nothing frivolous makes it back home!

Will you pick me up some frivolous items? They keep me mentally healthy. 😀

And congrats on your will power! It's definitely hard and something I have none of.

I have a different approach.

I love treats. The more treats I can squeeze in a day, the happier and more satisfied I am.

Redefining my definition of “treat” is probably what rounded the curve for me.

Instead of cookies or chocolates, I taught myself to consider these as treats: fruits, cottage cheese, yogurt, jello, a chicken sausage, cucumber, carrots, a single small hard candy (typically 5-15 calories apiece), beef jerky, fruit leather, veggies and zero cal ranch dressing, leftover pancakes from breakfast, tiny little tubs of sardine páte, and so on.

On a typical day, I’ll have 6-800 calories reserved for treats.

The game is to see how many I can squeeze into that budget. It’s like Tetris. I gloat when I can get in five or six snacks.

If for some reason I have a particularly light “real meal” scheduled, I’ll use those extra calories for a super special treat, like the fudge frosted brownie from my corner bakery Tuesday.

For something like that, I put the phone down, turn the TV off, and try to remind myself to eat it slowly and savor every bite to make it worthwhile. I try to make it a completely different experience from “old me” who would have shoveled in several without thinking, reached to find the bag empty, and carelessly wondered where they’d all gone.

I also try to make meals treats. I have been eating cake batter pancakes supplemented with a little whey powder and extra egg white for months. I brush zero cal caramel or chocolate syrup on them and roll them up like pirouettes. It’s all in my head but it feels so extravagant to have cupcake- like finger food for breakfast.

Dinner tonight is carefully shaved London broil pan fried with a little seasoning, rolled in naan bread, with a side of broccoli slaw pumped up with a shredded apple.

TL:DR. Don’t change your longing for treats. Change the treats you long for.

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

okay so... this is going to be one of those posts where people realize why I have the username I do. And that they either really like me ... or really don't. It is what it is.

it is not the job of strangers to keep you accountable. It is YOUR job. Not mine. not your husband. Not any other MFP member. YOURS. Your food issues are your own. Just as my food issues are my own. It is not your job to keep peanut butter cups out of my mouth is it? no. it is mine.

I've lost almost 200 pounds. have a bit more to go. not much. my husband, skinny jerk that he is, needs to GAIN weight. Because, of course he does. I've still managed to lose weight, with him having totally opposite caloric needs AND having a teenage boy in the house who eats like a linebacker for the NFL and yet ... is also a skinny jerk. How? Because *I* control what I put in my mouth. Because *I* control how much food I put on my plate. We all eat the same thing for dinner almost every night. They might eat MORE but we eat the same meal.

Regarding sweets and junk food, in particular, there's a fair amount of it in our house. I purposely do not buy the things that i KNOW I can't leave alone. There's not many. Any peanut butter/ chocolate combination is out. I learned last week that the nabisco chewy chocolate chip cookies with the brownies inside can not come in the house again. LMAO. The nutter butter WAFER cookies are a no. the hard ones i dont care about. but the wafers i can sit and eat the entire package in one sitting. So for my boys ... I buy things i CAN leave alone. or only eat a normal portion of. There are PLENTY of things that they DO really enjoy that I dont care about. I love oreos but have no problem only eating a couple at a time. so those are okay. same for most cookies really. chips dont hold too much appeal for me. same for ice cream. I love to bake but really only do it in the fall and winter, but have no problem leaving most of it alone. So, they get a ton of baked sweets and breads and stuff during the cooler months. I will not make fudge, because I can't leave it alone (or i will make it only before a party or something when i know i can send it away with people). So you learn where your demons are, and avoid them altogether. If everything is your demon, then (I'm going to be very blunt here) you are going to have to find a better coping mechanism than food because it is unfair to your family to not have the things they want and enjoy because you are trying to lose weight. if your husband ABSOLUTELY LOVES AND HAS TO HAVE SOMETHING... i would suggest in that particular case ... he keep it at work. but it truly needs to be a one or two item thing, not half the kitchen.

all that being said, you absolutely can fit treats and sweets in. every day if you want. I do. most days, anyway. usually chocolate, but not always. i prefer it to be, though LOL

fyi...pudding cups are a pretty good low calorie option for a chocolate fix thats only around 100 calories theyre even good frozen :P

I ADORE YOU!! I’ve been reading through these posts and see all the earmarks of food = emotion (vs food = sustain the body). Eating and food plans are driven by the energy put into it.

I am following a paleo food plan to lose 50 or so lb. My husband refuses to eat any fresh vegetables, fruit, or seafood. Do I have a problem with the chocolate and oreos in the drawer? No. Do I have a problem with him eating pizza in front of me? No. Do I have a problem with him asking me over and over to go out to Arby’s, or Chinese, or Olive Garden? Yes (and every time, I let him know that I’m working hard with 5-6 days workouts and eating plan that I’m not going to set myself back to appease him).

Emmies… I do feel for you. I’ve been there, done that. It was a big help going to a nutritionist, which was paid for by my health insurance. I also set up a mini gym in my basement, so no excuses to not workout (not that I look for excuses). It took me over 20 years to decide I was going to take this weight off — once I really made that choice, the rest fell into place.

I have been below goal for several months now, and have a huge taste for chocolate. I figured out a way to have it at breakfast and dinner every day through cocoa powder and find that I am never truly tempted to have additional treats. (I find a small whisk helps incorporate cocoa powder into fluids.)

I set up my breakfast at night for the next morning. Using a large single serving microwaveable bowl, I add 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats, 1 cup of water, a 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric (not everybody likes this), 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper, and 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder. I use plain cocoa powder, not dutch process or 'special dark.' I microwave it about 4 minutes while making coffee, watching for boil overs and adding hot water from the coffee maker as needed. (When the microwave broke I used the stove top and, to make it easier to clean the pot, did not add the cocoa and cinnamon to the pot, but whisked them with 1/4 cup of water in my cereal bowl and poured the finished hot oatmeal to serve.)

I use artificial sweetener and add that after it has cooked. I don't use salt much and shake it sparingly at the table.


Dinner usually includes chia cocoa pudding. I measure 1 tablespoon of Chia seeds, 1 tablespoon of the same cocoa powder, and one sweetener packet to a juice glass sized, add slightly more than 1/4 cup of water, and whisk until blended, and then refrigerate. If I forget to make it the night before, I can do it before dinner and it is ready but not as chilled at dinner time. Sometimes I add cinnamon or orange extract.

The cocoa adds 30 calories a day to my total. If I didn't have a carb limit and need to fit beans into dinner, I would have an additional serving of the oatmeal at night. I love it that much.

There is also an old Weight Watchers breakfast of an oat-based freezer bar using hot cocoa mix, peanut butter, and raisins. I have made a version of it with cocoa powder and peanut powder. I don't love it as much as my hot cereal mix, but I might give it another go now that I'm at goal.