How do you know you're done?

2

Replies

  • irefusetoquit
    irefusetoquit Posts: 62
    Don't get me wrong, I face food challenges every day at my parents. Cakes, cookies, pretzels, donuts, ice cream, etc.

    A few years ago when I started researching food and nutrition and saw the breakdown of some foods, I was absolutely turned off by it.

    But do I get tempted? YEAH!

    Why do I not go for the sweet stuff?
    BECAUSE ITS NOT IMPORTANT TO ME ANYMORE.
    THAT is how I got my weight up to 176pounds years ago, and I don't plan on going back there. So I avoid the foods that got me there.

    Oh yeah, how do I know when I'm done? When my brain says ENOUGH (no matter how little I've had) I put down the fork.
  • ralexander82
    ralexander82 Posts: 22 Member

    Another thing, I find it's easier to do portion control, when I measure it ahead of time. Make your own 100 calorie snack packs when you first open the package. If I don't do that, I tend to eat the whole thing at once. Typically, I only do this with "bad" foods like chocolate or whatever. Then when I finish the bag, it's not bad, because it was a single serving.

    I do that too, my husband thinks I'm crazy for doing it, but my kids and I are controlling how much we eat much better when they are in individual baggies =)
  • fitandyoga
    fitandyoga Posts: 27
    I used to have the same exact problem. But I learned to discipline my self. I just started cutting myself off from all the things I can not stop. I still don't eat pasta because I am not disciplined enough to take one bowl and stop. Start off with something that isn't something you are obsessed with and but you still like it. For me, it's soda. I still like a can or two of soda but it's not something I can't stop drinking. I practiced only taking half a can and learning to say no. It was pretty easy because I was not obsessed with it. Then go on to something more harder. If you don't think you can do it, learn to say to yourself "If you can't discipline yourself, you don't get it." Its all in the mind
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
    I have heard of people who will order a piece of pie/cake or whatever, eat the portion they *should* eat, then dump the contents of the salt shaker on the remainder so if they mindlessly take a bite, it tastes HORRIBLE.

    LOL. I don't have to pour salt on stuff--I have a six year old who will eat his, then ask for a bite of mine...then hubby wants "just a bite" and next thing I know, half of it is gone!
  • REET420
    REET420 Posts: 160 Member
    I only buy small one portion sized junk food for this reason. I have to eat it all.
  • mcjmommy
    mcjmommy Posts: 148 Member
    It has been a HUGE help to me to log everything that I eat. I had no idea (didn't want to know) how many calories I was consuming before I started this lifestyle change. Last night, we were at Rain Forest Cafe and my mother-in-law ordered the Volcano and I just said I didn't want any. I knew a little bit would just make me want a little bit more :(
  • smhammons
    smhammons Posts: 115 Member
    Throw half away and then the tempatation is gone:laugh: and hopefully your not digging it back out of the garbage::bigsmile:
  • amalthea23
    amalthea23 Posts: 44 Member
    I am the same as you!!!!!! It's lonely out there, being this way. I am small by many's standards, and eat more than people twice my size easily. Makes a 1,200 calorie a day limit VERY difficult. :(

    I feel like I'm bottomless! There are certain foods that, for me, defy physics. For example, I can eat ENDLESS quantities of dirty water hot dogs. ENDLESS. I'm never full. I find that insane.
  • rudegyal_b
    rudegyal_b Posts: 593 Member
    my problem exactly, im a bottomless pit
  • cloud2011
    cloud2011 Posts: 898 Member
    My (thin) son is exactly like this. He will have a slice of birthday cake and leave half of it there, and all of the icing if it tastes too sweet.

    I can do that with other food, but usually not with chocolate. I can be happy with one serving at a buffet (not that I go to them), or at a big holiday dinner. But chocolate cake, I will usually want more than a slice.

    Unfair!
  • amalthea23
    amalthea23 Posts: 44 Member
    Sorry I forgot to ask...where did the other half of said cookie go??? Just askin...like for curiosity's sake. Not like I want it or anything. Cause that would be weird.

    Ha! Right now, it's sitting on his desk at work. Where it's safe from me. I'm noting a trend in this thread where mostly guys say "just say no to the cookies" and women are getting it. I wonder if that's a male/female thing? I'd love it if 100 calorie packs were the answer, but this is ONE cookie, from this one bakery that everyone in my office goes to pretty regularly. You'll see that donut in my diary today, that's from that bakery lol. I think next time we go to the bakery, I might break off, go next door to the chinese place, and just get myself some hot and sour soup. It's fewer calories than the cookies and at least THAT makes me feel full.
  • Umeboshi
    Umeboshi Posts: 1,637 Member
    I'm in the same exact boat. I have to pre-portion EVERYTHING I eat or I will seriously just keep eating it until I'm painfully stuffed. I think mine has to do with the impulse-control aspect of my ADHD.
  • ninelives58
    ninelives58 Posts: 160 Member
    The way to only eat "half the cookie" or just a small portion of a treat is to take the portion out of the package, wrap up the rest and put it away, and only then sit down to eat the treat. If tempted to go back for more, I remind myself that "nothing tastes as good as being fit feels." Besides, then there's more yummy treat leftover for another day.
  • Katie3784
    Katie3784 Posts: 543
    Very often, when I stop eating, it is not because I am totally full, but because I know I have had enough. It is more mental than physical for me.
  • amalthea23
    amalthea23 Posts: 44 Member
    I agree with the pre-portioning thing. My freezer is jail for tempting foods. Once I put something in the freezer, it's safe from drive by snacking. I'm not going to put in the effort to thaw something. On occasion, when I realize I've been mentally battling a treat for too long, I just put it in the garbage. It's just not worth it. I don't understand why the SECOND it's in the garbage, I'm free from that battle. Why can't I be free BEFORE it's in there? SO frustrating.
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    Here is what I did: I ate. Period. No tv. No radio. No cell phone. I ate. I had a conversation with my husband. If I was using a fork/spoon, I put it down completely after every single bite. If I was eating something by hand (like pita chips) I only took one chip at a time and broke it in half. I ate one half at a time, and waited until I was finished chewing to pick up the other half. I drank water along with my meals, not just at the end to "wash it all down". I started to notice the tastes, flavors, textures of each bite while enjoying conversations again. I did this for weeks. One day, I went to pick up my fork at dinner after eating about 3/4 of my meal, and a teeny tiny thought/voice said "you're full". I barely noticed it. So, I put my fork down. I was done with dinner.

    As the weeks and now months have passed, this voice has become louder. I can eat and watch tv again, or check emails. My "you're full" voice is pretty loud now. I am satisfied with less and less. It was hard and frustrating (and I did cheat in the beginning) but it slowly got better. I don't even eat chips anymore. I would rather enjoy something homemade and full of flavor until I am full.

    Great advice. This is my goal in life.
  • PAnn1
    PAnn1 Posts: 530 Member
    I agree with the pre-portioning thing. My freezer is jail for tempting foods. Once I put something in the freezer, it's safe from drive by snacking. I'm not going to put in the effort to thaw something. On occasion, when I realize I've been mentally battling a treat for too long, I just put it in the garbage. It's just not worth it. I don't understand why the SECOND it's in the garbage, I'm free from that battle. Why can't I be free BEFORE it's in there? SO frustrating.
    Freezing cookies wouldn't work for me because I love frozen cookies & milk :blushing:
  • kalynn06
    kalynn06 Posts: 368 Member
    I have no help for you, because I feel the same way. I've gotten to the point where if it isn't a particularly good cookie and I'm not ravenous, I can leave it. Other than that...yeah, I can eat entire cakes. My sister, however, used to leave half snickers bars in the fridge and then be furious when they weren't there for her days later. I could never understand how she could eat half of a snickers bar, and not be continually obsessing over the fact that it was just waiting in the fridge.
  • srodarte11
    srodarte11 Posts: 21 Member
    OMG! I'm going to cry!! I can relate to this totally. I've struggled with it growing up...I had 2 skinny sisters and my husband constantly leaves half eaten chocolates in the fridge then scolds me for eating whatever was left. :ohwell:
  • sarah3333
    sarah3333 Posts: 222 Member
    I'm like that. I have a problem eating ALL my calories too even when I know I'm full and I don't even want anything else but I'll have like 80 calories left and it's like "Hmm what can I have?" Every time I leave something behind or leave extra calories I feel awesome about myself lol :)
  • FrugalMomsRock75
    FrugalMomsRock75 Posts: 698 Member
    You and me both, sister! I can't stop. It doesn't matter if I'm already full. I just can't stop. I eat and eat and eat.... that's how I got so fat!
  • islandnutshel
    islandnutshel Posts: 1,143 Member
    When I buy snacks for my husband's lunch, I shop hard for food I have no craving for. If it is something I might open the bag to, then it is gone before he gets home. Somehow I lost the stop signal, I find if I don't eat 1 chip then I wont eat the bag.
  • TanyaCurtis
    TanyaCurtis Posts: 630
    Sounds just like my husband, and me! I'm sooo jealous
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    ur8w3.jpg
  • islandnutshel
    islandnutshel Posts: 1,143 Member
    100 calorie packs.

    Got those, brilliant idea. Except during TOM
  • cbevan1229
    cbevan1229 Posts: 326 Member
    For me, it depends on what the food is. Baked goods seem to be my big downfall. If I make a tray of brownies, I will eat a tray of brownies. The week before I joined MFP, I ate a half of an apple pie in one sitting. A tray of Oreos stands no chance in my house.

    But I know there's a half a pack of M&M pretzels around here that I never got around to finishing the day I bought it. I have found half of a chocolate bar stuffed in my purse. I have Milky Way Miniatures in a candy dish in the living room that have been there since Christmas.

    For right now, I have a bag of Dove Promises, and I allow myself one or two after dinner. I've only actually chosen to eat one this week. But that allows me to have the sweet without exposing myself to the cake or cookies that I can't walk away from.
  • hatescows
    hatescows Posts: 69 Member
    He must have superpowers :laugh:


    Like!
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
    I love what was posted earlier about training yourself to hear when your body is full. I have tried to do the same, but it has taken a while. It has been said thousands of times, but I truly believe willpower is like a muscle. Work it out and you will be stronger.

    We have to understand that most of us have been conditioned our whole lives to 'clean your plate', not to be wasteful etc. The other one that I personally believe sets up bad food associations is the threat of not having dessert until you finish your dinner. Effectively making the good nutritious food the necessary torture you must endure to get to the tasty stuff! But that's a whole other issue for a different thread :P
  • Julianelson1978
    Julianelson1978 Posts: 1
    I know how you feel, my husband has had an ice cream bar in the freezer for a few weeks now, I ate mine the moment he walked in the door with it ( ice cream truck)

    I can't keep stuff like that on hand, or I won't stop till its gone .. Idk how he can just ignore it .. :grumble:

    If it was me I would have already eaten mine AND his then!
  • Kishykat
    Kishykat Posts: 8 Member
    i can leave the half a cookie behind....for like 2 hours max...it will just gnaw at my brain until i cant take it anymore and breakdown and eat it.


    i cant have that stuff around. and when i do splurge i make sure to account for the whole thing.
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