Is total abstention easier than moderation?

I think that totally depends on your personality traits. I am a person that must abstain. My daughter on the other hand does extremely well at moderation. She can buy a bag of candy (even like a one serving bag of M&Ms) and eat it over the course of days. Me on the other hand, can barely make it out of the store before those babies are gone! I have learned to read labels and that really helps me abstain. If I see something has absolutely nothing of nutriional value to offer me, I put it back. Or I think of how hard I need to work to get those calories off. Hope this helps someone!

I think abstaining is great in the beginning, but as you train yourself you can add things in. Then again I abstain from meat at all times.

I'm bulimic and anything can trigger a binge. I've binged on vegetables, fruit, yoghurt, porridge, weetabix, plain wholemeal bread, soup, and these are meant to be 'healthier' but they're not for me. The thing is though I don't have any 'safe' foods, so if I'm not in the right midset before I eat, I will binge then purge. Moderation is so incredibly hard:/ lol.

I'm in the moderation camp for 2 reasons, firstly because what I love about the calorie counting way to weightloss is the fact that no foods are off limits so I find it easier to stick to (if I want to eat something high in calories I make sure I burn the calories off first MFP helps me achieve this) and secondly that as I'm planning for this to be a lifestyle change I'm trying to be able to incorporate foods I like into my daily intake. They sound like similar points really don't they, lol. I love food and have to learn to eat well without over-indulging or depriving myself.

I'm among the latter. If I decide I won't have something, period; then I won't be even thinking about it, it will be away from my mind and easy to avoid. However, when I say I can have a little bit, I'll eat that little bit and I'll want more and be thinking about it until I really go and eat whatever's left of it.

Me too. I'll obsess until it's gone (meaning, I ate it all... to which I replace the obsession with self-hatred, lol).

It depends on the "treat". If it's ice cream or chocolate, I'm an abstainer. If it's chips, I can moderate. I love snack foods and if I indulge in something crunchy, I am able to portion out a serving and I'm satisfied without feeling out of control.

I think it depends on how you're defining moderation. Moderation doesn't have to mean scheduling a certain amount or frequency-so just because you don't fully abstain from something doesn't mean your only other option is to somehow schedule yourself an allowance of sorts. To me-that's essentially the same idea. You're either restricting consumption to zero or your restricting consumption to some other arbitrary number. To me, you're still restricting.

If I really, really loved frozen yogurt enough to eat it 3 times a day-then I'd find a way to allow myself frozen yogurt 3 times a day. Meaning, I'd cut down other meals/snacks and/or burn more calories through exercise. I'd soon become weary of that and eventually decide that I'd rather not run 6 extra miles a day to fuel my frozen yogurt habit-or I'd find that having just carrot sticks for lunch sucks, and I'd be willing to cut out a frozen yogurt or two so I could eat some actual food. That is the approach I have taken for me. I've eventually eliminated a lot of crap from my diet by not abstaining-and if I get the urge to eat some crap-I do (and I fit it in). Over time-this has just naturally happened for me-but I will never restrict myself (either completely or in some arbitrarily determined "schedule") from eating anything I find tasty.

So why do we think someone who avoids junk food altogether is weak?

I for one don't believe someone who avoids junk food altogether is weak. The less I have in my life, the happier I am with myself, because it means I have more calories left for good food.

Abstainer here. I stopped eating dairy just so I couldn't eat chocolate. Worked really well and managed it for a few months but found it too difficult with eating meals with others to keep it up. I now don't eat as much as I used to (sometimes a whole block a night!)

I feel like moderation is the key. When you cut everything out, you are depriving yourself and that will just make the fall harder and worse if you do fall. We have done well with exercising at least 5 days a week, sometimes 6 and logging calories.
Just hang in there and don't beat yourself up for eating things you like!

I buy things that come in induvidual packets or else I eat the whole lot - small packets are fine...large packets not so!

I am a moderator. I know that if I tell myself that I can't have certain foods that I will quit. I need to be able live my life in a way I always have. For example, if a friends calls to ask me if I want to go out for ice cream I can. If my husband wants to have a treat I want to be able to enjoy one with him. With that being said I do not indulge in treats too often and try to choose treats that are a little less "naughty".

I cannot have even a tiny bit of sugar or I go off the rails.