Motivation

Ok personally, if I am home, I will eat perfectly. I will never leave the house to get fast food. There are cookies in my house (I have unhealthy parents) and ice cream in my house and all kinds of bad foods, but I know I won't eat it. I don't get cravings for bad foods. I have been calorie counting for about 4 months but I lost weight on my own by making healthier choices starting two years ago. This website is helping me with the vanity pounds. 

 

My problem is when I'm out. When other people are controlling the menu I can't help but eat. People have advised me to eat a healthy snack before and I've found sometimes that helps, but sometimes it doesn't at all because it's not about the hunger - it's about the taste. When I'm at home I will make myself a plate with 4 oz grilled chicken, a cup of grilled vegetables, and a yogurt. I will eat that and be satisfied. But when I am at a restauraunt and they put fries on my plate...I can't help but eat it. Does anyone have similar problems? If I could just control my own menu for the rest of my life I'd be skinny - but I will never be in that much control. What should I do to stop myself from losing control?

what i like about this is i am in control..if your going out eat a taste or a few bites and just tell yourself that is what your going to do..i do not limit myself but i count it..have a slice of pizza or breadsticks or whatever..just count it make it part of your score..the reason i am doing so well is no one says no..if i think i can't have it i want it..but if i want a bite..so what..i count it and go on..

i do well at home also but seem to feel more hungry at home..at work its great i have my times for eating and snacking and i watch the calories add up and know if i can do a little more or if full call it a day..but stay within you calories and don't under cut to much or you can stop losing ..

glad your doing well i have a long way to go but will get there..

best of luck to you

jo

I definitely have that problem too. Also, sometimes I feel like it's hard to say "no" to a few friends. They'll want to share something they know I like, which is fattening and I'll say no and they want to know why. I hate the diet discussion at the dinner table -- so annoying. Anyways, if you're going to someone's home for dinner, serve yourself if possible. Load your plate with veggies or salad and just a small bit of whatever is fattening, so it looks like you're eating and enjoying their food. If you can't serve yourself, suck it up, eat whatever they put in front of you and work out twice as long when you get home and the next day as well. At a restaurant, I just try to avoid avoid avoid anything fattening. I know myself too well and I know there's no way I'm only gonna eat "a few fries" or half of a pasta and take the rest home. Uh uh, no way...if there's fries on the table period, I can't stop.

Last week, my Internet was down, so I went over to a friend's place to steal her wireless. She made lunch (homemade mac and cheese), which she knows I love. She also knows I'm on a diet and claims to need to drop a few herself. Result? Triple whammy: Why aren't you eating enough, this is healthy! (Not reaaalllyyy), but you love mac and cheese and the diet conversation all at one fun lunch gathering. Oh, did I mention she had brownies for dessert? Yikes...it was a very fattening, yet delicious day.

wow i am definitely the opposite. when i am out of the house working i eat less since i don't have access to food, but on the weekends i tend to binge and go crazy since i have access to food. I am not the one that does the food shopping in my house so i dont have control over whats being stored in the pantry

 

and you are right, when going out to eat i tend to eat whatever is put on my plate, it is bad! so thats why i try to get anything off the "light menu" if there is one

I agree that it is SOO hard eating right away from home.

Last week, I went over to my boss' for dinner, and he plopped down in front of me the HUGEST pile of spaghetti with the GREASIEST pesto I have ever seen.  I couldn't make myself eat but a 1/4 of it...and I felt so badly turning up my nose at it, but I just told him that I never eat a large dinner because it gives me heartburn when I sleep.  He didn't seem offended.

Eating out is even worse, because it tastes so good!  My hints are that if you are sharing with someone else, make sure it is closer to them, so you have to reach for a bite.  Or, if you are both ostensibly on a "diet" move it away from both of you, so you both have to reach.  :)  And as far as cleaning your plate...oh, man, I KNOW how hard it is to send away those fries!!!  When I know I have to limit myself, I ask for a to-go box at the beginning of the meal, before I even start, because I know once I taste that wonderful food, I'll lose my resolve.  Then I box up everything I don't want to eat (again, before I've even tasted it, so I won't be tempted by the luscious flavors), and THEN I clean my plate :)  More often than not, I end up giving the left-overs to a homeless person, because I don't really want them in my house, either, and I figure he or she will enjoy them more than I would anyway.

Boxing up before you eat does feel really tacky, and maybe your non-dieting friends will give you funny looks.  But who cares, it works.

I like the pre-boxing idea. Box everything up before you take your first bite!

Also, it's not the end of the world to have some cheat meals. For me, having a cheat meal once a week helps me lose weight by making it easier to stick to the diet the rest of the time.

Well, I fell off the wagon about 2 weeks ago... slipped and then straight fell off. lol. My big problem is when I smoke weed or drink. I end up stuffing my face (and I really mean stuffing, example: I made a 13x11 pan of pineapple upside down cake, low in fat/cals/sugar great right? well at 148 cals each slice it's not bad... after one joint I ate close to 1/4 the WHOLE pan!) yeah needless to say it was a bad night for me. Picture that 3-4 times a week and you'll know how crappy I feel. I loose control to no avail when I am not coherent. I don't know what the deal is with sweets and peanut butter... but I am seriously considering getting hypnotism to see if it helps, but in the meanwhile I just quit smoking weed and no drinking. Problem solved? Hope so!!

For me it is all the choices on the menu when I go out. Since I plan and prepare most of my meals and snacks going out is a treat. But too many treats will put me off track, and slipping into bad habits which I do not want. Even though I can usually avoid fried stuff off the menu, it's tough to tell what ingredients are in some chef's sauce and I prefer something spicy and saucy. Something I don't know how to prepare for myself at home.

I am getting better at leaving food on the plate. The idea of a to go box would be so irregular where I live. People just plain waste food if they do not want to eat it. They we tend to over order many things and share plates so that I have to really watch what I am putting on my plate.

For me, it's whether I'm alone or not. My husband works week on, week off, and when he's home, we eat out a lot and I make family dinners so we can sit down together. When he's working, I make my daughter something simple and then I feel free to eat a salad and chicken or something healthy that I feel good about. I always joke that if I was single I'd be tiny!

Don't get me wrong, my husband is the most wonderful man, but together we sort of make bad choices - like eating out so much. I guess we get bored, especially in the winter, and eating out is something to do. I'm getting better at making good choices in restaurants, but it's so hard!

I lose control when I am by myself at home. I constantly have food on the brain. It drives me mad! When ever my family is home or we have company over I am perfectly content to eat what satisfies me and be done with it. I have no urge to eat sweets either. However, once no is around I dive into the ice cream, take a few cookies, eat bowls of ice cream. Granted when I started counting two years ago I had perfect self control whether anyone was around or not. I think those years of restriction has led me to this state but I am trying to be better. I have no problem controlling myself when I am out either. I have a fear of eating around others anyways.