Honest to god, I have to stop reading this thread because even the descriptions of cereal make me want some. I don't know what it is about cereal, but it really is easy to go crazy with it. Even bran flakes.
Sugary breakfast cereals are one thing I have been able to completely eliminate without looking back. I know that if I had a box of <insert ANY cereal here> in my home for the "occasional treat," it would be gone in one sitting and I'd want another box. I had 2, 3, 4 bowls of cereal practically every morning from preschool age until last fall. Sometimes I'd choose to be "healthy" and get a box of Special K or Honey Nut Cheerios and eat five bowls of that in the morning. Yea...no.
I still eat fries, chips, sweets, pasta, etc on very limited and planned occasions. I can live with having a McDonald's meal or a small bag of chips every few months, and it won't send me spiralling off plan. I enjoy those foods too much to completely eliminate them, and I'm not so overly tempted by them that they can derail me. I don't love breakfast cereals enough for them to even be worth it to mess with because I know I wouldn't be able to control myself.
I usually don't advocate throwing food away (I'm too stingey), but this might be one of those situations where it would be a good idea. OR, if you think you can trust yourself to keep it under control, maybe you could use it to practice moderation? Maybe mix 1/2 cup fat free yogurt (around 60 cal, depending on the brand) with a quarter of one of the cereal servings (50 cals). Then you'd still get the taste and crunch from the cereal, half the calories of the bowls you're eating, but you'd still get to have a bowl of something in the evening, and you'd be able to use it up (and remember to not buy it again).
cereal is absolutely one of my fav. things. high fiber are my favs, i have binged on sugary cereals too. i'll eat raisin bran for dinner anytime. i love kashi go lean. oatmeal,cream of wheat. i realized early in this big diet/change that many times i dont want to stop at 1 bowl. when i think carefully, i realize that other foods are more satisfying or i was in the mood for like dinner leftovers.
another thing that helps, eat breakfast after w/o or just have fruit. or carrot. i eat carrots really often. i always did, the whole bag of baby carrots. now i just have 1 big reg. carrot.
now that i'm further along, i sometimes have breakfast food, sometimes not. i am better at stopping when i'm full.
I love cereal too! I loved having cereal at night too. I've broken up with sugary cereals and granola, but I still eat cereal in the morning. Fiber One - Original. I love it because of the fiber. It doesn't taste that great, but I eat less than half a cup of it in plain yogurt with some fruit and am very satisfied for the rest of the morning.
My problem is I had no idea it would turn this bad. I have 3 other kinds of cereal in the house, some Kashi cereal, nature's path pumpkin granola, and regular multigrain Cheerios, but I usually eat like a bowl a week of that stuff if any. But these kids cereal just turned me into a sugar monster!
Carter - About the Kashi Go Lean cereal, I have them as well, I actually think they taste pretty good but they're like little rock clusters and it takes me forever to eat a bowl! Which I guess is why they've been sitting there for a month untouched.
renstwin - Cinnamon Toast Crunch is one of the boxes thats sitting in my cupboard right now and am trying not to think about.
Jay + Shmead - Not to be rude, but there is no need to answer like you're speaking to a dumb child. Like how you're stating breakfast cereals are terrible for you as if I don't already know that fact. You know what else s bad for you? Meats. Eggs. Dairies. White flour. Salad dressings. Anything that is labeled LITE or DIET. Coffee. Bottled drinks. I'm not going to eat solely raw lettuce and pumpkin seeds just so that I don't "poison" my body.
Again, I did not know this purchase was going to turn into a nightmare, because I have been able to control every single other thing I've brought into the house, even my partner's constant supply of junk food.
About throwing it away - I could not bring myself to throw something away that is no expired and that I can't throw into the compost bin. I'll have nightmares about being wasteful. Also there is someone else in the house who eats these things, and if I start chucking out everything that I should not be eating, she's going to cut my head off because I'm not the only one who pays for our groceries obviously.
By the way, I'm still in panic mode as the scale stated 176 pounds this morning. I'm so sick of doing well for a while and then something within or outside of my control comes to f*** it up.
I used to go out and buy Fruity Pebbles and eat the entire box in one night! For me, Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles seem easier to do that with than other sugary cereals. I eat Total with fruit added, I'm not tempted to overeat on that.
Jay + Shmead - Not to be rude, but there is no need to answer like you're speaking to a dumb child. Like how you're stating breakfast cereals are terrible for you as if I don't already know that fact. You know what else s bad for you? Meats. Eggs. Dairies. White flour. Salad dressings. Anything that is labeled LITE or DIET. Coffee. Bottled drinks. I'm not going to eat solely raw lettuce and pumpkin seeds just so that I don't "poison" my body.
I didn't mean my comment to be condescending, and I am sorry if it came across that way. MANY of us here are carrying extra weight because we didn't want to "waste" food--I can't TELL you how many calories I've eaten when I wasn't hungry because there wasn't enough to save and I didn't want to "waste" food by throwing it away, how many gifts of food I've eaten even though I didn't like it much because I didn't want to be wasteful, how many times I've sat around wishing that the cookies I bought or whatever were gone because I was compulsively eating them and not even enjoying it.
I think a compulsive need not to "waste" food is one of the leading causes of obesity in this nation: we were raised my mothers and grandmothers who went through the depression and we live in a culture where food is cheaper than anything else.
I would never suggest that you have to live on lettuce. I am an ardent supporter of high calorie diets, and I've posted in favor of higher-calorie diets all over this board. I am just suggesting that if the food is bringing you more pain and guilt than it is pleasure, throwing it away is an option. Many people really don't see that choice because we were raised to believe that wasting food is like kicking a puppy or farting in church--just something Nice People Never Do, Ever. But it really is ok, because food that neither brings you pleasure or feeds your body IS poison. Obesity kills.
If the food will be eaten by someone else, then of course you should leave it to them. But if, say, I go out to eat and order a big dessert and eat half of it and am stuffed, it's better to leave the other half on the table than to force myself to finish it. It's the same cost either way and the only thing that second half of the desert gets me is extra fat--it doesn't even bring me joy. I don't see how shoving it in my mouth would make it less wasted than if I threw it in the trash.
My mom never allowed sugary cereals and I'm so glad! Now I don't either. But even Corn Flakes or Raisin Bran leave me hungry...make that RAVENOUS...within one hour. So they're out. I don't need them. I eat eggs and fruit for breakfast. The only cereal I'll eat, and I eat a lot of it, is Fiber One.
I do buy cereal for my kids, and I hate that I do, but I'm not there in the mornings to get them off so it has to be easy for DH. But they eat Raisin Bran, cheerios, Rice Krispies, etc.
Sugary cereal is just dessert. Who on earth ever thought it was a good way to start the day?
Carter - About the Kashi Go Lean cereal, I have them as well, I actually think they taste pretty good but they're like little rock clusters and it takes me forever to eat a bowl! Which I guess is why they've been sitting there for a month untouched.
That sounds like you are talking about Go Lean Crunch, which is more like granola clusters and a lot more palatable than the regular Go Lean, which is the nasty stuff I was talking about.
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By the way, I'm still in panic mode as the scale stated 176 pounds this morning. I'm so sick of doing well for a while and then something within or outside of my control comes to f*** it up.
Remember: nothing you put in your mouth is out of your control. Try not to panic, and instead focus on making the right choices one choice at a time.
Jay + Shmead - Not to be rude, but there is no need to answer like you're speaking to a dumb child. Like how you're stating breakfast cereals are terrible for you as if I don't already know that fact.
Well, we don't know you at all, do we? And you'd be surprised at how many posters on 3FC have some really odd ideas about what constitutes healthy food.
So, you're not dumb, and you evidently know these cereals are bad for you--Lucky Charms is a non-food! You can't even compare it to meat, eggs, dairy, etc., which by the way are NOT bad for you. But anyway, knowing that, you went out and bought boxes of Lucky Charms, and you have been eating two bowls a night. And not counting calories.
Your actions have not been in your best interests. I hope the cereal gets gone soon.
Maybe it's really the Cinnamon Toast Crunch that I struggle with, but also those Quaker Oat Squares are dangerous too. In general all sugary cereals are potential disaster for me. But cereal aside, if I'm inclined I can overeat/binge on healthy food too! Homemade bread must be limited...
I also suffer from the "must not waste food" mindset. I often have to remind myself to not treat my body like a garbage can.
Last edited by losermom; 09-26-2010 at 10:42 AM.
Reason: need to add more
OMG... Cinnamon Toast Crunch? I don't even know why I read this thread. I'm sorry you bought the cereal, I'm having trouble just thinking about it - I can't imagine what I would do knowing it was right there in the cabinet! Haha.
Good luck to you. I think this is one of those few times in life that you shouldn't feel bad to go ahead and dump that sugary crack in the trash.
If there's anything good that can come out of this situation, at least you know in the future to stay away from ever buying kid cereal!
That sounds like you are talking about Go Lean Crunch, which is more like granola clusters and a lot more palatable than the regular Go Lean, which is the nasty stuff I was talking about.
And you'd be surprised at how many posters on 3FC have some really odd ideas about what constitutes healthy food. 
And not counting calories. 
