Does anyone have any mind tricks or willpower exercises that can help me get better at just eating one of something. How do people do this?

For example, I would love to have a small biscotti with my coffee in the morning. I make a nice whole wheat dark chocolate biscotti - no fat, not a lot of calories, not super sweet. They aren't addictive like chocolate chip cookies or potato chips - i'm not sure I'll ever get to the point where I can take just one homemade chocolate chip cookie and not go back for seconds until they are all gone.

It just seems to me like I should be able to eat just one biscotti. But I just can't seem to do it. I don't eat them all the day I make them but I can't manage to limit myself to one a day. It isn't hunger and it isn't that I'm deprived of chocolate - I do have chocolate often enough that I'm not totally craving it all the time.

How do people learn to just have one of something? I really want to learn this this year.

I know what you mean I use to ALWAYS go back for seconds at dinner or snacks I now tell myself the food will ALWAYS be there tomorrow and I can have one then or if you are a calorie counter you can always save some calories to have another.

I'd be interested to know. I can't do it unless I am in public with friends or at work. Then the thought of being seen to have too much bugs me.

I like to see how long I can make something last ... which is easier when I'm the only one eating them If I have seven of something left, I like to plan on one every day. BUT if someone else is enjoying them at a much, much faster rate, then my mind goes into the "hey - I need to have an extra one today in case it's gone tomorrow!" mode...
Good luck!

I can't thats why I don't allow any food that would lead me to have more than one !

Vladadog ~

I think if I had an answer to that I'd be rich...really, really rich.
Its probably different for everyone. There are things I just can't have one of so I tend not to have any. When I do have something that "tastes like more" I try to eat it slowly with itty bitty bites and maybe with something else so I can make it last longer. Also sometimes I have to brush my teeth to stop savoring the taste so much that I want more.

Good luck and if you find some other tricks and tips I love to know too!

Me too! I think the brushing your teeth is a really great idea...after I brush my teeth it makes me not want to eat for a while.
Vladadog you are doing an amazing job with your weight loss. I have noticed it in the Jan. daily weigh in's. I also am hoping to be in the 180's soon
Sorry I don't have an answer about the eating one thing- I have no self control if these things are in my house. If I eat even 1 it triggers a binge in me. So I will stick to my clementines and grapes

Eating "just one" is a toughie for me too. Pretty much the only way I can do it with some foods is to ensure that there's "just one" to eat. That's not really practical for things like biscotti unless you give the rest away to co-workers or friends, though.

Maybe those biscotti will always be "more-ish" for you even though they're not as calorie-dense as, say, chocolate chip cookies. They might be just close enough to trigger the same "gotta have another" reaction. I have that problem with certain brands of crispbreads--they're plan-friendly choices by themselves, but they always make me jones for more just like cheez-its always did.

The teeth-brushing suggestion also sounded like a good one. One thing that helps me is to get up and do something else as soon as I've finished something that I think might make me want seconds. If the "something else" involves busying my hands, so much the better--writing is good for that, so is painting, and so is a manicure (manicures have the additional benefit of giving you nails that'll get messed up if you dive into a bag of food, so you have extra incentive to keep out ).

Thinking this, I really believe, was one of the biggest obstacles to my sustaining weight loss. I kept failing because instead of doing what was effective, I tried over and over unsuccessfully to do it the way I thought I "should" be able to.

I wasted decades trying to learn how to "eat just one." I'm finally realizing (can't say I'm always able to see) that "should" does not always mean "can."

For me, some foods are like alcohol to an alcoholic. One is too may, and a thousand are never enough.


It's been incredibly liberating to just accept the fact that for many of these things, I simply cannot. The only way I can eat "just one" of many things, is to only buy one. Sometimes that's not even enough, as there are some foods that trigger so much hunger for me that if I eat even one, it can trigger binges of everything else in the house.

That doesn't mean I never have some of these foods, but I do have to look at them as potential time bombs. I have to ask "is even one really worth it to me?"

Most of the time it's not. More and more though I'm realizing this before I make the attempt rather than after.

I've mastered great restraint.

I portion control a snack, so if you decide you want this treat in the morning, set it in a snack sized baggie and leave it out for you in the morning, perhaps eat toward the end of your last cup of coffee, if you have lots left to eat you can freeze them perhaps and take one out the night before and leave it out for yourself to defrost through the night. There are great ways to provide yourseld restraints. Good luck

Cookies are my downfall so I tend to portion enough for a week (7), give the rest away, and then put them in the freezer. If you go back for seconds, you have to eat it frozen (not as good for me) and won't have one tomorrow (sad!). Also try ending your coffee/tea with the biscotti and not going back for another cup. A second cup sometimes mean a second cookie!

yup, this is a tough one to be sure. Is it ONLY that it tastes good and you want another, or does it go deeper? Are you fearful of success and/or failure so you're sabotaging yourself? Is it a compulsion? there's so many reasons behind food, it's a bit nutty! Personally, I tried being the type to just plain NEVER have anything tempting to me in the house. I very quickly realized that it wasn't the food, it was MY response to it. I can't police the entire world and only have exactly what i want around me all the time, i go other places, am in different situations -- things change. So i had to change ME, the only constant in the equation.

As dumb as it sounds, really strong sugar free gum helped me a LOT in the beginning. I'd get some insane craving for bowl after bowl of (ice cream, cereal, chips, etc.) and i'd chew half a pack of gum til i calmed down, and then wrote about why i was so mental about it lol. I can't say what will work for you, no one can, but there's light at the end of the tunnel. If i can do it, anyone can believe me!

what is this "just one" you speak of

While it might be impossible for you to have 'just one', is it possible for you to just 'make one'?

I'm not familiar with the methods of making biscotti, but to me it looks like you can make the dough/batter/stuff for it, cut off enough for one piece, put that in the oven, then put the rest of the mixture in the freezer?

Then, you won't be able to have 'just one more', because there's only just one to be had Even if you do go for another, defrosting then oven heating then baking might take so long and or be too much effort that you decide you don't need another!

It depends on the item.

I can eat just one chocolate because I freeze them Then it lasts longer melting in my mouth, and I go for green &black dark chocolate. Pretty intense flavor, so that's plenty.

Cookies? Cakes? I can't. So I don't bake those things at all. If I buy them, even if it costs more money, I try to get it at the 7-11, starbucks, or something similar in the 1 person size baggie. I know I will eat the whole bag, so better to get the smallest bag possible! I also have frozen choc chip cookies to make them go longer.

Soft, white bread? Ugh -- just keep away. I'd eat the whole loaf in one go.

I think it is easier to resists once at the store and not buy trigger foods than to buy and resist a hundred times at home. It just doesn't work for me. I will cave and binge on the trigger item. That's why it is a trigger item for me.

I'm not using my meter right now because I broke it and I haven't replaced it yet, but I bet if I tried it out right after eating all those trigger things, it's because it spikes my blood sugar too high and then I feel crazy and lose control and binge.

A.