Moderation/ Or giving up trigger foods completely.
I have a question for those of you who have lost your weigh successfully and kept it off.
The experts/ dieticians etc always say don’t cut out a food group or a specific food as when you eat it again you will gain most of the weight back.
I agree with them that does happen but I find eating the food or in my case it’s more sugar leads me to overeating. It’s easier for me to cut it out and keep going once I gain momentum but then I start eating it a little and think see I’m fine and then I eat it once or twice again and when I’m under stress I eat everything and gain the hard lost weight back.
I really really want to be normal and just eat in moderation but it doesn’t seem to work for me.
Did you eat your trigger foods from the beginning in moderation or cut it out and were you able to add it again at some point with out problems.
What has gotten you through the binges, stressful emotional times from not eating, where you would have eaten before?
The experts/ dieticians etc always say don’t cut out a food group or a specific food as when you eat it again you will gain most of the weight back.
I've never heard anything like this. You don't regain weight by eating a food or food group you've previously eliminated, you regain by eating too much of anything.
Regarding moderation vs. elimination, I think it's a very individual choice that requires us to know our own bodies and minds. For me, "never again" is far more disconcerting than learning to moderate portions, even though I'm NOT a naturally moderate person. Perhaps it's because I don't have specific "trigger foods." ALL good foods are potential triggers for me, but no particular food "sets me off," so to speak. Knowing this about myself, I didn't eliminate any foods either during weight loss or maintenance.
Other people have found success and peace of mind by completely eliminating certain foods.
You'll have to experiment to see which approach works best for you.
F.
Last edited by freelancemomma; 12-26-2012 at 09:50 PM.
This is really one of those things that's individual and depends on one's relationship with food.
My issue was poor education and boredom eating...so I don't have trigger foods. I never cut out any foods intentionally, but I have found that as I gravitate toward healthy foods that some have slowly been removed from my diet.
We all need to realize that the "experts" haven't found what's right for US. Just because something works for the majority of people doesn't necessarily mean it will work for you. You have to do what's best for you, regardless of what some diet expert might say.
I break so many "diet rules" but I'm still chugging along because I do what works for me
I'd say, it depends on the people. I haven't really eliminated anything from my diet--although I've learnt to recognize a few food items that, I suspect due to their chemical components, create some kind of 'artificial hunger' in me, so those I avoid (they're not my favourite ones anyway, no biggie here).
My only trigger food is salt and vinegar chips. I will eat an entire 1200-2000 calorie bag in 5 minutes.
So, I don't do moderation (won't last in the cupboard) or abstinence (I will keep thinking about it).
I got a 3rd option... substitutions. I found that a (250 calorie) large bag of "pop chips" (rice chips with salt & vinegar flavor) handle that craving. So, I go and buy one of those if I am tempted.
I don't binge just because I'm tasting a certain food. Food alone doesn't do it. The signals that my body and my brain give me when I am overeating are different from the signals that tell me when I've gone into a binge. My binges occur when I'm uneasy & experiencing anxiety, and I start grabbing at food. Overeating occurs in a more comfortable place, when I'm actually very much in the present and am fully experiencing the food.
Okay, with that said, yes, I do limit many foods and I have renounced forever certain foods that I used to eat.
The foods that I don't think I'll taste again in this lifetime, I decided that, although foodlike, and sold as such, they really weren't a food that I absolutely needed to have in my life and there was no compelling reason for me ever to eat them. The "never again" foods were those that were like, "Yeah, once I'd eat that unthinkingly & enjoy it, but you know what? I really don't care if I ever have it again. Nothing bad would happen if it disappeared from this earth."
I've found that eating trigger foods in moderation is much easier outside of the home under controlled settings. I can go to a party or family function and enjoy small amounts of foods I rarely buy or prepare myself.
I rarely allow myself to even consider bringing certain foods into the house, and when I do, more often than not it's single portions so there's no chance of me eating an entire package of 12 servings in one day. Uh, like I did this Christmas with some sugar-free cookies; I was supposed to bring them to dinner but they got left behind . . . I probably should have just thrown them away.
For now, this is how I find my balance. Allowing myself to enjoy certain things in moderation without giving myself an opportunity to binge. I control what I bring into the house so I don't have to control what I eat at home.
It really varies a lot depending on the individual.
For me I've found a combination works. I can have "just a couple" chocolates or eat a bowl of ice cream without thinking about it all day the next day, but there is absolutely no reason for me to keep potato chips or cold cereal around since these are foods I recognize I will keep going back for more until it's either gone or I have a stomachache and a mind full of guilt.
Generally speaking I try to limit my grainy/starchy carbs and follow a protein-rich, volumetrics-inspired way of eating for daily living. I'm not perfect obviously since I like drinking and dessert too much. Things I never/rarely have around the house: bread, rice, pasta, crackers, cereal, potato chips, french fries, granola, pastries/donuts.
I do not ban anything, though eat anything I want only in moderation. I had to change my way of thinking from being on a "diet" to changing my lifestyle and it has done wonders for me personally
Same...I think at one point, when I was younger, I even thought eating just bread would help me lose weight 0.o
Anyways, like everyone stated, its pretty much about individual preference. I find that portioning out EVERYTHING helps me control overeating anything. I'm a sugar fanatic, and can't go a day without sweets, but as long as I only take a few bites and force myself to leave the rest alone, then I'm alright
I couldn't ever see myself giving up something I love eating because food is ment to be enjoyed...Just in moderation...
Like freelancemomma, I don't have certain trigger foods. If I'm really hungry, then I can go off plan on just about anything if I'm craving it. I'd rather learn to work with the unhealthy foods, and have a little of them in moderation, than try to cut them out completely and risk losing control if I decide to eat them again in 5 years. That's just me personally, I feel too deprived cutting out anything, but for others it works for them. If you can limit your portions and have the foods in moderation, then I say go for it.
I can't have sweets in the house at all. Nor snacky foods like chips. But, if we go out to eat, I'll order a dessert or maybe eat an entree that isn't necessarily good for me. We rarely go out to eat though, maybe once a month at the most. My husband doesn't understand it. Why can't you just leave the sweets in the house and have some every once in awhile?, he asks. Hmmm, I don't know! I sit and obsess about it and it drives me nuts till I eat all junk food! Easier for me to just not have it in the house...ever. When it's not in the house, I don't think about it. It causes me serious stress to have junk food in the house. I don't know if I'm weak willed or what, but it's not worth the stress.
Same here. I cannot have chocolate in my house because I will eat it. When there is no chocolate in the house I go for the biscuits. I have a few hard candies because they are only 20 calories each when I really crave chocolate.
For me, chocolate gets only eaten during holidays like Christmas and Easter. It´s such an addictive trigger food for me, I cannot have it around.
I don't know if I should consider myself lucky or not, but chocolate and chips don't really tempt me... chips don't really appeal to me, so they're easy for me to pass up and I can have a few squares of really good dark chocolate and be satisfied....
My one true downfall seems to be pasta... I have a very difficult time limiting myself to a single serving (although I'm sure I'm not the only one who has trouble just eating 2oz of pasta... lol...) but there is something about really good fresh pasta that sets me off and I can easily eat a big plate of it... without even thinking about it... And I make all sorts of excuses like... Well, it because I use to live and work in Italy and of course it doesn't help that some of my favorite restaurants here in NYC are Italian and always have the most amazing pasta courses that are very difficult to resist...
So now, I can pretty much cook anything or go to any restaurant and be comfortable that I can come up with something that works for me... But unfortunately, a pasta dish isn't usually among them these days...
Moderation/ Or giving up trigger foods completely.
