I can't get the bad food out of the house!
 

So I am home from college for the summer and my mom and I are trying to lose weight...again. How do you keep from eating the bad foods (chips, bread, etc.) when there are other people in the house? Mom won't just get rid of all the bad foods. Truth be told everyone in the family could stand to lose weight but she won't just force it on them. So what are you ways to avoid it?

That's a tough situation! I think it's great that you and your mom are doing this together because that itself will make it much easier! Make sure to stock up on tons of healthy snacks so you don't feel deprived while your family is eating! There are a lot of good threads on here about snacks, but some of my staples are: nonfat yogurt, fruit, veggies (esp. baby carrots) and hummus, rice cakes, 100 cal popcorn (a good chip substitute!), babybel light cheese, hard-boiled eggs, etc. Also, maybe you can designate one cabinet for the healthy stuff and keep all the junk in a different place so you don't even have to see it when you get your food.

This is most definitely an exercise in will-power and it's almost more mental than anything, but you can do it! The first week will be really hard, but honestly, you'll feel so proud and powerful once you pass that point. I can't remember who said this, but this is one of my favorite quotes from a 3FC member: Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!! Just remember that and you'll be great!

If the bad foods are for some members of the household while others want to avoid it why don`t you tell those who eat them to store them for themselves? E.g. a sibling could take them to his/her room and your dad can put it whereever he stores his personal stuff. Just not where you see them all the time!

I can't either - I have three children and a husband who wouldn't be very happy if I did. I've had to learn to walk past the big pile of chocolate and ignore them. I'm calorie counting so have my own stash of chocolate, etc. that I keep to one side to eat through much more slowly and I've told everyone they can have there things in the house still if they don't touch mine. In the past I'd always rush through eating through all the treats before anyone else would get to them but now I just tell myself it will still be there the next day so maybe I can have a little bit then. It is difficult though and takes a lot of self control. I also write down everything I eat now so I can make sure I don't binge on all the treats.

The good thing about it is instead of stopping binging and avoiding trigger foods I have been learning to eat a little of those foods without having a binge afterwards which I'm sure will help me continue to lose weight and maintain the weight lsot once I'm at goal.

Start chewing gum! I do this when i'm cooking/baking and don't want to eat little nibbles (it all adds up after all)...it gives you that little bit of time/effort required to take the gum out where you can think "Is it really worth me eating this junk?"...Just an idea.

Before I left my husband, I had the same problem! He ate anything he wanted & stayed 220 lbs @ 6'3" tall... me, I look @ food, I gain! I kept the house stocked with stuff that I could eat when the urge to eat came to me. I also kept all his "bad food" in one specific cabinet, that I would NEVER, NEVER OPEN! It was opened by me only when I went grocery shopping & had to put new food into it. I kept mine however, in plain view, in the glass hutch, that way the first thing I would see if I was hungry was the good food. :) It took getting used to and took a lot of will power, but it worked...

will power never worked for me. the only way that i can swear off of some kind of food is by 'brain washing' myself into believing that it is simply not an option.
once the belief takes hold, i am able to look right past the foods i have sworn off while i scour the cupboards for something that won't throw me off the wagon. like strawberries or something.

the gum thing never worked for me as i simply will eat food at the same time as i chew gum. plus my mind/ body resents being tricked into chewing and chewing and never being allowed to eat the gum....
So instead i've found that sipping tea works better for me when i just want that hand to mouth to tummy feeling.


i also like the suggestion of having the junk food eaters store thier unhealthy treats in thier own space. or have your mom stop buying it and let them buy it themselves if they want it that badly.

I had the same problem for years!I am sorry I have no solutions for you. People who don't have a weight problem ,just don't understand. They would tell me ,just don't eat it. YAH,IF IT WAS JUST THAT SIMPLE!:rolleyes: I just wanted to tell you I know how you feel.
Goodluck,Tracy

definitely store your food in a seperate cabinet so you don't have to look at the chips etc. Hopefully seeing your loss will spur them to make some healthy changes in their lives! It was the same way for me at the beginning of all this. Hubby kept bringing junk into the house for him and the kids and it was driving me nuts. He saw how much better I was feeling and now he doesn't do it anymore! If he wants chips he eats a snack bag at work and leaves it at that. I'm so proud of him. Yesterday we went to the grocery store and the only snacky/junk thing he bought was a bag of pretzels!

You can do this.... rub your good habits off on them!

Keep a food cabinet sectioned off for just Your foods somewhere where the other food isn't in sight. Now this might be more difficult to do with refrigerated items but its worth a shot! Hopefully this will influence your family members to follow your lead or at least be more supportive of your efforts!