Hi guys, I've always had a bad habit of ruining my diet with alcohol or too large portions, then giving up. I've been doing pretty well, I went to the beach and the only "bad" stuff I had was an ice cream (size small, but had 2 scoops) and a medium piece of chocolate cake because it was my friend's birthday. I've been doing good, and the worst thing I've had the last couple days was 1 large serving of veggie lasagna(yesterday) and a lot of popcorn, about 4 cups (recent).

However, I've also had a couple peanut butter sandwiches. Most of the time I use two tablespoons. I'm watching my carbs, so the peanut butter isn't really part of my plan. Neither is the popcorn, or white rice. However, I do plan on eating some carbs after working out. However, I feel uncomfortable about the peanut butter and popcorn, and I wonder if I should go ahead and throw it away now. I'm not too concerned about the rice since I wouldn't really overeat rice.

So, what's your policy on throwing away food? It's already been opened up, but I still feel wrong throwing it away, but there's no one to give it to. No one I know uses unpopped kernels for popcorn, but I might be able to give the peanut butter away. Should I throw/give it away, or just ignore it, or have some in moderation until it's gone?

Personally, I don't throw away food (which may be a part of my problem!). I recently had a problem with peanut butter. It started as being a small amount on apple slices at the end of the day and turned into eating 4-5 finger scoops of it (which could be about 400 calories!!!!). So I just finished the container and stopped buying it.

Are you concerned about overeating it? 2 tablespoons is normally a serving size and is usually in the 200 calorie range, which isn't terrible. And popcorn never really goes bad, plus 2 cups is also usually in the 200-300 calorie range, so I wouldn't worry about having a serving size of either of those. I would say keep it IF you can have it in moderation. But at the end of the day, if having them around will ruin your efforts, just toss them. I hate being wasteful so incredibly much, but sometimes you have to do what's best in order to reach your goals

I throw stuff away if I figure out that it is sabatoging me. Or I am sabatoging myself rather. At the end of the day it is not THAT much money that you are talking about.

OR, try taking it into the office, if yours is anything like mine, it will be mooched up quicker than you can say "would anyone like some...."

There are differing views on this issue. Yes, some people feel more comfortable with removing the "occasion of sin" entirely by throwing the food out. The other approach is learning to be self-disciplined and modifying one's behavior and attitudes if possible.

I'm one of those with a lot of screwed-up-ness about food (I have sensory issues that make me picky, I yo-yo dieted, etc.). I used to think it was a bad idea to keep the forbidden food around, because most diet books, Overeaters Anonymous (which I dropped out of), and other sources kept claiming that was the case.

There were a few minority voices that went in the other direction and said not to forbid any food, but for a long while I was also suspicious of that point of view. So I vacillated a lot, which was really stressful.

What helped me was reading Martha Beck's book The Four Day Win wherein I learned how to negotiate with that resistant part of me. MB does not believe in banning foods - but she also has the most reassuring take on how our cravings will level off more easily if we don't feel banned from a given food forever. Plus the book is a fun read - Ms. Beck "gets" us dieters!

I realized that NOT trying to go cold turkey off some food that was appealing did in fact work better for me. In other words, make it forbidden fruit and I will obsess about it then become very resentful and go off whatever diet plan told me I had to get rid of it entirely .

I am absolutely convinced that the answer to this is different based on personality/inclination/attitude/habits/etc

Personally, if there is a food that I am not doing well with, I'd rather not have it in the house and be tempted by it. I do best with individual servings of trigger foods so that I'm not serving myself.

For me, if I had a food that I wasn't controlling myself over, I'd toss it without a second thought. (Someone on the forum even uses dishwasher soap on thrown out food so she can't retrieve it.) The food is just as wasted if I eat it and regret it than if I throw it out.

For others, eating it in moderation is the right answer.

I vote for throwing it out and jumpstarting your eating habits to where you want them to be--you can always buy more in small quantities when you reach a point you think it'll work well for you.

I started to get in the habit of eating a spoonful of peanut butter each night a few weeks ago. (Am I the only one who does this? just lap up the peanut butter off the spoon? lol) It started out just once, then I did it again the next night, and the next, etc. After I read the calories I realized I was eating at least a serving size, adding 200+ calories per day to my diet. So I gave the dogs each a taste of it, then double dipped the spoon.

Now it did not go to waste, but I definitely won't eat anymore of it.

I guess it depends on you, I know that I can only stick to a healthy eating plan if my ONLY option is healthy food, so I get rid of (or otherwise sabotage) food that I can not trust myself with.

Absolutely agree with everything here, it is HIGHLY individual as is methods of weight loss. For ME, throwing food away is sometimes the only way to stop from sabotaging myself. Not all food but most of the time i do not have food in the house that i will be tempted to eat, i stay to a pretty strict regime until it's Friday and then (for me) i allow myself "forbidden" foods but then again i am good at getting back onto plan because for the most part i eat foods that i love and can eat a lot of (huge salads, unsweetened greek yogurt with berries, protein shakes, etc. ) so part of the success is finding foods that YOU are "good" with and that you can eat and love without guilt .
But if your gut is telling you to throw things away and that won't perpetuate an undesirable mindset in the long run, then by all means go with what your gut is telling you.

The small quantity is one idea that works well for me with things such as ice cream. That keeps it in the status of "special treat" and I really don't want a big carton of ice cream sitting around. Great suggestion!

It is better to spend a little more money for a single serving than have regrets over a large "bargain" quantity. That's one of the ways I work on retraining my thinking as well as my habits.

I threw away a lot of food that I couldn't have anymore (and the DH wouldn't eat). It was stuff that was opened and not donate-able. I considered the cost to be part of the "new me" and knew I couldn't be trusted with the food in the house. There is currently nothing in my house that could tempt me in the least. Thank God me and my husband snack on different foods! And I was afraid I was going to fail at my diet and have to rebuy the junk again. Thank God I made it through the tough part, found 3FC and learned so much about processed foods.

I know it seems awful to throw away food as there are some who make you feel guilty that there are starving people in the world (and I know that too. But me eating a jar of peanut butter or not isn't going to fix that at the moment).

I think you already know the answer that is right for you. Good luck!

I'm a bit on the opposite side. I know it's hard to resist things like that when they're right in front of you. But this is a lifestyle change. And for ME, I need to keep those tempting items around. Mainly because my boyfriend still eats them, and I'm not going to make him let go of everything because of me. Once I'm in maintenance, I know I'll be allowed to have a bit more, but still, it's not like I can indulge the way I used to. I'd rather teach myself 'self dicipline" by having these thigns around, and denying my use for it.

However, I certainly don't purposely buy things that tempt me just to build up this ideology, but I'm in this for life and when my boyfriend stuffs his face with pizza, pb&j sandwichs, chips, cookies, ice cream (which I don't like, luckily) I'm going to have to learn to deal with it.

In your case, if you find it's too hard to resist, I'd probably give it away. Peanut butter is a bit harder to do this with, but for any other sweet trigger foods like cookies or chips.. I'd get the good 'ol sandwich bags out, and measure out portions and put it in individual baggies. Get a marker and write on it how much there is, and throw it in the back of the freezer. You can reach for a baggie every now and then, but kind of an out of sight out of mind deal. Has worked for me!

Throw it away once, or keep eating it, and therefore keep craving it, and keep buying more of it.

I know that a lot of be are adverse to throwing things away because it is wasteful, but so much of this change is about 'letting go' of certain conepts. Throwing away half a jar of peanut butter isn't going to hurt anything, in fact it will help you, and YOU deserve it. You won't think about it after it has gone into the dumpster so just LET GO.

No, No you are not the only one. Peanut Butter is probably my biggest weakness. I am on Weight Watchers, so nothing is off limits, but the stuff is "expensive" points wise, so its sort of easy to stay away from. Of course I saw "reduced fat" PB and much to my chagrin, Reduced Fat means 2g few fat, and the exact same points. Go figure.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I am going to keep it for now and stuff it in the back of the cabinet. I've not thought about it very much today, so I think it should be fine.

This! That's put way more eloquently then I could have put it, but it is exactly how I feel. It's not like I would be using it for sustenance anyways, but purely in an awful binge cycle, which almost makes it seem more wasted.

I could (and have) eaten darn near an entire container of peanut butter/almond butter in one night. Therefore, I don't even bring it into my house, and my fiance understands this as well. It is the ONE thing that I just cannot control myself around.

I don't buy things that are going to be a problem for me, such as chocolate, but will buy a single chocolate bar at the check-out now and then. That way it's not in the house where I can keep going back to it. DH doesn't like chocolate so I can keep it out of the house. Other things are in the house because DH eats them and I can't throw them out. I try to stay away from them, and use them for self-discipline, retraining my behaviors.

For the most part, I don't completely eliminate any food, just try to limit them to small portions.