Last night, I was reading hungrygirl.com, and I had an ah-hah moment. I suddenly realized why I can't shake the feeling that I was somehow sabotaging my efforts to lose some of my thighs and get more toned. I thought I was a pretty healthy eater, but when I dug deeper, I came up with some startling facts! Here's my pitfalls, and what I'm planning on doing about them

* Second Cup muffins (400-500+ calories/pop)
I don't even really enjoy these, but on days when I'm too rushed for breakfast, I end up buying them, anyway. And not the healthy bran ones, either...the flavored ones with the cream cheese or fudge on top From now on, I am going to make time for breakfast!
* Trail mix (up to 920 calories )
Again, no time to pack a lunch, and I want something I can eat at my desk, so I buy a bag of trail mix at the drug store, and eat the whole thing. Ewww! I'm going to make the effort to pack a lunch the night before, and keep buying new, interesting foods to keep myself interested!
* Rice when eating out (about 242 per cup, and each entree has to be atleast 4 cups!)
White rice isn't part of my eating plan, and resturaunt portions are huge. Even though I only eat half of the entree, I still end up feeling stuffed. So from now on, I'm going to ask for whatever I order on a bed of greens w/light dressing on the side, or with extra veggies (no butter).
* Coolers (240+/bottle)
So THAT's why I feel so bloated the morning after! *lol* I'm going to replace my former Smirnoff Ice addiction with vodka & diet soda, white wine & light beer...and less of all of it!
* Tuna salad and seafood Subway sandwiches (400+ calories, the w.w. bun alone is 200)
I love them, and they sound healthy, but they're really not. They drench the filling w/mayo and the bread is HUGE. Instead...I'll have meatless salads, and make my salads at home...I like my tuna salad better, anyway. Every once in awhile, I'll probably still have a seafood salad, though. No one makes seafood like Subway
* Sushi & rice bowls (I couldn't find accurate information on the sushi, but 450+ calories for the bowl)
Mayo & white rice don't mix - and again, the rice bowls are huge. I love sushi, though, so when we eat out, I'll just replace it with miso soup and sashimi
* Lack of exercise
With the cold weather and long work weeks, I have literally become a couch potato. So, as soon as I can buy some sweat pants, I'm going to start taking advantage of my gym membership again!

By January, I am going to be healthier and firmer than ever!

I love your list of pitfalls, I think it would be great if we all posted them on this thread. We can learn from each other's mistakes! It's also good to admit that even though we might say "I'm eating clean" sometimes we are lying to ourselves. Here are my pitfalls!

* Portion creep -- Sometimes I put in Fitday that I ate 1 cup of pasta . . . but it was really more like 2.
* Some days I either don't pack enough healthy snacks or eat them and then I'm still hungry, so I will buy something from the "snack cube" at work . . . which is usually pop tarts or chocolate covered mints.
* I claim that I eat six meals a day because it helps me maintain, but really I just like eating. I probably don't really need the morning banana and the afternoon apple and yogurt. It's not like I cut the portion of my dinner to account for the snacks, I still eat just as much when I get home. Sometimes I think that eating all these snacks has trained me to get hungry at times that I used to not be hungry. Then I use their healthiness as an excuse -- well, I needed to eat the yogurt because I need calcium. How would I get three servings of fruit without my apple and banana? Etc etc.
* Seconds!! I may have picked a recipe that is only 275 calories per serving but that's no good if I eat three servings!!
* I used to have "treats" every couple months. Like baking muffins or banana bread or something. Recently I have had them much more frequently, in ADDITION to the 100-calorie pudding cups I keep on hand for sweet tooth emergencies.

Anyone else want to share?

Great idea listing those dangerous pitfalls.

I have been maintaining for months and have noticed that my average monthly weight is slowly creeping up

So here are my pitfalls:

1. Larger portions - slowly larger amounts at each meal. Start off with a small serving and then most of the time have seconds.

2. Buying and eating trigger foods. More frequently indulging in pizza/chips/cookies etc.

3. Special events happening more often. Just have a little more because it is someones Bday/Thanksgiving/Friday....everyday is a celebration!

4. Thinking I have changed this time and will never slide back to being the way I was.

I'm sure there are more but I will stop here.
I also need to spend more time posting on 3FC too and habitually record my intake.

Ps - I am starting fresh today - a 2 super lowcarb days followed by some super clean eating!!

-S

Portion creeping is definitely a problem for me. It's kind of like my mind won't let me believe that my usual portion size is sufficient.

Also cooking for crowds. I don't want to make others control their portions, so I tend to cook more than is needed when cooking for a crowd, so there are always leftovers (which I have determined is a trigger for me). How many times did I poke around in the fridge this weekend and come out with a forkful of this or that?

Having house guests is also a problem because I buy things for them that I wouldn't usually buy, and then as much as I say I'm not going to eat any of it, I do it anyway. Anybody want a cookie for breakfast? How about two--just because they were sitting next to the coffee pot!

Thank you to everyone who posted! It felt good to hear from others who are maintaining and find themselves still fighting old bad habits

paperclippy, I hear you about the snacking! I am working on packing enough healthy snacks to take with me to work so that I don't end up wasting calories/money on stuff from the drugstore, or those mini bags of nuts from the dollar store. However, as soon as I bring something like raisins or nuts into the house to make into healthy snacks, I have a very hard time resisting the urge to grab that bag and eat...and eat...
I also hear you about feeling hungry at times when you never used to be - for some reason, gum really has that effect on me (in the past, I've actually chewed gum to help myself get hungry because I wanted to eat again! ) Late nights are a challenge, as well, because I get to feeling hungry even when I'm reasonably sure that I can't be hungry/don't even want to eat.
As for treats...I am staying away from sugar of ANY kind like it's poison! Especially with the holidays coming up, it is EVERYwhere and my rule of 'just 1' is not going to work anymore. If I had just 1 of everything people offer me, I would be gaining weight in record time!
sznn, special events can be tough - I come from a big family, so there are a lot of birthdays, etc. I've taken to saying a polite, no thank you, or just having a bite, rather than allowing myself to indulge at each one.
good luck on your new plan!

Here's to willpower!

My list:

* I'll agree with portion creep. I've started taking a hard look at exactly how much peanut butter I'm glopping onto the toast in the morning. I love peanut butter toast and don't want to give it up, so I am switching to 1 piece of bread with peanut butter and 1 piece of bread with jam. Still doing good with measuring pasta/rice, etc.

* "Special occasion food" - I do so well on a daily basis. I plan healthy meals, I pack lunches and snacks, I go to the grocery store, but when confronted with any sort of "special occasion" I tend to fold. My mom's birthday weekend, Thanksgiving - food food food food. I need to be more careful with what is REALLY a special occasion - my mom's actual birthday dinner, Thanksgiving dinner and what is NOT.

* Free food at work - My workplace has scheduled a ton of "all hands" meetings lately. They always involve a big table of delicious finger foods - some vegetables, but always cheese and dips and desserts and all kinds of bad things. I do GREAT with my strict "no" rules - I don't eat fried foods or chips, but I always fall for foods which are on my "maybe" list - cheese, crackers, wine, etc. I just wish I could avoid all these meetings!

* Exercise - I fail at this. I hate getting up early, I hate exercising, all of it. I like the way I feel when I get done, I need to get back in the habit!! I did so good for a year.

Glory,
Hang in there, girl! You can kick those habits - the first step to solving a problem is acknowledging that you have one!
Thanks for sharing,

What a great thread.

~ Larger portions. This is a killer for me too. I've recently read parts of Mindless Eating and You on a Diet and have started putting dinner onto smaller plates. It really works! I need to get back to measuring pasta and rice - my worst downfalls.

~ Exercise. I absolutely need this to be a routine. If there's any choice, I'll skip it. Like Paperclippy, I get up 6-6:30 to be a work at 8 (and since I'm the "boss" I think it's better to set a good example then stroll in later knowing I won't be docked), and I am not good at getting up earlier. That leaves after work and there are many evenings when I have a legitimate reason to be somewhere else. If it's a work somewhere else, I could justify taking a couple hours during the afternoon and going to the gym, and occasionally I do, but mostly, I just keep working. I need to work on that - on a lot of levels.

~ Wine. Penelope mentioned this, and I need to move this to more of a special occasion beverage. It's not that I drink a lot, or even every day, but once a bottle is open, I usually have a glass every couple of days til it's gone. I at least need to wait for an occasion to open it. We're buying a foodsaver (vacumn packer) and I see they have an attachment for wine bottles. I should look into that.

~ Eating lunch "out." When I'm in the groove, I bring a healthy lunch and snacks 4 days a week. It's food I enjoy, fills me up, and saves $$ and calories. Times like now, when I've just gotten back from 10 days away, haven't been to the store, am busy/stressed at work, I find myself eating lunch out, not eating fruit/yogurt/other healthier options. And really, all I need is an hour at the grocery store to be back on track.

~ Not enough fruits/veggies. See eating lunch out.

And Penelope, I'm jealous. Our Subways no longer carry the seafood. It was my absolute favorite.

My pitfall are:
1. skipping meals, this leads to over-eating later in the day.
2. when I'm stressed out, I don't eat. The scales go down and then I feel entitled to "pig-out" for a few days until my wt. is back up.
3. Exercise, if I miss a single day, it's easy for it to turn into 3-4 days before I get myself back in gear.
4. Justifying to myself that it's OK to have sweets on holidays or birthdays. (Not just my birthday, anyones').
5. Justifying it's OK for me to have a couple cookies because I baked them with splenda, and then end up eating several of them.
6. A big problem for me now is that since I lost my weight using a Low Carb plan, I sometimes tell myself, "well, I can have this even if it's higher in carbs because it doesn't have much calories". This type of reason doesn't work unless I stick to one or the other type of plan. Ex. bacon and eggs for breakfast and then want a bowl of light buttered popcorn for a snack. Ends up I've had too many carbs or too many calories by the end of the day.
7. I checked out the thread and calculated how many calories it takes for me to maintain. It said 1688. Figured out quickly that this is too many. I can handle 1400 to 1500 at most.
8. I bought me a small child's bowl that I eat things such as Oats, chili or stew in because using the large bowls the rest of the family eats from were distorting my view of a "normal" portion.

lilybelle,
Great idea with the bowl - I ALWAYS serve myself on a smaller plate, it helps me keep my portions in perspective.
I have to agree with the differance between amount of calories required and how many actually work for you. On some days, if I ate the # of calories recommended, I would be absolutely pigging out. Of course, those are usually the days where I'm mostly inactive, and I end up feeling completely out of sorts anyway.