I agree with you totally here. This is my experience as well. Exactly, to a "T".

It AMAZES me how when there's some off plan foods in the house, like homemade cookies, that my kids can take just one or two of them - and stop there. And not go back to it for the rest of the day! Where in the world did they learn that from? Is that the "natural instinct"? It just doesn't "call out" to them like it does to me. Thankfully, they are not wired like their mom is.

As of today, I am back to my pre-Christmas weight, 142.8! Woohoo!

Too bad it's still 7.8 lbs above my red line and 12.8 lbs above goal. Still, it's better than the 146 I was clocking for a few days there!

Robin, Midwife, I could also have written this myself. I would say I'm hyper-aware of food. I never forget what's in my fridge or pantry. Heck, I know how much milk I have left - I know if my BF's been drinking my milk b/c I plan to some extent how long my milk will last and when I'll need to buy more. That's why I just don't keep junk in my house. I will keep going back for more until I'm stuffed, sick, way over any calorie allotment... like Robin I'm amazed that others don't do that. I don't remember if I've become this way over the last ~6 years or I was this way as a kid too, there was just more "competition" for food with my family of four so I had less opportunity to gorge myself if there were treats in the house - they simply didn't last long enough.

Jessica, congrats on getting back to your pre-Christmas weight!

Megan, it's interesting how our attitudes about food change. When I was a kid, I could eat two cookies and be done, no problem. We always had junk food in our house, so there was never that feeling of "if you don't eat it all now it will be gone."

That's not to say I didn't eat a lot of junk, just that I was able to eat it in a small portion and not really think about it. I might have multiple small portions in a day, but that's a different story!

In college I got a little worse, since I ate every meal in the dining hall and 90% of the time the only food that tasted good was the dessert. Since moving in with DH, things just became a mess for me. When DH was a kid, they didn't have much junk in the house, and it disappeared nearly instantly, so he grew up with that mentality that if I didn't shovel as much of it in his mouth as possible, he wouldn't get any at all. Unfortunately it's rubbed off on me, because if we have cookies or something in the house, I end up stuffing myself so that I'll get some cookies before DH eats them all.

In any case, now I'm not really capable of that cavalier attitude toward junk that I used to have, which is kind of sad. On the other hand, I just don't keep any junk in the house and the problem is mostly solved!

I think my attitude toward food has changed a lot, too.

Cookies? Growing up I'd attempt to eat the whole bag because if I didn't, my brother would and I wouldn't get any. Now? I can leave them in the pantry until they rot. Crackers are more of my nemesis these days, but I do limit those.

It's the leftovers that get me. I can't stand to see things go to waste. I'll save something thinking we'll have it later and I usually end up eating it for breakfast as I know there isn't enough for three servings for dinner. That doesn't stop me from eating two servings at breakfast. NO MORE! The other day I fixed a huge flank steak and saved the leftovers. While this wouldn't make the best of breakfasts, I could have cut it up and added it to eggs or something. Instead the dogs got a couple treats out of it. My biggest leftover problem is usually rice or casseroles. Yum, casseroles. I don't plan on making any for a long time, so this problem should go away.

Christmas leftovers? There are no Christmas leftovers!! I mean, it was twelfth night yesterday - come on guys!! They are all long gone.

However my bf has been nagging me to make him a chocolate cake. We met on a dating site and on my profile I claimed to make the best ever chocolate cake and he keeps reminding me he hasn't had any yet - claiming that I make promises and don't deliver.

So I told him that I'd make some chocolate muffins instead using the same recipe, and I'd do it the weekend his boys are due to come down next, so they can eat them instead of me!!

Otherwise I know where it'll go - in my tummy!!