Love this thread! Didn't give up:

1) Coffee.

2) Fruit. Always believed the nutrients outweighed the demon sugar but got tired of defending it!

3) Dark chocolate. Now that we know how good those flavanoids or whatever it contains are for the heart I allow myself a LITTLE for *ahem* medicinal purposes.

I haven't really given anything up for weight loss that I can think of. In general, I prefer to eat than drink so I'd rather eat my calories than drink them, but then I've never been much of a drinks person. Some of the things people have said about sugar and cravings are true. If I start my day off with pancakes and syrup then I'm aware I'm going to be munchy the rest of the day and have to be vigilant and deal with it.

The one possibly "bad" habit I've picked up since losing weight that I didn't have before is that in the past year I've started drinking coffee. I never did before, thought it was gross, go figure! I used to drink it black with Splenda (I know :O artificial sweetener :O ) but now in the past couple of months, I've discovered the joys of undiluted evaporated milk in coffee... #bliss Now in fairness, I only have a cup a day and my coffee-evaporated milk-splenda concoction comes in at 33 calories a mug.

I've always said I'll quit drinking diet cola when they make a substitute that tastes like diet cola. You can replicate the fruity sodas; you can't replicate cola, and I get tired of drinking water and tea all the time.

I actually find, for me, that a diet soda is a good thing to have at that awkward time where it's too close to meal time for a snack or you only have enough calories for your meal, but you still want something in your mouth/on your stomach to tide you over. It's got just enough "oomph" to take the edge off your hunger.

these are diet taboos? who is making these rules?!

I'm not giving up chocolate (dark or otherwise), coffee, wine, oil-popped popcorn, butter, and all-you-can-eat sushi.

F.

Amen, Mountain Mama!! These three food items make for a life well lived!

I use a little skim milk in my coffee. That's it. A couple of Pound Plus, 72% Belgian Chocolate Bars from Trader Joe's lurk darkly in my freezer, just in case I have heart palpitations. Finally, tree ripened peaches are a free food. Seriously, I didn't get fat eating peaches. I don't care what the rules say, I don't get the same reaction from eating a peach or two that I get form a handful of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies.

I don't "give up" or forbid anything, because when I do I want it all the more. Not even the foods I'd have to be stupid to eat (such as wheat - because it causes an icky dermatitis that can resemble impetigo, which hubby describes graphically, but accurately as "face-rot").

When I "forbid" myself a food, I can't think about anything but that food. Even though I avoid wheat, I don't tell myself that I can't have it. I just remind myself of what will happen if I eat it and ask myself "is it worth it." Generally "face rot" is not one my voluntary trade-offs.

I'm learning that a lot of foods aren't worth eating, but putting it on a "no" list just wants me to say "yes."

I try to make everything I eat "worth" the trade-offs. The one food I can't seem to convince myself isn't worth the consequences is chocolate during PMS/TOM... but when I eat it, I usually end up overeating it.

This past month I tried something new. Chocolate flavored protein bars.

It worked pretty well, so we'll see how it goes this month. I really like the Balance brand "almond brownie" and "double chocolate brownie" protein bars (no wheat).

They taste enough like "real" brownies to satisfy the chocolate craving but not enough to inspire me to eat more than one.


And I know that the diet soda isn't doing my teeth any good, but I'm using my dentist's suggestion to use a straw.

I see a lot of you ladies still let yourselves indulge in certain foods and I think that's great. I want to be healthy, and that's why I don't eat 2500 calories a day of pure junk anymore. That's why I exercise everyday instead of laying on the couch and stuffing my face. I don't want this to be just a temporary fix. I want to continue to be healthy like this, BUT I am not going to completely cut out things that I genuinely enjoyed. If I want a little bit of pop, I will drink it. It's not going to make a huge difference ESPECIALLY compared to the 3 cans of pop I used to drink everyday. Maybe one day I'll get to the point where I don't like it anymore, but for now, it's still in my fridge. =)

I have yet to give up reading or watching TV while I eat even though lots of experts say you should pay attention to your food.

But I never say never. I've made lots of changes that I didn't think I would make, but I eventually reached a point where they were desirable and achievable so I made them. Soda was one -- I finally quit in March right at the end of my weight loss.

I have managed to give up the "fully leaded" soft drinks for the most part; the only times I have imbibed are when I have totally gone off the rails and eat improperly, and even then I typically go the diet soda route. I do have to admit though, when I do take a sip of regular Coke, it tastes heavenly...but strangely the second sip isn't as tasty.

I do drink more diet drinks than I should. I know I need to reduce the number I drink and switch to water and the occasional unsweetened iced tea only.

I can't say that I have really given up any foods, but I definitely have cut back considerably on processed foods like bread, chips, white rice, etc. When I first started, my goal was just to get through the day without going over my calorie limit, so I would eat Subway and Baked Dorito's for lunch and frozen dinners that didn't offer much nutritional value.

As I lost weight, I started cooking healthy meals, typically fish or chicken breast with veggies. And at the cafeteria (my company has helped so much with weight loss), I typically go for the healthy choice option with two sides of veggies. The cafeteria serves a wide variety of items that meet calorie, fat, fiber, and sodium targets and has been a lifesaver. Two of the cafeterias have salad bars, so now I just go to the Subway in the cafeteria if there is not an appealing healthy option and I'm tired of the salad bar. Which is maybe once every two weeks.

I'm not perfect; I do enjoy popcorn a couple times a week, as well as Puffins cereal a couple times a week. Reddi Whip Lite is also a treat that goes on top of my berries for dessert, but I am going to switch to Stevia once my last can is gone.

I definitely find that I feel better emotionally when I avoid a lot of carbs. When I have binged on unhealthy carbs, I absolutely go nuts with cravings. When I get myself back into my regular eating plan I feel 100 times better.

But I still am going to eat fruit. I eat berries mainly, but IMO avoiding nutrient-packed fruits is not right. I have had some wonderful peaches and plums this summer and they didn't trigger cravings for me. Neither do apples. And, heaven forbid, I eat the occasional banana

Despite being a primarily whole-foods, organic household, I work a serving of Cheezits into my counts about every other week. They run counter to everything I've learned, but that crispysaltycheesyslightlygreasy combo is my silly indulgence. I almost wish they'd put an artificial color in them so I'd have to avoid them!

I soooooooo agree with this. Pick a food, and I bet there will be millions of opinions on it being bad, or good, or whatever. Become a master of yourself. Learn YOUR OWN body and what works for you. Opinions are like grains of sand on a beach. Waaaaaaaaay too many to count lol. So if you lose effectively with drinking a soda? More power to you! If it doesn't affect YOUR health, YOUR weight loss, then that's great. It may have negative effects on "Betty" (just picking a random name), so Betty may tell you not to do it....but......you're not Betty.

This is why I love the calorie-counting diet. I can eat whatever I want, and as long as I'm under my allotted calories for the day, I'm good and will still lose weight. Pizza, ice cream, decadent chocolate, McDonalds bacon cheeseburgers. Of course, these things eat up your calories like lightning. But occasionally I'll hoard my calories and spend most of them for one thing.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

(It's Friday)

Giving up Mountain Dew was harder than quitting smoking, but I did it in 1999 and have had maybe 3 sips of one since and, honestly, it's gross. I would never say chocolate or french fries or anything else I've given up is gross - but the Dew? It's vile. That said, I will sneak and have a diet Mountain Dew a couple times a year. It's fabulous. Wish I could have diet drinks but they stall me. I so envy you folks who can have anything, particularly any carby thing, in moderation. I sure can't.