I agree completely... Everyone has different habits. The only time I've felt bad about being a fast eater was when someone told me I had wolfed down a meal... As someone whose had an eating disorder (and just as a human being who is also female and subject to the same laws as everyone else,) I was pretty hurt by it. And I don't get hurt often. I guess eating is a very touchy subject.......

If it's one thing my Mother taught me it's to eat slowly. She also taught me to fill up on the veggies/salad first and to NEVER finish everything on my plate. I actually eat so slowly that all my family members make fun of me. But I still have a weight problem, not because of these factors but because I eat high calorie foods when alone.

If I thought I was slow before now I'm a turtle. Having to feed a 2yr old means I haven't had a hot meal in 2yrs, it also means I'm the last to eat most of the time and never get to finish anyway.

I wish I learned this.

I WAS a slow eater and fairly small and thin when I was very young. However I wasn't fast enough for my family and got made fun of and pushed to eat faster. Also we were pushed to finish our plates and "praised" when we ate a lot of food. Yeah, it's no wonder I had a weight problem..

My skinny husband eats fast. He also snacks right before dinner, which annoys me. We are both fairly quick eaters but I tend to give him a larger serving so I'm usually done before him but not always.

I am in a bad habit of eating very quickly, too. I think it is the addictive nature of my eating habits. I do try to pace myself when I am eating with others, but if I eat alone (which I do a lot) I pay no attention. If I notice my dining companion has a fuller plate than I do, I talk more and eat a little slower.

Another thing I do: three people are at the table, we buy an appetizer that comes in nine pieces. We each get 3, and I always eat my 3 and typically vacuum up any other remaining pieces the others don't eat, after politely asking of course.

I suspect the people I am dining with often do not even realize how much I am focusing on the food we are sharing. I doubt others divvy up the appetizer in their head.

I think some of these habits come from childhood. Both mom and dad came from poor large families where hunger WAS a real issue, and both have always held a strong belief about not wasting food. I had several siblings, but we never had a lack of food.

I'm a fast eater although I've slowed down quite a bit in the last couple of years. I make sure now that I thoroughly chew my food before swallowing and, like someone else up thread mentioned, I don't prep the next bite until I'm done with my previous bite.

My husband, on the other hand, eats very slowly. For the two of us, it's a temperature thing. I like my food hot/warm. He likes his food cooler. So, I tend to finish mine before he's even started eating.

Every once in a while, he'll make a snarky comment about me wolfing down my food. Lately when he does that, I just look at him and say something like, "No, I'm not. You know I like my food hot. I just don't piddle around like you do." Hmmm...come to think about it, since I've started doing that, he's quit with the snark about how fast I eat.

That is nothing short of amazing to me. I buy these half-cups of Oikos Greek yoghurt and finish them in probably 30 seconds.

F.

Yes, that's exactly it. The annoyance is really a form of jealousy.

F.

Katy mentioned that her boyfriend likes to cook but loses interest in the food after it's cooked. I think that food always tastes so much better when someone else makes it. I don't know why that is. When it's time for dinner, I can never decide on what to make because nothing interests me. So we decide to go out, but when I look at the menu, I never have a problem finding something because everything sounds good.

When my kids lived at home I could always ask them for dinner suggestions and they always came up with an answer. Now I ask my husband and he says "I don't care." So I get something out to cook and he says "I don't want that." I ask "What do you want?" He replies "I don't care, but not THAT."

On the subject, when I was a kid I always ate fast so I could go back out to play. My husband never had that problem because if he only ate 2 bites he was not forced to finish. He could just excuse himself and leave.

I never thought about finishing one bite before prepping the other. Being a slow eater I've never noticed if I do that so I'll watch for that today.

I tend to be a normal eater in public. It's when I'm alone that I need to watch out. Eating with other people makes me focus on the important things like conversation which is what sharing a meal is all a out. Maybe I should adhere to a "eat with people" rule.

I wish this didn't sound so familiar to me. I'm working on it, though--primarily by not ordering appetizers. Once I start, I eat too much. (Many memories of this are flitting through my head)

We used to eat out 5-6 times a week--and we're down to less than once a week now--I think it has helped my weight loss efforts not to be faced with restaurants! Someday I'll be able to manage a buffet--but probably not soon!

I recently broke a tooth and had to have it pulled, so I can only eat on one side. I have to be careful not to chew on my left side, so I'm eating a lot more slowly now. My boyfriend always used to be the slow eater, but not anymore. I've been out to eat with friends though, and they always ate way faster than me. When I was thin I used to eat pretty fast, but now that I'm overweight I guess I feel the need to really savor my food because I can't eat as much as I want.

I felt so bad when I read this. As someone who has dealt with binge/starve eating disorder since teen years, I know how much it can hurt when someone makes a comment about eating habits...As someone who typically eats slow, probably for several reasons, I would never tell someone they wer a fast eater, that's just rude and hurtful. Maybe I'm more sensitive to other people's feelings about eating because of my history...idk, but I could never imagine saying that to someone Its sad that so many people on this thread had somone say that to them.