Yes, Elana, my fridge is stocked with healthy food . . . now if only I'd stick to eating that instead of stopping at Starbucks for their pecan carmel chocolate tart as I did today! Arrgh!

OMG -- I've seen those little s when I go in Starbucks for coffee (though I'm usually staring fixedly at the ceiling or any place BUT that horrid bakery case) -- do NOT under any circumstances say if they're any good or not!! I don't want to know!! My philosophy is that if I never taste it, I'll never know how good it is, hence I'll never crave it. My downfall started with my first bite of chocolate chip cookies (perhaps my first bite of chocolate?) -- kind of like Adam and Eve and the apple? So ... "don't take the first bite" is what I tell myself.

Great discussion about setting up "no-fail environments" -- who coined that phrase? I can't remember -- Karen? Dr. Phil?? -- but I love it. I'm the same way as all of you -- if the food's planned and prepared, that's what I'll eat -- it's my "no-fail" environment". But ... when I come in the house from the gym and find myself rummaging through the frig and cabinets for food, that's when I run into trouble.

Starbucks, on the other hand, is definitely a "fail" environment; it's set up that way on purpose. I have to be careful when I go in there -- like the grocery store -- if I'm too hungry, the goodies are just too tempting.

It's funny, coffee houses were my worst enemy before WW. I'd go have a coffee and something yummy with it. I remember while losing weight my best friend decided to buy some gifts from a Second Cup (a Canadian coffee chain) and I was dying... the smell of coffee with baked goods, but I resisted and lost weight during that Christmas time....

I know Dr. Phil mentions a no fail environment, not sure if he coined it. It certainly helps though, yes, you can binge on healthy stuff, but I personally find when I binge on healthy stuff it's due to having something completely unhealthy before.

Cheers!

Ali

Yup - that's one of Dr. Phil's keys: "Create a No-Fail Environment". Before that, though, Rosemary Green's Diary of a Fat Housewife (1996 paperback edition) talked about 'practicing environmental control':

If you ever want a bakery item at Starbucks, you can get the nutrition info, including WW points, from the Starbucks website.

I go there frequently for the overpriced iced mocha coffee drinks. With fat-free milk, I get 2 dairy servings, some chocolate, plenty of caffeine; it only costs me 3 points (and, of course, the wasted $3.00--but that's a separate issue).

Okay, Meg, I'm not going to say a word about how it tastes . . . I'll just let all of you imagine!

Starbucks is definitely a "fail" environment. And it's so funny how easy it is to get sucked in. The other day when I went there, I redeemed a free beverage coupon. I told the clerk that I wanted a kid sized hot cocoa (I was craving chocolate & figured a kid-sized cocoa was only about 170 calories). Anyway, I show her my coupon and she says, "Why don't you get the bigger size since it's free anyway?" I told her I was watching my calories so "no thanks." Believe it or not, she persisted: "Are you sure? The kid-size only comes to 1.06." I can't believe I did it, but I caved and ordered the tall size. I ended up dumping half of it before I could drink it, but it's interesting how I succumbed to temptation at a weak moment.

I definitely think I should limit my Starbucks visits to once a week!

I think all stores and restaraunts and deliberatly set up to be "fail" environments- they know most people can't pass that bakery case as you walk in, or ignore the candy right at the check out. It's the same marketing strategy as putting the sugary cereals at kid eye level.

Blinders! We all need a set of blinders

Mel

I'm kinda the opposite. I've tried the failsafe environments before, and the moment I'd get around chocolate or, God forbid, cheesecake, I'd overeat it. This time around, I'm not going without it. I'm having it in small doses so that I don't actually crave it like I have before when I was "dieting". Just yesterday, at a friend's and my weekly Ruby Tuesday's dinner date, she ordered the chocolate lava cake. And I won't tell you how that was either, because you'd shoot me if I did. She wanted to share it. and I did manage to eat less than a quarter of it. Afterall SHE ordered it, not me. LOL

LOL- Which just goes to show that this whole process of losing and maintaining is "whatever works for YOU". If I ate a 1/4 of anything I'd either be craving so bad that I'd cave the next day, or feel so darn virtuous for having stopped eating, that again I'd eat 2 the next day. Somehow, not starting in the first place is for me, what I have come to regard as normal- not virtuous. Therefore I don't get any reward (more food) for having done what I was supposed to do.

Obviously from your signature, your way works for you Again, we all have different paths to the same destination.

Mel

Good point, Mel - it seems that the maintaining world is pretty evenly divided between the "two bites and I'm satisfied" crowd and the "two bites and I'm binging crowd". I'm firmly in the binger camp, so what works best for me is to forget how good something tastes. This may sound completely crazy, but it takes about six months for me to stop craving something after I've tasted it -- six months when I WANT to eat "X" and have to fight it. Then I guess my brain forgets how good it tasted and the craving goes away. Six months!!! But I've been that way my whole life ... like Mel said, know what works - and what doesn't - for YOU. For me, eating even small amounts of trigger foods is playing with fire.

"Different paths to the same destination".. Well said Mel... At times, depending on the circumstances or my mood, no TOM, no pressure, whatever... I can have a bite and be happy with it... other times, OMG, one bite leads to a binge and roaming the kitchen looking for anything, thank goodness I do keep a clean food cupboard because I'd be doomed...

I really like carrot cake and cheesecake, tho. I rarely eat them (even before I gained that pesky 15 lbs). I have since modified both the recipes so I can bake them at home and they are tasty and low-fat.

For carrot cake, I found a recipe in an American Heart Assoc. cookbook; it uses applesause in place of oil (among other changes--like whipped ff ricotta for frosting instead of high fat cream cheese).

I made a cheescake with tofu--yes, it's delicious, and top it with fresh berries (when in season), or thaw some frozen organic berries from Trader Joe's.

Anyway, I tend to make faster things like muffins or quick breads, but it's nice to know I can have the 2 things I love if I make the effort to bake them.

If anyone wants either recipe, just let me know.

Have a great day!

I am like Ilene too, I am in neither camp or both camps. Sometimes I can have a little and feel great and stop, other times I'll eat anything and everything. I find eating treats with a meal is better than having them by themselves. This could be just me though. I found that adjusting my thinking has helped too... getting rid of the notion of "since I ate a chocolate bar, I blew it, thus I shoukd have 7 now" and now being able to say "that chocolate bar was good, now I gotta do laundry".

Cheers!

Ali

Oh yes please, on both recipes!

Me, too, Lanaii!