About the only foods that I can "moderate" are chicken breast, broccoli, turkey breast, lettuce, spinach and egg whites

There are lots of other foods in the house, but I have to mentally label them as "NOT MINE". When I fail, I fail big and it's because I think I can have just a bit.

For me, this seems to be getting worse over time, not better. Last night, I actually had dreams about gorging on chocolate. To my knowlege, there isn't any chocolate in the house and the sheets were clean, so I'm pretty sure it was just a dream!

Mel

I am definitely not moderate with popcorn, I always want a whole bag.

I had a great dream last year. I dreamed I was in a house made of sugar cookies and I was eating the walls. Sugar cookies aren't even my favorite cookie!

Yes and no. Unlike most of you it sounds, sweets and ice cream are safe with me. My DH loves them, and we always have some in the house. Doesn't bother me. I can keep a large bar of dark chocolate in my desk at work for several weeks, eating a square or 2 a couple times a week. (If I took it home, DH would finish it in an evening, and I pay too much for them for that to happen. ) But, give me plate of pasta with almost any kind of sauce, and I'm a drooling idiot. I'll keep eating til I'm stuffed. Olive Garden's "never ending pasta bowl" is on my "don't go there" list! I like breads and pastries, but I don't usually have a problem moderating them. I used to have a problem moderating wine, but now am much more moderate, more from the aftereffects than the calories, though I was also aware that my food control went way down after the first glass. One glass is now my rule (cheaper that way too!) And like Anne, there always seems to be food in my workplace. A lot of it doesn't interest me, and I love it when there's fruit. The worst for me is when there's a large bowl of Good & Plenty - I love licorace. Though the homemade crab dip on Friday was tempting. I had a taste and then made sure I was doing something else til it was gone!

I didn't realize until yesterday that one of my totally un-moderate foods is homemake mac and cheese. We went to MIL's for lunch, and she made salmon cakes and mac and cheese. Her mac is out of this world. I took 1/4 cup ... that's it, 1/4 cup ... because I knew what would happen if I took more. I resolutely pinned my butt to the chair and did not go back for seconds.

We have all kinds of stuff here because DH is a cookie eater. So we have "his" cookies (very rich) and "my cookies," which are things like graham crackers, British biscuits, and small biscotti. I usually do OK with them.

Now, why is it that I can pass them up at home, but let someone bring anything into work and I'm immediately smitten? It's like a siren call. Sigh ....

I can do the moderation thing usually, although there are times when I fall off the wagon slightly more. I do find though that as I get more used to controlled eating I find it easier to deal with buffet type situations where moderation would be more of an issue simply because I'm not used to eating that amount.

I live alone so I can be controlled about what I have in the house, which helps limit how badly wrong I can go. But as time goes by I'm finding it easier and easier to have a wider selection of food and know that I can not eat it all in one go as soon as I get it home from the supermarket.

I wouldn't claim I'm there yet, but it does seem to be getting easier.

I can still put away half a pizza. Store bought cookies aren't a problem, I've never liked Oreos or Chips-a-hoy or any of those factory made cookies. But home made cookies.. oh my goodness. I will eat one and it's suddenly like I'm starving and my mind will nag me until I've eaten all the homemade cookies. I am not moderate, at ALL. If I don't know the exact calorie nutritional information for food I'll either avoid it or overdo it. There's no happy medium. I hate eating food without a label, it worries me when I do and I'm more prone to binging. And when I binge, I really actually binge big-time, all day long.

I completely relate to Meg's line, "I'm the person for whom 'one cookie is too many and a dozen aren't enough'." That is me exactly.

Diem, I'm the same way with cookies. I can pass on the store bought ones. But, if I make home-made ones, I can eat 2 dozen of them. I plan to make some for the holidays and take them to my family's house and that way they won't be around here for me to go crazy with. I discovered that putting them in the freezer doesn't help, I'll eat them straight out of the freezer with a cup of coffee.

The only time I eat more than needed/appropriate is when either

1.) I let myself get too hungry, and grab the first thing available, and a LOT of it.

2.) I had sweets early in the day, which for some reason makes me want sweets the rest of the day,

My rule of thumb is "no cookies before lunch" which seems to fix #2. And for #1 I've started bringing a bottle of water and an apple in the car if we're going to be gone more than an or two. That'll appease my appetite so I'm more sane when I step in the door and start dinner

So yes, I am moderate, if one defines moderate as dessert only after dinner, and planned treat meals, and moderation in all things, including moderation

No moderation here. I must plan on what I'm going to eat and then eat what I planned. Breakfast during the week is oatmeal, love it, it is easy and I don’t have to think all that much about it. I'm fine at work because I plan ahead on my lunch and snack, pack it and eat it. Never tempted by anything anyone else brings in (all though if it looks too good it can trigger unpure thoughts the next time I'm at the grocery store, tired and/or hungry). I can get into big trouble at dinner if I leave all the preparation until I get home. If I can have it pretty much ready to go or prepared in the crockpot I'm good but if I come home tired with a vague idea of what I have planned then I’m sunk. I’ve learned my best approach for evenings like that are to come home, take a protein drink and make myself sit down and drink it very slowly and just relax for 30 – 40 minutes without even thinking about meal preparation. Then I will have a little more energy and not be nibbling while I’m cooking and the whole evening meal will be more controlled.

If anything sweet comes into the house then it goes into my husband’s work shop and I’ve even been know to make him put it in the gun safe if I’m struggling about it. Ice cream and pizza simply cannot happen and if I bring it home “for DH” then down deep I know I’m setting myself up for a binge. Knowing that sometimes stops me and sometimes it doesn’t.

I am not "moderate," which I unfortunately learned this past summer. Similar to what many of you have already posted, I have no control over certain trigger foods. But there is a convenience factor involved for me. For example, if I want ice cream, I won't go out to buy it. But if it's readily available (i.e., in the freezer at home), I'll gobble up the whole half-gallon container in one sitting. Same with chocolate and some desserts. Like Meg and Diem, I am better off not even eating the cookie because if I have one I won't be able to stop. But similar to Glory, I can eat a trigger food in a small portion, such as a small cup of ice cream or sharing a dessert, and be OK. I guess I just need to finish off whatever quantity is available.

I often wonder if eating everything we "see" stems from our Moms telling us to "eat everything in your plate"... I hate to blame our mothers, but hey, they won't here us, will they? ... I do try not to force my kids to eat everything in their plates, but they are old enough now to serve themselves, the only thing I push on them are the veggies...They NEVER eat enough of those

Meg,
Great question, I especially like reading the responses. "Are you moderate?" Ummm.....no, not even close. In order to maintain/lose weight and stay off the binge cycle, I cannot eat any of my own personal trigger foods, I must avoid them or I just crave more and more and lose control.

Lily you and I have the same cravings! I LOVE pizza! In August I was so bad we wound up having it 3 times! I did limit myself to two pieces BUT I can also eat a whole bag of crazy bready by myself! That was the month I also walked alot less and by the ned of the month I had only lost a pound! That is when I told myself no pizza for at least a month! And I had to get my walking back up!
I did do that and I lost about 9 last month in September.

This month on the 6th I was stuck out shopping all day and wound up binging on pizza, no crazy bread but I had 4 pieces! lol I chalked it off to oh well and I have been losing pretty good this month. But pizza is defo something I can't have just one of!

Pocprn. ~ OMG! I LOVE it! Always have! I did good for a while to get the 94% fat free one but have recently been kind of bad and had got the real butter one by popsecret! I have restricted that to a few days a week though.

Moderation is something that I am still working on as well. For the most part I just keep all those trigger foods out of the house. I feel really guilty giving these types of foods to my DS anyway. Once in a while as a treat I will bring in single serving packages of their favorite snack foods. It keeps them from totally rebelling. They are still young so its working for now. My all time trigger food has to be cookie dough. Any kind really, well maybe peanut butter cookie dough is the worst for me. MMMMM Peanut Butter...

Okay, time to get some ice water and some gum.