For me it is so hard to make the commitment to eating healthy because I think of all the food I will not get to eat anymore - ice cream, chocolate, etc... But then I was remembering back to when I was eating very healthy and exercising and had lost 50 lbs. I didn't miss those foods at all. I just remember liking my life. Anyway, just some interesting thoughts.

Yup, when you're eating healthy foods and losing weight and feeling absolutely DIVINE, you don't even miss "those" foods. Cause' like we always say around here, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels"

Just to add in here. I LOVE the healthy foods I eat. Very important for me to have found tasty, delicious, on plan, low calorie, high nutrient foods. It's definitely what keeps me on plan.

And every now and then, now that I've lost the weight and am in maintenance I do get to eat "those" foods occassionally.

I haven't been to a pizza buffet for 3 months. I dream about it, but when I think it through logically I know how temporary it will be and how bad it will make my stomach hurt now and how awful I'll feel afterward.

I know you know this, but everything you enjoy now you will now enjoy facsimiles of or in moderation. They'll be doubly delicious as a rare treat!

Good luck.

Hmmm....

I haven't given up all of those things. I just don't eat them as often. Each week I have a "free" day where I make different choices than I usually make. Six days a week I eat really healthy, and on those days if I want ice cream or cookies or whatever, I tell myself I can have them on my free day. Sometimes I still want them and sometimes I don't. But if I still want them, I have them. I just don't have them everyday, and this delayed gratification has worked very well for me.

What has been interesting to me is how often my free day comes along! That might sound funny, but I am in a pretty good routine now, and I have my day where I eat out, have a fully loaded breakfast burrito or ice cream or whatever. I do not feel deprived at all.

There is no way I could give up those things at all. If I never ate them, I would miss them way to much. It's the whole eating them, once in a while, and small portions that has been the secret.

No food is "off-limits" for me or a "never again". It would be counter-productive for me. I want to live my life while losing weight. And that includes an occassional special treat food.

Instead, I'm allowed to have anything I want.* It's just that when I'm eating healthier, I don't really want the not-as-good choices. Sure... ice cream is tasty, but my body just doesn't have that need after a week of being on plan.

When I truly find I want it, I just plan a little bit into my day for dessert.

*Anything as in any choice. Not everything in all kinds of portions.

I agree - I have not completely given up anything. I love icecream, but I make it difficult to eat by not having it around the house. I have told myself that whenever I really want icecream that all I have to do is get in the car, go to a Coldstone, and have a small bit as a treat.

Cheese, fries, cake... it's all the same way. I don't let myself eat those things constantly, but now and then in a small amount is ok. I simply work it into my calories.

Depriving yourself of anything is not the way to go. It's been much easier for me to modify my lifestyle and view those types of food in a different light: a special treat in moderation.

Bingo!

Seriously, I'm one of those people who, if you tell me I can't have something, I immediately MUST have it. That's why diets like Atkins and SB and so forth don't work for me - I have a knee jerk reaction to being told "you can't".

My commitment to eating healthy is easier for me because I *don't* think that there are foods I can never eat again. I find it easier to choose an apple for my snack today because I know that this weekend I'll have a frozen yogurt cone from Jason's Deli. I find it easier to avoid the greasy pizza that's brought into my office, because I know that I can go home and make a yummy healthy pizza on whole grain crust, piled with veggies and homemade tomato sauce.

And quite frankly, I'll never give up chocolate. I find a way to get it into my calorie plan at least 4x a week.

Like Faerie said, this is my *life*, not just a diet. And I won't live my life feeling deprived.

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There is also a difference between feeling deprived (which to me means someone is withholding something from me) and making a conscience decision to avoid certain foods that don't contribute to our weight loss and health goals.

I have decided that there are foods that I just cannot have because even a little bit leads to a binge. Surprisingly, if you quit a food for a month, it no longer tastes good when you have it again. I never eat fast food anymore, I never have candy in the house and I don't buy 100-calorie packs of anything. I have a tight budget so for me a treat food is to buy a red bell pepper.

I totally agree! Also, to the OP, I am the same way. I never missed things like pasta or bakes goods when I was losing, but they have been appearing a lot lately and I'm backslifing bigtime. Certain things are simply too detrimental to my goals, even for "once in a while".

Yes! This is me too. I keep thinking "when I get to maintenance, I'll be OK if I eat a cookie now and then" Then it dawns on me that I really don't have any desire for a cookie. Fresh pineapple is as sweet as I want. What I remember now about a cookie (especially store bought) is not a yummy taste at all and an icky texture in my mouth Quite possibly I have brainwashed myself in some way but it works for me

That's a good point. And, I agree, there is a difference.

I used to love all sorts of foods that weren't great for me - a typical day was a huge muffin and a venti caramel latte with whip for breakfast, pizza for lunch, a scone and another latte for a snack, either M&MS or yogurt pretzels out of the machine and then Taco Bell for dinner. I loved Bloomin' Onions from Outback, Cheesey fries with ranch dressing, burgers with cheddar and bacon, nachos with cheese and chili, huge bowls of ice cream with chocolate syrup. If I had bread with pasta, I had 5 pieces. I always had to have the largest size, the biggest piece. If someone brought a box of donuts in to work, I would take 2 up front and then sneak back later for at least 3-4 more (in separate trips, of course). I could eat a bag of Salt & Vinegar Lays, a can of pringles, an entire sleeve of Thin Mints. I never turned down birthday cake at work.

I pretty much ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and thought I could never do without the foods I loved.

I made some tough choices about what I COULD give up and what I could NOT give up. I gave up fast food, nachos, Bloomin' Onions, venti lattes with whip, donuts (for the most part), most baked goods, most fried foods. I don't miss any of these foods a bit.

I still drink lattes, but now I get the small one and I'm happy. I still eat ice cream, but I don't trust myself with open containers in the house anymore - but a single scoop at an ice cream parlour/restaurant is okay. I still love chocolate, but I get single serving pieces of really nice dark chocolate. I still drink the occasional glass of red wine (usually 1-2 glasses per week). I still treat myself to a nice dinner out once a week and almost always split a decadent chocolately dessert.

Eating whatever I wanted didn't make me happy, I was a miserable overweight depressed sluggish person. Now, I eat carefully - but I like the foods I DO eat and I am a slender, energetic happy person. 98% of the time I am perfectly happy (although every now and then I get the "but I wants" and the "but why can't I's", but I think that's pretty normal, it never lasts long).

I would gladly trade nachos for baby carrots dipped in hummus, or a maple scone for a package of fresh raspberries or a venti caramel latte with whip for a tall non fat latte with sugar free syrup. For my health, for my figure, for my happiness.

You know this just struck me. Bear with me while I ramble here, because I kind of had a lightbulb moment.

Don't we all get the "but I wants" about lots of things? Not just food. But I want that pair of shoes, why can't I have them. But I want to go spend a week on the beach, why can't I just ditch my job and family and go. But I want ... the TV, the lifestyle, the kids, the car, the whatever ...

And most of us are pretty good about accepting that everyone doesn't get everything they want - that's just life. You know? We'd all love to win the lottery and live a life of leisure (however you define leisure). But we can't. And we accept that.

So why do so many of us find it hard to accept that about food?

I can't have a closet full of Jimmy Choos because I wouldn't be able to pay the rent otherwise. So I buy ONE pair, on sale, and baby them.

Why couldn't I accept for a long time that I couldn't eat a whole box of chocolates, so just have one and enjoy it?

I don't know that I have any answers ... but it's interesting to me the analogy there with every other aspect of life. What made me able to exercise self restraint with one thing, and yet not with another. And then what made me change?

Hm. Food philosophy 101 for a Thursday morning.

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I, too, hate being deprived but there are certain foods that are triggers to overeating and that is more what I was talking about. I am so jealous of those of you that have the willpower to have just a little bit of something. I literally can eat myself sick if there is something I really like in the house. But I am trying to work on that because I think there has to be a way I can do it. Obviously, if the weight came back then the way I was doing it before wasn't perfect - wasn't something I was able to just jump back into after my son was born. And I think it is linked to deprivation so maybe well, consciously I wasn't feeling deprived, I might have been. Hmm - food for thought (no pun intended).