I opened the fridge today to get some carrots and I saw the can of whipped cream I bought for DH and it occured to me that not too long ago I would see that can and shove it in my mouth. But I had no desire whatsoever. Peanut butter is another weakness of mine. I used to take the biggest spoon I could find and eat it by the spoonful. Now I haven't taken peanut butter out of my plan, but you know I measure and count it every time. The candy jar at the office used to be a frequent stop from the bathroom back to my desk, now I don't even think about it. I used to continue to fill up my cereal bowl until the milk was all gone, now it's measured if I have it at all. What have you stopped doing?
- feeling the need to always clean my plate or if there's "just one" left feeling I should eat it so it doesn't go to waste. or if there's a small portion left, but not enough for a full portion, just adding it to my plate to use it up. It's taken me awhile to learn it's ok to throw food away. Eating it is just hurting myself, and it's not like I can give that extra food on the plate to the starving kids in Africa... so it's ok to throw it away or leave it.
Last edited by ringmaster; 10-09-2010 at 04:31 PM.
I hardly ever eat potato chips anymore, and when I do, I try to get the small, individual bags. It's SO easy to overeat with potato chips--I had no idea!
Like Glory, I also shoot for small sizes now. I used to love getting a large fry and chicken selects from McDonalds (900 calories total), while now I get a small fry and a 4 piece chicken nugget (400 calories total).
Very often, when eating out, my boyfriend and I will split a plate rather than order our own things.
Budgeting calories has become a huge new habit. Sometimes I really will go over my budget, but I do it knowingly and willingly for those rare days.
Ordering french fries. That was definitely a habit, oddly.
snacking on potato chips
Running to the snack machines to buy a pop and a snack. I actually quit the snack machines about four years ago when I discovered a Butterfinger candy bar at the front of the machine that had been licked clean to the orange by a mouse!
No more cereal for breakfast.
No more fast food for lunch.
No more snoozing the alarm!
I'm having a hard time thinking of these! They seem so long ago!
One habit I'm trying to break is the habitual feeling of dread I STILL get when faced with something active to do, like going to the park, taking a hike, camping...those things are easy now and fun! But I still dread them just because that's my habit.
My two biggest types of habitual eating used to be:
(1) On car trips, it used to be that I would get a snack every time I stopped for gas. It would usually be at least two items that would amount to something fairly substantial.
(2) Snacking while watching TV.
Now that I'm counting calories, I don't mindlessly eat on auto-pilot (no pun intended).
Instead of going to bed when I was tired, I would stay up and play video games and eat. I'd go through bags of chips, stacks of crackers and entire packages of cheese before I would finally be too tired to hold my head up.
I'd eat things just to be eating something, even if I didn't like it, especially while I was bored, just to have something to do. At my worst, this included weird combinations of foods like mini candy bars and ramen noodles (which I HATE!)
A TERRIBLE habit I've broken is adding dips and mayo to everything. I would dip sandwiches in mayo, or mix different sauces (my fav was sweet and sour sauce from McD's and mayo) and dip everything in it. Part of it is because it's hard to swallow sometimes because of how dry my throat is, and water doesn't seem to help short term unless I soak the food in it, lol. I would saturate my food in goo and eat it. Now I when I'm eating something so dry I need to saturate it in sauce, I just don't eat it.
Peanut butter is a trigger food for me. I have a list of them, and I gradually get used to having them around, but peanut butter is still on my list of "can't have."
Always ordering a large. Now, I order the smallest size.
That was a huge change for me, as well. Small sizes of things were like buckets of chicken livers at the grocery store: I was vaguely aware that someone must buy them, or they wouldn't have them, but they didn't have anything to do with me.
Things that haven't been mentioned:
Closing my eyes when walking up to a plate glass door to avoid seeing my reflection.
1) Sneak eating. I would buy candy bars or bags of cookies and stash them in my car or under my bed so no one would no I was eating them. But obviously everyone knew by how big I was getting.
2) Drinking juice and soda. All they are is empty calories. I only drink water now. It has made a huge difference.
I am so glad I have broken these, especially the first because there was so much shame involved in it, and I always felt so horrible afterward.
I no longer drink Mountain Dew or eat chocolate. These were both triggers for me and so I avoid them at all costs and feel that I will probably never eat/drink them again. I didn't drink water at all because I was always drinking Mountain Dew.
I don't eat pasta or cereal.
I don't park as close to the store as I possibly can anymore. As a matter of fact, I park so far from the store that my husband always says "why didn't we just leave the car at home and walk?"
I used to get a few (!) king size candy bars or bags (!) of candy every time I went grocery shopping or to Target. I did both at least 2x a week. I would eat everything within 2 days.
I used to get snack food at the gas station all.the.time. Road trips used to be all about what I was going to eat.
Eating until I felt like I was going to vomit b/c I was so full for dinner pretty much every single night.
I think my carb habit is finally broken. When I used to go off plan and overeat carbs and sugar, it just started the cycle again and I had to go through withdrawal again. Now I sometimes "plan" to go off plan, (like a piece of wedding cake etc) but it leaves me feeling so crummy afterward, and I don't really have to try not to eat carbs, I really don't want them. ( I think I have started to associate that crummy feeling with those foods, and no longer crave them, at least not so much.)
Also, don't snack with a cup of tea anymore, I just enjoy the tea.
What bad habits have you broken?
They seem so long ago!
