[lottie63]

So I really don't eat out much anymore now that I am 1.) Broke and 2.) Eating healthy.

So, Qdoba. I went today with an idea. My old stand by 'healthy' meal there was about 650-700 cals. Today I did even better! I got a naked burrito with fajita veggies instead of RICE!, black beans, a little lettuce, habenero salsa, and sour cream. THIS was about 315 calories! I sat down to eat, and I drank some unsweetened iced tea with it.

I still had maybe a quarter of the food left on my plate and realized I was getting full. Not full yet, and definitely not 'food hangover coming soon!' full. But just...satisfied.

I stopped eating! I even thought, god this was barely any food, and it was 8$! So I thought christ you should just eat it so it's not wasted. Then I realized...no. "Eating for value's sake will likely 'cost' me more in the 'end'." *snicker* :P

So, I threw it out and I'm glad. I dont' remember the last time I was able to recognized that satisfied feeling before I went all out and made myself sick when eating out. (at home I portion control on 9 inch plates so it's never an issue of listening to my body, I generally don't eat much and stop when the food is gone.

It's been slowly getting easier, stopping a little sooner each time, until today, today I was totally satisifed and didn't. eat. another. bite.

Anyone else have trouble recognizing the 'full' signal? I honestly have just as much trouble recognizing the 'hungry' signal. I always ate, regardless of hunger, so it was confusing to me at best. ha.

Also, if anyone has any healthy restaurant substitutions: POST HERE!

[lazylioness]

YAY congrats!

[ubergirl]

Lottie, good for you for making a good plan and sticking to it! It IS hard to recognize the full signal, especially in a restaurant where it seems like the whole purpose of being there is to EAT.

I also have a huge amount of trouble recognizing the full signal, and I'm not sure I've ever truly understood "satisfied but not full".

Before, I did not have the slightest idea what hunger felt like. I ate all the time. I was a grazer, constantly putting something in my mouth. I used to have a very precise feeling that I felt in my stomach that I thought was hunger, but I knew it couldn't be, because I felt it sometimes even after I had eaten. I still feel it sometimes. It's more like a desire to eat that over years I trained myself to call "hunger".

Real hunger, which I feel frequently now, is completely different, and oddly enough, easier to ignore. When I'm really hungry, I can say to myself, oh bother, I'm hungry, but I'm busy, so I really don't feel like eating now, and I'll forget about it for a while. But "fake" hunger was something that fully occupied my mind, like a craving.

Now, I feel the full signal if I'm eating something kind of blah, like chicken breast. But if I'm eating something incredibly delicious I still could go on eating forever, so I have to be super careful about portion sizes, and single serving snack have been my life saver. If I'm eating something outside a meal, I make sure it is portion controlled.

I think I'll probably always eat more than most people. Thank god for veggies. I fill up my plate with veggies and that satisfied my desire to EAT.

[lottie63]

Ubergirl, when did you start watching? I"m just wondering cuz I think the last time I was here when I lost 40 we were starting around the same time....that seem so fast, or maybe I've been off plan and pigging out longer than I thought. ha.

I'm not going to be jealous or beat myself up thinking I could be where you are now. (Even though I want to do both those things. lol.) Instead I'll just think about how I NEVER want to leave again, cuz if I hadn't, I could be so much further along.

You guys can't get rid of me now! ha!