I definitely 'feel' the hunger in my tum, when it's mealtime; and I 'think' the hunger also. However if I am super busy, and engaged in something, I don't get that 'thinking' hunger.
I am happy that I don't have a problem with alcohol (haha, one of those famous statements ) I can have a couple sips or half a beer, and toss the rest out. And usually I'd choose a diet soda over alcohol. But I've never ever not finished a dessert or treat because I had 'had enough'.
I wonder if the people able to control their portions without thinking had their portions controlled as a kid? Were they only allowed a small amount of chips or icecream and no seconds were allowed?
I'm sure the answer to this would vary greatly and there's just not one definite answer. Because sometimes that kind of control backfires. People who were very restricted when younger, sometimes "let loose" when they're on their own.
I'm sure the answer to this would vary greatly and there's just not one definite answer. Because sometimes that kind of control backfires. People who were very restricted when younger, sometimes "let loose" when they're on their own.
yup - my case! my mom was a great, thrifty and nutritious cook. We had controlled amounts of meat, veggie, starch, salads. The only desserts were occasional, and it was Jell-O, sometimes a pan of gingerbread. Soda was allowed 2 or 3 times a year! Same with potato chips, only at cookouts (at other people's houses) Apples or grapes were the treat in a bag lunch. I was one of those who let loose when on my own
I'm sure the answer to this would vary greatly and there's just not one definite answer. Because sometimes that kind of control backfires. People who were very restricted when younger, sometimes "let loose" when they're on their own.
Oh, so true! Our "treats" were very controlled when we were children. Consequently, my brother snuck and hid cookies all over the house. We traded items at lunch, bought candy with extra money we earned - oh, yeah - that kind of control can backfire! And then there was freshman year at college
Last edited by CountingDown; 05-10-2009 at 05:55 PM.
I have been paying close attention to how thin people eat. I pay particular attention to my SIL who is my height and 115lbs. She really does eat whatever she wants, chips, cookies,pop, steak, you name it. BUT she only seems to eat when she is hungry and she eats small portions because that's all she wants. My husband(her brother) is the same way, he eats when he's hungry, stops when he's full. He eats whatever he feels like eating sometimes that's salad, sometimes it's hoho's or cheeseballs. He forgets to eat all the time. UGH. I want to slug him.
Just last night i was indulging in some chocolate..it was plain chocolate and there were about 12 peices. I decided to give my boyfriend 1/2 but as soon as hed eaten 2 pieces..he decided it was to sweet and he didnt WANT anymore!!!! So me being left with the rest of his..i just HAD to eat the rest..and i felt so guilty that he didnt want it i had to go eat it in secret!
Another example..is a woman at the desk next to mine. she is TINY! and always has a huge box of maltesers and m&ms and she sits there all day and will pull the box out and offer them around and pick a few out. She will then pull the biscuits out and eat one and put the packet back. Now when i reach for one...i eat until i feel SICK. Otherwise i dont feel satisfied? it is just sick. I can never touch chocolate without eating it until i feel sick..otherwise i dont feel its worth it?
I would rather eat NO chocolate than eat 2 pieces.
I would love to change this, i feel that i wouldnt be overweight if this was how i lived..if i was 'normal' but im not...and it sucks haha!
I've overeaten food since I was a child, long before it could be ascribed to emotional eating. I've just always been HUNGRY and don't have an "off" switch.
That's me completely. I seriously eat because I'm hungry. I've struggled to a point where I can manage it (lots of veggies, protein, etc.) but I'm really always hungry.
My mother is truly one of those people most others hate. She eats about 1800 - 2000 cals a day, plus a couple of bags of candy and chocolate bars most weeks. She's 82 and 120-lbs, definitely shouldn't be maintaining on that. She does little regular exercise (uses a treadmill every now and then, and walks with me now 5 days a week for my benefit really), but she's a 'constant mover' which obviously burns up a lot of her calories. However, she can take months to finish a big bag of chips, taking only a handful once a week with her hamburger.
this was discussed before... but some people have a hard time letting food go to waste, so we eat it. I know people who will eat stale cookies just because they don't want to throw them out... I usually eat things before they go bad. Can't help but notice here, alot of people struggle when it's the "last one left"...
I guess normal eater don't care if they throw out some food? after awhile, they'll throw out the last cupcake, last few cookies and not feel bad or anything. I guess it goes back to how we treat and think of food.
Last edited by ringmaster; 05-10-2009 at 10:47 PM.
For me, it is the emotional eating and bad food choices. I also physically do gain weight quite easily. I always have and one could say, now that I know more about my body, that what I thought was weight was my body just not handling the food well. So, in addition to the poundage I have water retaining, bloating etc.
I do have an off switch, just when I'm emotional I ignore it. My usual downfall is dinner and I realize now that this struggle is a product of years of habit. When you're young and in school you quickly grab a breakfast, maybe, and then you eat a crappy little lunch, usually not healthy or at least it wasn't when I was in school (nachos and giant cinnamon rolls). Then you eat a larger more filling dinner, giant plates of pasta and bread type thing. That is how it was with me, so trying to break that is proving difficult as I am better off eating mini meals throughout the day. No large meals.
Normally I eat when I'm hungry and usually my meals during the day are quite small. It doesn't take much to satisfy me. I'm also not a person who snacks. I hate snacks. I'm the person who would eat a handful of chips or popcorn and save the rest for another day. I also am the person who can eat a bite of chocolate and save it for months. I'm just that way with certain foods and foods like chips and what not I consider snacks even when they are apart of a meal. Just my way of thinking I suppose. I'm the same way with drinks, milkshake type treats. Though now I don't do the dairy, so I'm limited. I used to get something at Starbucks, some sort of sugary, coffee, icy milkshake type thing and drink an inch of the small size. My boyfriend, on the other hand, would drink his grande one and mine usually. He doesn't have an off switch, he is always hungry, and have a weight problem too. He can't stop when he starts basically.
I've known many people who are in shape eat and eat. For example, I can think of three individuals in my life who are fit and they eat 3 times as more when we are at family visits than I do. I mean I know a family member who literally ate HALF of a large raw food tart I made because he loved it so much. I had a tiny piece and was satisfied lol. However, I think normally they eat small meals and only eat when they are hungry like others have mentioned.
Last edited by Jacquie668; 05-11-2009 at 06:36 AM.
My normal-weight partner will buy a package of 4 small muffins. She will sometimes eat 1/2 muffin at a time because that's all she wants. They do sometimes get stale, at which point she tosses them out.
She does the same thing with restaurant leftovers. Sure, she'll bring them home, but if she doesn't eat them in a day or two, out they go.
It was a wonderful, freeing day when I realized I did not have to eat food just because it was there--with some idea of "not wasting" it. It's not as though by eating it I am saving anyone else from being hungry--I'm just adding to my fat.
One strategy that works for me is simply to consider her food off limits. They are not my muffins, my leftovers, etc.
I feel familar with the eating habits of my thin friends and relatives, but this thread made me remember the 5 months I spent living in a youth hostel in London, England when I was 21. My now-husband and I ate notably bigger portions than the other international students with whom we shared a kitchen. Now all of us, whether from Germany or Angora, ate cheap, quickly prepared meals. Typical dinners, whether together or prepared separately, included pasta with pesto, soups, sandwiches, and various curry dishes.
But several housemates expressed their surprise at our portion sizes. Also I remember that at different times my Italian, female housemate and one of my Thai, female housemates both exclaimed over me, saying that I ate so much and yet I wasn't fat! They just flat-out told me they thought this was amazing. (In fact, I would be only a few years later, but at the time I was happy, we were walking literally hours a day, etc.)
I think of how we were eating our pasta with pesto in oversized bowls or on regular dinner flatware. Whereas our housemates would spoon some into a low cereal-type bowl that wouldn't hold more than 1/4 of a lb of pasta, and they'd only fill it up halfway. If they used a plate, the food would only go in the very middle.
Husband and I at the time thought we ate normal-sized dinners. No, my parents didn't eat one-bowl dishes of pasta like we were doing, they ate it as a portion with other things on a plate -- but I suppose the husband and I had gotten used to the way we ate in college and at restaurants. And like I said, the housemates ate the same type of foods we did, not well-rounded stuff. Anyway, we thought the housemates were the odd ones because their dinners looked like our lunches -- but you know, I've been thinking about that ever since I started reading this thread ...
I/we should channel such things to maintain a different outlook toward dinner. It is just another meal.
Is food supposed to fill a plate? Probably not. Food should probably be in the middle of a plate, or in a low bowl, etc. And once in awhile a soup or sandwich for dinner is good. I do it every Monday now, a non-dinnery dinner traditional that we adopted from my grandparents. I think it is actually somewhat liberating to change one's mindset about a meal like dinner.
Other posters have used the taking a little of sweets as an example. On one hand, I can (and currently do) keep my favorite dark chocolate candy bar in a ziploc baggie in a kitchen drawer for weeks or even longer, having one square (1/4 serving) once or twice a week, or less frequently. Throughout most of college, I had one square daily. Just one.
This kind of thing I honestly do not find tempting, do not think about at other times.
But if it were unwrapped, and out ...? I would eye it with consideration at many times, I'm sure. I'd want it. I would not like open, easily pop-able candies or nuts, etc out in the open near me. So 'put away' -- not particularly tempting. In the open ... tempting. So I'm not sure whether my mindset is normal or obese. Maybe in the middle.
Last edited by WhitePicketFences; 05-11-2009 at 09:51 AM.
Reason: messed up parenthesis
Now I, on the other hand, have been blessed with a special dessert stomach. I could be absolutely stuffed, but if cake comes around, my body says
DEPLOY THE DESSERT STOMACH!
I have one of those too
Quote:
Originally Posted by JulieJ08
I'm learning to just leave what I don't want. It's surprisingly hard to do, even after you realize you don't really want it.
This is the key for me. I definitely have a hunger switch and a full switch. If I ate just when I was hungry, and ate what I wanted I would probably be a normal weight. For me eating has very little to do with wanting or hunger. I've recently realized most of the foods I think of as treats I don't even really like. I just eat them because I feel compelled to eat them. If they're around, they call to me even though I don't really "want" them. I think it's because of the way I was raised. My mom was always either on a diet or really, really off a diet. So I learned that junk was high value and very desirable. I'm sure it's also just the way my brain is wired too.
I'm really working on desensitizing myself to food. I know I'll probably never be able to be around junk without it calling my name, but I do feel like I can lessen my compulsion, and remove a lot of the power around food.
I have thought about this a lot lately. I have a skinny friend who is always eating chocolate, candy, cakes, crackers, chips, etc. etc. She never passes up anything at work or when we go out. Last weekend we went to a conference together and were together 2 nights and 2 days. I watched her and thought OMG this is how they do it. She would eat a very light breakfast. Normal lunch, snacks if they were available and then very, very light supper. She would take two bites off something then throw it away and exclaim how full she was. HAH! I wanted to beat her with my water bottle. lol
My daughter on the other hand is also very skinny. She's in the 5th grade and only weighs 60 lbs. She does the same thing. She eats what she wants but if she's not hungry she won't eat. She frequently has chips, cakes, candy, etc and it goes stale because she doesn't eat it. At Easter & Halloween I always end up giving her candy away because she doesn't eat it. There can be candy bars and sweets and she says she doesn't want it. If she does get a candy bar she will take about 1/4 then hand the rest to me. I used to eat it, but now I just give to my husband or I toss it in the trash.
It's kinda fun watching babies and toddlers before they get very old. Even with sweets, if they're full, they will refuse any more. I was watching my 1 year old and 3 year old nieces yesterday both do that.
) I can have a couple sips or half a beer, and toss the rest out. And usually I'd choose a diet soda over alcohol. But I've never ever not finished a dessert or treat because I had 'had enough'.
