The "Which bad habits have you quit?" thread gave me the idea to start a thread about the food-related habits we'd most LIKE to quit. Here are my top 3:

1. Trouble with remnants: I can keep one portion of food in the fridge, but half a portion? It drives my OCD brain crazy, so I usually end up eating it or throwing it out (most often a combination of both).

2. Difficulty resisting free samples. I virtually never say no to a free sample in a store, restaurant or on the street. It's almost like I'm trying to get away with something. Well, scratch the "almost."

3. Nibbling. I do a lot of extra nibbling during the day: a spoonful here, a sliver there... It's one thing if I'm eating veggies, but I've been known to nibble a muffin's worth of batter while preparing muffins.

I pledge to become more conscious of these habits next month (June) and take steps to change them. Anyone else?

Freelance

I would love to be able to resist the rolls/bread basket at restaurants. It's a major weakness for me.

Also, I wish I wasn't so picky about food (not liking something because of texture or temperature or whatever.)

I have been doing pretty good with some of my issues but they are still on my mind consciously. These are things I still want to change as it's so easy to fall back into my old habits.

For food samples, now I pretend that someone else could have touched the one I would take so it's "contaminated" so I better not eat it because I'm a bit of a germophobe (my food addiction was stronger than my fear of germs in the past).

Someone else here (Betsy maybe? I apologize if I'm wrong!) had said months ago that they don't eat anything if they aren't sitting down. That really helped me stop eating all of the time. I was in the awful habit of eating while I was waiting to eat (i.e. munching before meals).

I don't eat in my car anymore unless it's an absolute emergency [i.e. traveling home from a doctor's appointment that I had to fast for, on my way into a threatening (foodwise!) environment, such as dinner at a restaurant, the ball park, or the movie theater, etc. that would help me put 100lbs on overnight].

These 3 changes drastically reduced my mindless eating but as I said above, I think about it all the time! I hope in time it may become more natural.

The consistent excuse making as to why I don't need to/am unable to exercise.

Nibbling! that is my number 1 biggest obstacle. And particularly the late night variety which can turn into binging if I am not really careful.

P.S. There are calories in free samples?!?! Doh!!!

Freelance, your #1 and #3 apply to me as well. Another bad habit I would like to break is the compulsion to completely finish something tasty once I've started it (this may relate to #1). For instance, I love Talenti Sea Salt Caramel gelato but I had to stop buying it because every time I would open a pint, I felt compelled to finish it. There's something so satisfying about eating straight from the pint (rather than putting it in a bowl) and finishing it. I wish I would learn to eat one portion, and put the rest away for another time.

Drinking. Wait ... these are habits I would like to quit.

Hmmm ... trick question? All the "bad" habits I have I don't want to stop.

Giving into takeout/going out to eat because I don't feel well and want something "extra tasty."

(... Gonna admit I'm teetering on the edge of doing that this very moment! So maybe another bad habit I'd like to quit is rationalizing bad decisions. )

This.

And mindless eating when I'm alone.

boredom eating

&

the compulsive need to finish something that is tasty even if I am full

^ This. This so much.

Oh, and I need to stop drinking soda again. I barely drank it at all over winter, but in the last month, I really started picking up the habit again. I don't even like soda.

Well the last big habit that is holding my weight loss back is the actual overeating in the evenings.

I do good all day, sometimes for days, but eventually break down during the evening one of those days. Not sure why, but I'm working on it, and trying to break it.

Ultimately I have pretty good habits otherwise. I just frequently break down and overeat. Not because I'm hungry or not getting enough nutrients, it's just a mental urge to eat too much.

I think I'm making good strides though.

June shall be the month that I banish the habit of furtively snacking when I find myself alone.

1. Binge eating (either to relieve stress or for no reason at all).

2. I think about food/my weight obsessively

3. chewing gum every single night (2-6 pieces....I've even had a whole pack over the course of some random evenings when I wanted to binge really bad).

4. Not sleeping well...I've been up since 3:15 a.m. and that's not good.

1. Not being able to 'waste' food, especially if I've paid for it. For example, if my son has leftover fries from somewhere, I'll eat them instead of throwing them out.

2. The "end" pieces of bread. No one eats them in my house, so I do. I guess that relates to #1.

3. Doritos.