How many of you eat too much?

[htc]

I've really been trying to work hard on not over eating. I find at times that his is REALLY hard. For the most part, I don't eat til I'm 110% stuffed all the time. I try to follow the 80% rule.

I find though that I stress eat and eat out of boredom (probably like many others).

Anyone have tips on how they keep themselves from overeating? That is putting your spoon/fork down while at the meal table?

Not sure if this is supposed to be under the special diets area...since it's not directly related to food. ?

 

[GB]

I stuff myself to the gills usually, but I find that if I slow down then I do not eat as much. I think it takes about 20 minutes for your body to register the fact that you are full, so if you take your time eating you will feel full after eating less food. My problem is that when the food is yummy I end up shoveling it in

 

[mudbug]

It's harder in restaurants, where it's so common to get oversized portions of everything.

Especially if you come from the "clean your plate, there are starving children in China/Africa" school of parenting.

I try to go by the one plate rule. No seconds.

Unless you count that little juicy bit of meat with some browned fat clinging to it that was left in the skillet..................

 

[GB]

I try to go by the one plate rule. No seconds.

You have not seen the size of my plates

 

[mudbug]

LMK(keister)O, geebs!

But you haven't seen my plates, either..............

 

[Maidrite]

I am there right with you, Barbara and I just started doing something that helped us before but we got of it to soon. We were winning the battle by eating TV dinners for portion control. Its all about shrinking your stomach and then learning what you can eat. I use to think eating one or two meals a day was going to help. Now they have found eating 6 times a day but small and I do mean TV dinner (normal size please) is much better. This will also help with sugar and insulin balance. The real truth is excercise is what is going to lose the weight and maintain it, of course eating right is important too. The problem for me is genetic. I need to be tricked into exercise because I am not a fan of doing it just to be doing it. I wish I had that rush that some people do but I don't. I want to swim so bad I can taste the bleach LOL! I love doing things like golf ,metal detect,swim,tennis,bowl,fish"not much exercise here ", baseball, football,softball, basketball,foosball,hockey,horseshoes,cards,board games,curling,field events,boxing,wrestling,racing, Croquet, and about anything else including soccer but I am not very good at this. If anyone close by is ready to play here I am.

 

[GB]

Mudbug here is a picture of our large plates. I put a dinner fork in the picture for perspective, but I am not sure if it really shows how large they are. They do not even fit in our dish washer.

 

[mudbug]

gulp. I think you win, geebs!

 

[GB]

OK I was just showing off a bit. We don't really use those normally. We did buy them as our dinner plates originally, but since they were so big and didn't fit in the dishwasher we decided we could not really use them. They also had salad plates and dessert plates in the same style. We use the salad plates as our dinner plates and the dessert plates as salad plates. The salad plates are still very large, but closer to a normal size. We kept four of the large ones as platters. We also have two platters and those are just gigantic.

 

[htc]

I sometimes wonder if your body naturally goes on strike?? I go to a local hot pot spot for lunch (think Asian fondue, instead of cheese/bread/veggies, it's meat/veggies/noodles). It's a buffet, go up as many times as you'd like. I found that w/in the last couple weeks, somehow when I eat there, I only go up to the bar once. I pile my plate w/ good stuff, then find when I'm done, I'm full. Not stuffed, but jsut right. 3 months ago, I would have went 2xs. Not sure what the diff is now...??

Sure not complaining though! You would think that as uncomfortable as overeating can get, we would never do it! That's surely not the case for me. I'm trying to learn to leave stuff on my plate if I get too full. My problem is I feel guilty for not finishing stuff. All the stuff parents say about people starving...well in my house that was said too, but it was literal, Vietnam: Grandma & Auntie. If I can't finish something I usually try to pack it away for the next meal/snack.

 

[Andy M.]

I have an addiction. I'm addicted to food. Put food in front of me and I cannot stop eating until it's finished. I've always been that way.

For short periods of time I can fight the urge and practice portion control. That leads to my losing weight.

It took me a couple of years together with SO to convince her of my addiction so she would stop making carrot cake and stop bringing home ice cream for a treat, etc. If I know they are in the house, they are not safe.

For many years, it was not a problem, but with the passing years and the slowing of my metabolism, it has become a constant struggle.

All the great recipes posted here don't help either!

 

[corazon]

We go with the "only serve yourself as much as you can eat" rule. Problem is, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach and I end up with more food than I can eat. I need to get better about serving myself less, I just end up wasting food by over serving.

 

[Maidrite]

I better stick to the TV Dinner role, Man Can I eat if I wanted too. Our parents use to tell us to finish everything on our plate, I think I must have thought they told me to eat everything and the Plate !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Claire]

Hubby being diagnosed with diabetes puts it in perspective. Like most men, he fears needles like the plague. So now I use measuring cups as serving spoons. He's lost 25 lbs. I gave up on scales many years ago (I had eating disorders when I was young, and refuse to get back on that treadmill), but he says he thinks I've lost weight as well. But using measuring cups as spoons when you're serving does make it easier to judge what you're putting out, on a day-to-day basis. We're trying to keep him off insulin for as long as possible.

Those lovely blue plate would make great "chargers" -- put a smaller, white or contrasting color, plate on top of it!

 

[tweedee]

It takes 20 minutes for the brain to tell the stoamch that ir is full so eat slowly and enjoy every chew before swallowing.

I don't eat out at restraunts very often but when I do it's usually a serve yourself type restraunt and when I want to try everything I go down the line and I make it a habbit to put only a tablespoon of what I want on my plate and that way I don't overeat and can eat what I want until I'm satisfied. I usually can't eat anymore than half of what is on my plate and I'm out the door without feeling the need for any dessert.

T.V. dinners arn't good for you, they may work in portion control but they are only high in sodium, fats, carbs and calories.

 

[Claire]

My husband loves my cooking, period. Since Mom taught me to cook healthy to begin with, it's just been about portion control. For him. I'm rebelling. At 50, you'd think I'd be over that, but there we are.

 

[Claire]

Restaurant strategy: the servings are way too huge. So look at your meal, and think, what can I take home and make other meals of. Once upon a time I had a lifestyle where I went to lunch a lot. It wasn't uncommon for me to take a doggie bag home and create dinner from it. Once upon a time I could eat a t-bone with no problem. Nowadays a t-bone steak can be 3 meals for me, or one for me and one for both of us. And, while he's losing weight (and says I am. Won't know for sure until I need to wear my jeans), we're still eating very well. Our lobster-gram was supposed to be a meal. It was 4 meals. Just cannot pack it in the way we used to, which is a good thing.