There was an interesting article in The WaPo not long ago about restaurant portions. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/in-an-era-of-excessive-food-waste-a-plea-to-restaurants-cut-down-your-portions/2019/03/25/724c7d94-3e01-11e9-9361-301ffb5bd5e6_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.918c2281b0c6
I wouldn’t consider a cookie skillet a cookie - I’d think of that as more of a shareable dessert. Half of that would be too much (for me)!
OK, fine, half a cookie is not depressing, if the “cookie” is made in a ten inch skillet. Or even a seven inch skillet, I guess.
What are you supposed to do, then?
This is a very informative thread.
I’ve lost 43 pounds (on Weight Watchers) and have been stuck at my current weight for a LONG time now. I want to lose another 10 to 15 pounds, but it hasn’t been happening. Your ideas are very helpful. Thank you all.
@CardinalFang, I’m no expert, but I think you make a different choice. Half a cookie may be depressing because you feel deprived because you’re not eating the other half. So it may be better to choose something that you can eat in its entirety. Or even eat two or three of. I brought two clementines to work for a morning snack today. I didn’t feel deprived at all. But if I had to eat half of something, I would have felt that way.
Similarly, I’ve switched from bagels to “light” English muffins because I’m not willing to eat half a bagel. I would rather eat a whole English muffin. The calories and Weight Watchers points are similar, but the experiences are not.
Congratulations @maya54!
Awesome.
Don’t think of dieting as deprivation. Focus on what you’re able to eat and enjoy instead of what you’re “missing”. Spend more on “special” produce - veggies or fruits. Get a new delicious oil for cooking or salad dressing.
"Whole grains meaning like a slice of Dave’s Killer bread, whole grain pasta or brown rice? Popcorn is actually a whole grain food.
@maya54 what is a “package of lettuce” - I’m picturing the “bag o’ salad” at the store - do you eat two of those at a sitting? (not knocking it but that’s a lot of greens - and could get expensive!!)"
You are right about the popcorn. But other than that I don’t eat any. I like my bread white and have little interest in pasta or rice, let alone brown rice/pasta. It’s not that I dislike it. If rice/pasta were the same calories as vegetables I’d eat it regularly. But its just too “expensive” (calorie wise) for the satisfaction I get from it.
And as for the package of lettuce, yep exactly what you are picturing. I am a volume eater. And yes it gets expensive but really pretty inexpensive compared to eating out which we only do 2 or 3 times a month (and we could afford to do it all the time)
Totally agree with sabaray. Get excited about what you can do and your goals. Fang, you’re at the upper end of exercise, no? You probably don’t even see this close to how we do. But if you suddenly developed a food related issue, wouldn’t you try to psych yourself?
I do eat cake. Local super place has the best ever. But the portion is so big that I can make it last 3-4 days. In contrast, I rarely get the cheesecake because the portion wants to be eaten in one seating. You can savor a 1" x 1" brownie. Just as a half cup of pasta gets you the pasta, in a reasonable amount for what your body can do with it.
The issue with bagels is the carb load. Too much too quickly turns to stored fat. Sorry, cuz Ido love a New England bagel, we have the best.
Potatoes that are not fried and eggs tend to give high satiety, so such a meal being satisfying is not a surprise.
It is true that I went on a seven hour bike ride yesterday, and I’m going on another tomorrow. (It’s about hockey juju. I have to go on a long ride when the Sharks are playing an elimination game. Tomorrow is the fifth elimination game in three weeks.)
I do think restaurants have distorted what people think is a portion. I also remember when Coke used to come in tiny little bottles of 6.5 ounces. In restaurants I often divide the meal in half as soon as it gets put in front of me, but that doesn’t work as well if we are going on to the theater or a concert. Alternatively I’ll just order two appetizers.
That 15 pound cookie is ridiculous.
Mr. and I solve that problem by splitting an entree.
I love pumpernickel bagels. I cut them in half as soon as I get home and put each half in a plastic ziplock sandwich bag and into the freezer. Pop it into the toaster when I want it. The extra effort of toasting helps to eliminate impulse eating for me. (And I reuse the sandwich bags since they are clean without the bagel crumbs.
Generally, I have the opposite problem. The portion sizes are too small and have to order a 2nd meal. soup or an appetizer.
I also forgot to mention in my earlier post in this thread that I have tried really hard to get enough sleep and manage my stress levels. Both high stress and not enough sleep can wreak havoc on weight loss due to its affect on certain hormones. I take care of my elderly parents and my mom was recently put on hospice palliative care and the stress of this and subsequent loss of sleep has periodically played a role in my weight-loss plateaus.
To answer an above question on one of my favorite meals to make, I use organic ground turkey as my meat in chili. I combined two chili recipes that I found online and it tastes pretty good. DH and DD like it so I must be doing something right, lol. I love dark red kidney beans and chili beans in my chili too, so a little goes a long way to satisfy my hunger with this dish. It’s not a super quick meal to make but the leftovers are great.
Good for you!!!
As someone who has never been able to keep weight off in the long term, my suggestion for dieters is to have a tripwire or two in place. Decide in advance what you’ll do if you find that you’ve put 5 pounds back on, perhaps another if you gain back 10. Otherwise a sense of helplessness may take over and rather than nipping the problem in the bud or fighting back early, its easy to slip all the way back to the starting point.
That’s good advice @mikemac. For me I never plan to stop doing what I’m doing which is 1) stick to 1200 calories a day during the week 1600 on weekends and back to 1200 calories on weekends if I gain more than two pounds. 2) indulge in more calories few times per year and follow those with a 500 calorie fast day. The fast day has been a huge help to me after holidays and special events ( my birthday, daughter’s graduation). Then when I’m back to 1200 calories it feels like a lot.
ITA, one thing the very overweight do is not think much about small numbers, so 5 or 10 pounds is not considered a big deal, whereas in reality the trip wires should be about 1 pound, 2 pounds, etc, or even better, %. I think people who do well at never being overweight have a much better handle on tackling this, hence staying at a good weight. I suspect plenty of normal weight people work very hard at that and get plenty of snide criticism. This is still back to calorie balance at the end of the day, however it is achieved. If you lose a lot of weight, adjusting to your new caloric restriction due to such weight loss is much easier to handle if you build in a regular method making space for extra calories by using more of them.
That’s a great idea, @mikemac.
I have past experience with slipping back BEYOND the starting point, and I don’t want to let it happen again. Having an action plan for, say, a 5-pound gain is a good idea for me and perhaps for others.