Turning off the go button
By Joel Myhre
November 5, 2007
So after a few days of counting calories, I have discovered that I have one clear area of improvement: figuring out when to turn that "go" button off.
Basically, there's some inner urge inside me that tells me if there's food still available to be eaten, then I should eat it.
Last week, for example, I made it through breakfast, lunch and the afternoon somewhere in the range of 600 to 700 calories. But then dinner came, and all the rules went out the window.
It wasn't that the meals were that bad: squash risotto on Thursday, a salad on Friday at a restaurant, steak, potatoes and cabbage on Saturday. The problem is that, when there's extra food around, I tend to eat it. And when I eat at home, there's always extra food around, because it's too difficult to make exact portions.
It's sort of like a computer glitch. My brain tells me that I can eat a lot more, that I'm not yet full. Later, after feeling stuffed, I admit to myself that, no, I really didn't need to eat that second steak, that second helping, my daughter's grilled cheese sandwich or my wife's taco that they couldn't finish. But at that point, it's too late.
It's not much different than an alcoholic who can't figure out when to stop drinking on a particular night. The "go" instinct is a powerful one.
The only way around my weakness is to be aware of how much other people are eating, and only eat as much, or less, than they do. I tried to do that at a party Sunday night, only eating one portion, and passing on seconds.
It's a difficult thing to do. Of course, if I had done it all along, I wouldn't be having this problem.
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