This weekend I made brownies and I'm regretting it. I've been dieting for almost a month now, so I felt that I could start incorporating foods I loved in small quantities. I bought a box of the No Pudge brownies and made them in 12 cupcake wrappers so I would know what a serving looked like. That seemed to work very well, but somehow I am on my last brownie and its day 4. I can't stop myself from eating these even when I know I'm full. I thought that incorporating foods I loved was a necessary step so I wouldn't binge out, but I am still binging out. What am I supposed to do when my two choices lead to the same outcome?

What am I supposed to do?Throw away or give away the remaining brownies -- you need some more time before you can incorporate these kinds of foods into your diet safely. You can try the following next time:

1) make them as usual, then freeze all but one. Every morning (or however often you plan in advance), take one out of the freezer.

2) make them as usual, but give most of them away to a friend who doesn't live with you. Hang on to 1 or 2 for yourself.

3) recognize that chocolate may be a trigger to you for overeating and focus on how eating chocolate makes you feel -- if it makes you act irrationally with respect to food, stop ingesting it for a while to form your healthy eating habits more concretely before attempting it again.

4) buy just one of something that you want, and eat it and be done with it; making a full recipe means you're going to have to deal with extra.

These are not the easiest solutions, but losing weight and keeping it off are not the easiest undertakings. If they were, so many of us wouldn't be overweight....

Something I had to beat into myself (and I still struggle with) is the concept that there is nothing wrong with throwing away food. I was raised by parents who lived through the German occupation and civil war and a dictatorship and God only knows what kind of deprivation, and the idea that you can throw away food is sacrilege. It has taken me a lot of soul-searching and effort to reprogram myself. I am NOT a garbage disposal. If I prepare or buy too much of something, I am NOT responsible for eating it. The fact that I threw away 9/10 of a chocolate bar on Monday does not mean that someone, somewhere, is going to starve to death.

I'm not saying that you have a problem throwing away food, I'm just relating my own experience. But if you DO share this problem, perhaps you need to consider how irrational it is to say we can't throw away food.

I thought that incorporating foods I loved was a necessary step so I wouldn't binge outYes, but you have to make sure that you are only providing yourself with the opportunity to eat them in a reasonable fashion -- not having 12 tempting chocolate brownies in your kitchen! :laugh:

Keep working at it, you'll get there. One month is a pretty short time period to expect you will have forgotten and/or fixed all your old habits! :)

btw I just read your profile -- I really liked Oryx and Crake too :) Good luck with your grad school applications... it's hell and it only gets worse once grad school starts hehehe

Thanks for the support Nausicaa! That's a really good idea about making the brownies and then being "nice" and sharing with your friends. I'll make sure to not have all 12 delicious temptations within my sight next time.

I do have the same issue with throwing food away, though. My parents and I immigrated from Russia, so throwing food away in my house is a big no-no. I think it will take me many more years to get over that.

PS: Grad school stuff is going well, I've already been accepted to NYU, Princeton, Einstein College of Medicine, and Rutgers. I can't believe it though!

Congrats on the acceptances! It's always best to have choices!

It does take time to get over the throwing away food thing. I still cringe sometimes. The other day I accidentally left out a hunk of soft cheese overnight, and the next day I saw it on the counter and thought "should I put it in the fridge or buy a new one?" and I put it in the fridge -- but later that day I told myself how stupid I was being. I've had food spoilage poisoning before, and it was NOT worth the 4 euros it cost to replace the cheese. So I threw it out. But it was NOT my first instinct!

The other thing you could maybe think of is.... chocolate brownies aren't really "food." Food is things like meat, fish, nuts, vegetables, whole wheat bread. Things that nurture your body and keep you healthy. Things that make us fat and make us feel guilty and gross are definitely not food. Just treats we can have once in a while.

Suggestion? On the side of the package of 'No Pudge' brownies, they tell you the amount of ingredients you need to make just ONE brownie. :D

Suggestion: Make a schedule for when you're going to allow yourself a brownie. If you tell yourself exactly when you can and cannot have a brownie, you might be less likely to cheat. I leave Sunday nights open for eating fast food or pizza. All week I am looking forward to sunday night rather than feeling sorry for myself constantly. Limit yourself to 2,3,4 brownies a week and spread them out evenly.

I guess I'll try! If only dieting was easy...I guess we'd all be skinny then. Thanks for your help everyone.