Foolproof way to stop eating when you're full and there's a plate in front of you!

So i was at Jason's Deli with my soccer team and my friend had this huge baked potato in front of her and she was full but just kept eating it since it was there.. and she was like, "Why am I eating this? I'm not even hungry" and then my other friend reached across the table and poured tea on the potato.

It was hilarious and needless to say more of the potato was not consumed.

So in conclusion, when you're full.. make the rest of your food unappetizing and you will probably not eat it.

I've heard of girls pouring salt all over their food so they won't eat it but I believe these girls also had eating disorders.  Although I can understand why people do it.

That's brilliant, I've never thought of that. My trecherous little brain is alway saying "look how good that looks, what a shame to waste it". 

Dousing it in salt or coffee would definetly shut that voice up

The hubby is thinner than I am - I shuffle my plate closer to him!

Ok...thats not really all that nice to do.  But I don't finish everything.  lol

in restaurants when i'm done i put my napkin on the plate and line up my cutlery on top.  if the server knows their stuff (NOT a given), it's gone pretty quickly.

at home, i just throw it out.  but i rarely put too much on my own plate.

PG I do the same thing in restaurants...put my napkin over it.  Somehow if I dont see it, I dont want it.

even so, if it's yummy and if it sits there long enough, i'll pick ;)

Your friend probably really was hungry and wanted to eat the potato but didn't want the rest of you to think that she was a big eater.  Then when your other friend ruined her food she had no choice but to wait until she was away from you to get something else to eat.  As far as I'm concerned tampering with someone else's food is rude, no matter what they may say about it.

have to agree with you there, tom.  once in high school a friend put cream and sugar in my coffee while i was in the bathroom.  i was not amused.  that was roughly 24 years ago; i still haven't forgotten.

You can always ask for a to-go container early in the meal, or even right when you order, and put half your dinner in there right away. Then you're not wasting food, but also not eating it all in one sitting.

Original Post by trhawley:

Your friend probably really was hungry and wanted to eat the potato but didn't want the rest of you to think that she was a big eater.  Then when your other friend ruined her food she had no choice but to wait until she was away from you to get something else to eat.  As far as I'm concerned tampering with someone else's food is rude, no matter what they may say about it.

 Agreed

yeah im 100% positive she wasnt hungry and it was hilarious. We're all  FRIENDS so we know each other very well

besides that wasnt the point i was making

when i don't want to eat a meal cause i'm full, i wipe my hands on my napkin and put it over my plate. then the waitress sees you're done, and takes the plate away.

its magic. ;]

the napkin tricks doesn't work with my brain... it still knows what's under... so I ruin the food, make it looks disgusting, like putting ketchup on it or anything else. When I do that, I feel sooooo pathetic but at least it works...

I get all my extra food to my Bf, who wasn't fat but after almost 2 years of dating is now counting calories with me...oops, i swear i didn't mean to do that do him :/

If I'm out with my parents I give it to my dad :)

I find it hilarious that, as much as we all really are good people, not one of us can stop from pushing that plate of food closer to that thinner friend/significant other. It's terrible, but really kind of tragically funny. I try to stop myself from doing this, I try to stop myself, when I've eaten and licked my entire plate of food from saying some not-so-innocent comment to my friend like "You're going to eat that, right?". Not because I care about food waste but because I want to make sure that she's eaten as much as I  have. I'm working on that.

As for not picking at your plate... it's definitely difficult. The best thing is when the waiter just takes it away. Sometimes what you've ordered isn't good for leftovers but when it is that's always the best choice. Problem is that I so often forget that taking leftovers home is a choice, why is that? I stuff myself to the brink and then after the fact recall that, oh duh, I could have taken half of that home for dinner!

I think that for those of us that have food control issues, it just takes a tad more thought and awareness before-hand than those people that can just go into a restaurant and order whatever and eat until they're satisfied and then stop without hours of mental preparation.

I've always had the mentality that I shouldn't waste food and if it's there, I have to eat it. Probably from my mom yelling at me for not finishing dinner and she'd take it as a personal insult if I didn't finish. D: But making the rest of the food unappetising sounds like a good idea. I'll have to try that!

Original Post by banana_anna:

I get all my extra food to my Bf, who wasn't fat but after almost 2 years of dating is now counting calories with me...oops, i swear i didn't mean to do that do him :/

If salt doesn't work:  I go ahead and let them put french fries on my plate, have a couple, then dump sugar on them because I don't know how much salt it would take to make them unappealing, I like my salt!

Typically, though, I just don't  have them include anything I'm not going to eat, or get the to-go box ahead of time - that really works - I have never opened the box and started eating, and when my plate is clean I'm just as full even though I only ate half!

"I think that for those of us that have food control issues, it just takes a tad more thought and awareness before-hand than those people that can just go into a restaurant and order whatever and eat until their satisfied and then stop without hours of mental preparation."  Wise words, alanah6688, I wish I could trust myself to stop eating when I'm full, but at this stage of the game I need to

1) Not be too hungry when I go into a restaurant/fill up on healthy snacks ahead of time;

2) If possible, look at menu on-line ahead of time and calculate calories - restaurant chains are now required to tell us the calories - isn't that great?!

3) If not possible, plan for the type of food I can expect and will select, and the types of foods I can expect and do not want to select.

4) In other words, have my plan ready ahead of time, and stick to the plan!

5) Request the to-go box when ordering, and then remind the server when they bring the food without the box.  Halving the food before I ever take a bite - I will "well, just one bite more" myself into eating so much that I figure, "Oh, well, there's hardly enough for another meal now" and there goes the rest.

6) Remember at all times, that I want to feel good physically and happy emotionally when I leave the restaurant.  The dubious pleasure of too much/wrong kind of food is not worth the hours of discomfort afterward. 

Original Post by mad4moon:

If salt doesn't work:  I go ahead and let them put french fries on my plate, have a couple, then dump sugar on them because I don't know how much salt it would take to make them unappealing, I like my salt!

i have to say, if i owned or worked in a restaurant and people were doing this, i would be pissed.