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Worn Out and Trigger Foods

Worn Out and Trigger Foods

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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27 Comments

  1. Lori

    Did you lift weights yesterday before a run? If you are increasing your weights, you might want to give yourself an extra rest day a week. It’s tough on the muscles.

    I have trigger foods, but they change sometimes. Cereal is a big trigger food for me, although sometimes I am totally fine having it in the house. If I start to have trouble with it, we put it up high on top of the cupboards so I actually have to drag a chair over to reach it.

    Mini reeses cups are my nemesis. Those don’t come into the house.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      My tendency is to run on the treadmill first if they are available, then do weights. That’s what I did last night. I thought maybe the pre-workout food (greek yogurt) was partly to blame. Not sure!

      I love the idea of putting it somewhere hard to reach! Great trick!

  2. Beth @ Beth's Journey

    I think it’s pretty normal for some runs to be harder than others. There are some days where 3 miles feels like 10! Good for you for powering through.

    I don’t keep trigger foods in my house – dark chocolate peanut butter, for example – or else I eat them all. I posted something ab out this recently, how I get obsessed until they are gone. Sounds like we are quite similar in that regard!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yep! I think we’re on the same page for a lot of things. I don’t know if it’s my OCD tendencies but I get seriously obsessed with the foods if they are around me. It’s all I think about and until I eat them I can’t think of anything else!

  3. Carbzilla

    Hey, at least you’re at the gym!

    I’m really proud to say that doing WW this time around has really helped me tame my trigger foods. Since nothing is forbidden, I portion it out and enjoy it. For the most part though, I don’t keep super dangerous foods in the house, and if I want a sweet I have to make it from scratch (except Biscoff cookies that I tried this week. They are still come in the pantry, and I only had a couple every few days).

    Oh, dips! Is it just because they’re a party food? Is it because they only arrive on special occasions? I don’t know why they’re so tempting! Fortunately I can tell myself that they are probably made with soup mix that has MSG and would give me a killer headache. (I did find organic spinach dip mix but haven’t tried it yet) Back in the day, I remember a fine evening with Cheddar Lays and French Onion dip. That combination would probably kill me now!

    A lot of folks seem to be struggling right now, but we just have to face it and then move on. Whatever the scale says, it’s just a number. Set a fun new goal and let’s look forward to Spring! It is just around the corner!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Nice analysis about the dip. Perhaps it IS because it’s “fun” party food. Or because I can shovel it into my mouth at lightening speed and it just tastes SO good. 🙂

      I’m glad that WW is working for you so well this time. I’ve heard that from several people doing the new program. Sounds like WW is doing something right with the Points Plus program.

      I’m so looking forward to spring. I’m itching to go hiking and not be soaked in rain!

  4. Jennifer

    I have to keep trigger foods out of my house too. I am especially fond of cheese. Really good cheddar, and really good mozzarella. They’re my weakness! I also love pizza. If I order in, I can’t just have 2 slices and a salad. I have to have 4. Or 5. So it’s a big treat when I do order it…which is very, very rare lately.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I’m the same way with pizza, Jennifer. The Papa Murphy’s deLite pizzas are low in calories so I don’t feel guilty if I eat 4 pieces….

  5. Natalie @ Healthalie

    You are so right! It’s smart not to keep trigger foods around. I try so hard, but my live-in boyfriend always loves his snacks… how do you deal?

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Luckily Michael’s trigger foods are WAY different than mine and I can totally resist the things that he can’t and vis-versa.

      One tip would be to ask your boyfriend to keep the treats somewhere you won’t see them/can’t reach them. Or ask him to keep them somewhere else (like his car?)?

      1. Natalie @ Healthalie

        That’s a good idea! I should stick them high up or in cupboards so I wont notice them 🙂 Thanks for the tip!

  6. DefineDiana

    trigger foods…nope can’t be in the house for me either.

    I swear I have been thinking about potato chips for 2 weeks now (not all the time, but they have been my main craving the last two weeks). I will get some, eventually and I can totally pass them up in the grocery store, even if I am thinking about them while I there.

    Bring them into the house, however and they would be gone in two seconds. If there was actually an unopened bag in my cupbord I would be having dreams (or maybe nightmares?) about them until I could finish them off.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I’ve been known to have dreams about the trigger foods too! They just need to stay out of the house!

  7. Jessica S

    I actually had this happen to me last Friday. I helped a coworker out and gave her moving boxes that I didn’t need anymore. In gratitude she brought me 2.5 dozen homemade choc chip cookies. I know it may seem rude but I knew they were a trigger food for me so I managed to farm 12 of them out to my other coworkers and then 3 to my boyfriend and ATE THE REST. 0_o

    I felt soo guilty AND I didn’t tell a soul about it because I was ashamed. normally I will bake say choc chip cookies at home and eat maybe 6 in the whole bunch over 3 days but I have NO idea what got into me to where I ate ALL of those in a span of 6 hours.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Hey Jess it’s good to hear from you. It feels like ages since we caught up.

      I’m sorry you felt ashamed and guilty. That’s not a good feeling to have and I’ve been there sooo many times.

      I’ll admit that I’m a Food Liar. There was been times when I snuck treats and tried to eat them before Michael caught me snacking. I didn’t even enjoy eating the food. Didn’t savor it. Then I felt so guilty and ashamed of myself. It’s a hard cycle to break but seriously — avoiding all trigger foods does work!

      1. Jessica

        Thank you for sharing with us that you are a food liar too. It makes you human. A lot of people who have lost weight always act like they are reformed and they don’t have those problems anymore so it makes those of us who are weaker willpower feel that much more inadequate. =)

        1. Lisa Eirene

          Hey Jess! I hope that I never come across as being the “high and mighty I cured ALL my food issues” type of person. I definitely have my struggles. I have weak “willpower” often.

  8. dietmaven

    Hi! I just started reading your blog. I have never really had a problem with trigger foods. I can easily have it around and then not eat it. Even when I wasn’t in healthy eating, weight-loss mode, I could have a tub of ice cream in the freezer and then not eat it for like… ever! I think if that had been an issue, I’d be a lot heavier than my 225 starting weight! I have dark chocolate bars in the house for when I want to have a square after dinner every so often. I think the strategy of not having it around for when a craving hits and you just can’t help, however, is very wise! No crime of opportunity and all that.

    As for trigger foods, mine ar definitely butter, cream, oil, and salt based. Cheesecake, pop chips/natural cheetos, etc, any yummy already cooked (by me) dinners that are leftover and don’t take any effort to cook from scratch – just reheat and enjoy!, and of course, my favorite, angel hair pasta with butter, salt, and nutritional yeast. Substitute the pasta for popcorn at any point, they are equally good. Mmmmm. Movie popcorn too, can’t resist, ever…

    Glad your strategy works for you! What’s a good one for not becoming hungry? That’s what I struggle with (and that was a rhetorical question, by the way).

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Sounds like the bf! His trigger foods are popcorn and butter, chips, salty foods….

  9. Susan

    Totally agree! I absolutely cannot have some trigger foods in the house. Cereal is my biggest one. I could eat it by the handful in three days – calories on top of my usual daily calories. I’m bad with sweets too. The worst is actually cakes or squares. Things I can slice a sliver off of over an over until it’s gone.

    That’s why I was at my skinniest when I lived alone – I had complete control over what made it into my kitchen!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Have you tried the Special K chocolate cereeal? I ate that whole box in one weekend! So good!!!

      And you are spot on–I never struggled with trigger foods and staying on track when I lived alone. I was in complete control of what food was in my house so I just didn’t have the trigger foods there.

  10. Emily

    I just saw this post after I posted about a current trigger food of mine: Girl Scout Cookies. They are currently in the house taunting me. Tomorrow, they will be gone by means of anything but me consuming them.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      OH! Girl Scout cookies FOR SURE. Thin Mints and Samoas? I cannot resist them and I can’t eat just one….

  11. Karen@WaistingTime

    Unfortunately I have written about trigger foods a lot because I HAVE a lot! Seems my list grows and grows. I do best when I get them out of my house and don’t eat any. The longer I go without, the less I crave them. Now if only I could get my husband’s food out of the house!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I’m lucky because the bf’s trigger foods are not my trigger foods. So as long as I’m in control of NOT bringing sweets into the house I can resist them…

      And you are right–the list grows. I think I need to add a few things to it. LOL

  12. Jennie @ Designed to be Fit

    Chocolate and cookies. I can never just have one handful of M&M’s, I have to have several!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Especially homemade cookies!

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