I'm at a conference where our meals are reimbursed. I've ordered appetizers both meals but still have got two big left over boxes full of food that no one wants and I feel extremely wasteful. How do I get that out of my head? That portions are too big anymore and that I'm not going to be able to eat a full plate of anything, even an appetizer size. I refuse to eat more than my stomach will hold..but it's really bothering me to waste food and I'm not sure why.

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I don't care about wasting food. Not wanting to waste food is part of what got me fat. I hate leftovers. I don't eat them. I cook everything I eat fresh (luxury of working from home). Someone on here that I now have on ignore tried to give me crap about not taking home leftovers from resturants. Like I never did before surgery and I am not going to start now. Sometimes I will take the boxes just because servers seem so upset if you don't eat all your food but I toss them in the dumpster before I even walk in my Apt.

It takes time but you just have to get over it. You wasting food isn't going to feed someone else. They didn't have access to that food anyway, it was yours, and you aren't wasting it, you are just not eating it. Cleaning your plate in America doesn't feed some starving kid, they are still starving. You being obese however shortens your life.

If you are eating in excess of what your body needs you are wasting food and storing it as fat, which is what most of us did pre-op. Food is fuel, so eating more than you need is still a waste.

Just because you are over served you are not obligated to eat it.

Come up with something in your head that makes it okay for you.

For me I am just YOLO. Leftovers are gross I won't touch them.

I don't care about wasting food. Not wanting to waste food is part of what got me fat. I hate leftovers. I don't eat them. I cook everything I eat fresh (luxury of working from home). Someone on here that I now have on ignore tried to give me crap about not taking home leftovers from resturants. Like I never did before surgery and I am not going to start now. Sometimes I will take the boxes just because servers seem so upset if you don't eat all your food but I toss them in the dumpster before I even walk in my Apt.

It takes time but you just have to get over it. You wasting food isn't going to feed someone else. They didn't have access to that food anyway, it was yours, and you aren't wasting it, you are just not eating it. Cleaning your plate in America doesn't feed some starving kid, they are still starving. You being obese however shortens your life.

If you are eating in excess of what your body needs you are wasting food and storing it as fat, which is what most of us did pre-op. Food is fuel, so eating more than you need is still a waste.

Just because you are over served you are not obligated to eat it.

Come up with something in your head that makes it okay for you.

For me I am just YOLO. Leftovers are gross I won't touch them.

Thank you..I think from early on like many people I was told not to waste..starving kids and all. You are absolutely correct. I need something in my head to just say..it's ok..and the real waste would be for me to overeat..get sick or worse..back track on my successes so far.

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Exactly. I grew up having to clean my plate. It is a terrible habit for kids. It was okay when eating at home with my WWII grandparents, they served normal servings. It is terrible when you are eating at restaurants where one entree is a days worth of calories, not even including the sides.

I still wrestle with this but I know why. For me, it is because my dad grew up poor and work so hard for all of us to have an easy life. As a kid, he didn't know when he was going to get his next meal. After I had gained quite a bit of weight, my dad told me "You don't have to eat that all if you're full. All the poor, starving people in the world won't be helped by you being overweight." That was a key turning point for me to let it go. He's right. To combat it, I only order a very small amount or share my food if I go out.

It's hard to change that way of thinking when you heard it so much growing up.

Here's the way I look at it:

Eating food I don't want/need is just as wasteful as throwing it away. The difference? One goes in the garbage, the other ends up on my body.

It is better to waste food than to waist food.

It is better to waste food than to waist food.

Lol are you in a city you could offer it to a Homeless person sometimes it's presumptive to think they will want it I once bought a homeless lady sleeping in the snow in the ally behind my apt Starbucks Breakfast and hot chocolate and she yelled at me :/ but I never I give up I give fruit and spare change and sweaters or old blankets to people with signs on corners when I see them most are very thankful for anything you can offer or tell you if they don't want it...

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During Thanksgiving 2015 I was helping my father break down the turkey leftovers. For reasons unknown to me, my stepmother cooked a 14-lb. bird for five people. After a good half hour, we called it a day, leaving the turkey carcass with a little meat left on it. Neither of us wanted it, so we put it in a bag to toss. My grandmother screamed, "that shouldn't go to waste!" I said, "Ok, we'll put it with your other leftovers." "Oh, I don't want it!" "Well neither do any of us, so we're going to toss it." "But that's a shame--it's got meat left on it." "So you want to take it home then?" "Well, no..."

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I am happy that I love leftovers! However, when dining at friends homes, even though I ask for a small portion, they still give me the same size serving as everyone else. I've decided if that makes them comfortable, then fine, the food can go to waste.

For the record, I do enjoy leftovers quite a bit and often make meals that take me days to complete. What I am deadset against, though, is eating leftovers of mediocre or bad food. My wife and I have hoisted many a leftover from family functions and restaurants into the dumpster before coming home.

This guy gets all my leftovers. Which I have a lot of. He's probably gaining the weight I'm losing.

This guy gets all my leftovers. Which I have a lot of. He's probably gaining the weight I'm losing.

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Embrace the 4 legged garbage disposal!

I'm finding that sometimes the idea of eating the leftovers are turning my stomach. I ate left over before. Just the smell of some in the fridge turns me off. Especially ground beef foods like meatballs and meatloaf. Luckily I live with my dad and he eats them or my 3 pups get a big treat!

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I'm finding that sometimes the idea of eating the leftovers are turning my stomach. I ate left over before. Just the smell of some in the fridge turns me off. Especially ground beef foods like meatballs and meatloaf. Luckily I live with my dad and he eats them or my 3 pups get a big treat!

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Transfer them to an air tight container before you put them in fridge. No body wants smells in fridge.

This guy gets all my leftovers. Which I have a lot of. He's probably gaining the weight I'm losing.

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Embrace the 4 legged garbage disposal!

I have the 4 legged garbage disposal at home as well..but since I'm on a business trip away from home, no access to my dog to help. The leftovers went in the trash, it was still hard for me to do it..but I did.

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