To ask how do you stop yourself eating "leftovers"?

[fadetoblack]

I have managed to put on over a stone in a year since becoming a mum and then working part time. I have a toddler and often find myself finishing off his biscuit/ toast/ pasta etc without really noticing I have done it. I will be 40 later this year and I am generally fed up of becoming such a cliché but can't seem to stop myself, so...how do you do it?

Following. I'm the same. Finish the pasta in their bowl then have my own lunch while they nap. Etc etc.

It is an easy habit to slip into, I stop myself by putting it straight in the bin without even looking at what's on the plate......I've lost a few forks and spoons too doing this

I spray it with cleaner fluid

I dish them up smaller portions and offer seconds if they need it - leads to more clean plates. The seconds, if it is still in the pan/tupperware ready for the fridge or freezer is less likely to be picked at by me.

My husband sometimes eats later than the rest of us (evening meal) so I sometimes stick the leftovers from the kids onto his plate!

Lunchtimes I don't usually want what they have (philly cheese spread on marmite flavoured rice cakes is DD2s favourite thing at the moment...) so that is not such a problem.

I had a friend who did that, she had a nasty binge eating habit too.

She used to put the food in the bin, but she would get it back out again, which distressed her even more. She used washing up liquid and poured it all over.

It seems to work!

It's the whole business of not wanting to waste the food, isn't it?
Eat the leftovers, then either don't have or eat less lunch.
My toddler likes his food sooo bland I'm not that tempted any more. He also likes to squish and squash absolutely everything so most of its pretty inedible by the time he's finished.
Or.... Convince yourself it's been massively drooled in. That's put me off!

I give it straight to the dog :-)

I use a food waste bin,....it's so off putting that I never eat left overs as I associate them with the pig swill in the container!

I read in some diet book once (about the only damn useful thing I ever did read in a diet book...) that basically, you know that leftover food needs to go in the bin. You don't need the food yourself, and you don't really want it. You're just "tidying it up" or "stopping it going to waste" but actually what you're doing, is you're treating your own precious body like that dustbin. Don't - use the real bin instead.

May not work for everyone, but it helps me!

DP does this. My kids play with their food so much, I wonder who in their right mind would finish their leftovers!

My just turned two year old will pick bits off the floor and put them back on his plate. Yuck.

I just don't eat them.
A quick swipe into the food bin!

never ever had the desire to eat anyones leftovers

find the idea rather yuk

I can't think of anything worse than eating the leftovers from someone else's plate. Even if it's your own child.

Small amounts on the plate and serving dishes so I could pop the rest in the fridge.

Eat with them! Serve both of you small helpings, seconds available if you want them but if you don't then it can be stored for the next day. My laziness to not want to cook twice overrides my nibbling habit in that regard.

The thought of eating someone else's leftovers turns my stomach tbh.
Surely they are cold or covered in drool.

enzymes in the ?other persons saliva (transferred from cutlery) will have started to breakdown the food left on the plate, bacteria from the saliva will have started to multiply ?.
?
Not to mention the fact that you've finished your own food and so are far less hungry than at the start of the meal.
Honestly I feel a little queasy at the idea of it ?

Just eat the leftovers as your "meal" as other have said. Doesn't have to be gross - I always make too much somehow anyway, and 2.5yr old DD doesn't really drool much these days, thankfully! Some stuff is even easier - toast/sandwiches etc I cut crusts off and have them, with some salad or something; other things just nab a spoon or two to eat with her to look like we're eating together then just finish hers!

I usually eat a little bit with my toddler and then either don't eat with DH if he's home late, or have a half portion if I'm hungry again. Often I find I don't want food again and the 'leftovers' are enough.

when he's finished eating, spray the leftovers with polish or squirt them with washing up liquid or throw them straight in the outside bin.

Get into the habit of thinking instead of being on auto pilot. When he's eating, think right, when he's finished, i will squirt the plate with washing up liquid.
And do it.

If he's regularly leaving food, serve him less. It may be you are giving him larger portions than he wants or needs. This means there won't be leftovers for you to eat.

I chew gum while I clear away the plates etc.

I used to say to my mum "it's as wasted in me as it is in the bin", like Puntastic says.

I'm also a little bit at the idea of eating food my DCs have had in their grubby little hands/mouths so that helps! I do quite often snaffle a spare fish finger and dunk it in some beans out of the pan, but then will probably not have dinner and just have a little snack or pudding instead.

If I know I'm having something nice with DP later or have already had a good lunch I am less tempted to nick their food. Perhaps try having something you actually like while cooking/sitting with them, like a nice biscuit with your tea, then you won't be hungry for second rate food. Might not help with the calorie intake as such, but if you're going to be eating it may as well be something nicer than someone else's scraps!

Oh this is my downfall - some good tips here! I'm going to start chewing gum, thanks Written

The only thing that put me off was when DD started vomiting whilst I was still mid-chew on her discarded fishfinger. And yes I did catch it. Twas grim, but only put me off leftovers for a couple of weeks