Originally Posted by
genejockey
What it means is that you have to change your relationship to food. For me, food can be a distraction when I'm anxious. For example, sometimes when I'm designing an experiment or preparing a presentation, I find myself getting up and going to find some food. I'm not hungry, really, just want a break, but going to grab a Coke or a candy bar takes me away from whatever's making me anxious for a bit.
I discovered that I can't 'cut down' on that. I had to stop it completely. No Cokes AT ALL, not just cutting down to having one with lunch. No candy bars AT ALL, not just fewer. Biggest problem is dealing with the anxiety that drives me to look for a distraction. So I spend too much time on BikeForums, instead!
With MyFitnessPal I can more effectively limit that unneeded and unplanned snacking while not getting rid of it altogether. As an engineer, I can follow the numbers. Basically, I try to consume half my calories before dinner, the other half with dinner and afterward. That gives me an incentive to not snack during the day. It allows me to have dessert at night, and maybe an after dinner snack besides. (But if I don't eat it, that's also okay, it just means a bigger calorie deficit.) If I find myself going over, it means I have to get out the bicycle and ride hard for a while to get out of the red, calorie-wise.