The thread about caloric needs has me thinking about my extra bites each day. "Officially" I log and eat about 1300-1350 calories per day. I know, however, that I taste and take extra bites. Last night I ate 1 bite of dd's dinner. While I was cooking pasta today, I ate one. This is not a huge deal, but I am guessing that my extra bites add up to 50-100 calories per day.
This is much improved for me. I am aware of the extra bites and I have found that I keep my meal and snack calories lower to make up for the bites.
But, at 100 calories per day (on the high end for me) I eat 700 extra calories per week, 2800 caloies per month or about 9 pounds per year. For a few bites a day, that is a lot of weight.

I know many have posted about having trouble losing. I wonder if "extra bites" are related. It takes so little extra to keep us from losing or maintaing.

How do you deal with the bites and tastes? Maybe a discussion will be helpful.

WW calls them BLT's - Bites, Licks and Tastes.

I was thinking about it... I don't think that I do that many bites anymore.

I only cook dinner 3 nights a week. And if I'm making something like fish, there is only enough for our dinners and I just cook it and put it on each person's plate.

And we don't have a lot of "kid" food in the house anymore... no goldfish or that kind of thing. Jamie's lunch is the same every day. A sandwich and fruit. I might eat a couple grapes, but who cares... and I don't write them down.

I've never taken a bite out of his sandwich and then put it in the baggie. (Nobody will EVER, EVER trade food with him then!!! "Anybody want my all-natural peanut butter on whole wheat that my mom took a big bite out of?!?!?!" )

And I don't think I eat Jamie's and Nelson's leftovers much any more... I'll have to pay attention this weekend!

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EDIT: OK… dinner was JUST delivered as I was typing… and I opened the containers to see what it is and popped a shrimp in my mouth from the main course and a tiny mushroom from the salad… so maybe I am more un-conscious than I think.

But I think that to write down a little 1 tiny mushroom and a baby shrimp is bordering on obsessive… but I don’t know when a bite has crossed the line to be deserving of ink. I’ve written my bites of cake down and usually assign them a value of 1 pt. per bite… but it would be pretty hard to give that shrimp and mushroom a point value.

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Besides weight... I think that one of the problems with MANY un-planned bites is that they are generally not the most nutritious food of the day. Let’s say that you eat candy or goldfish crackers, and then juggle your plans so that you come out OK calorie wise… you are still replacing a healthy “good, better, best” food with an “inferior, bad, worst” choice. And even if you make the calories come out… you can’t make up the nutrition.

I guess this is also another lesson in “Clean Pantry 101”.

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Edit again! The phone just rang and Jamie and I both went to answer it in the kitchen. Jamie paused by the container of shrimp, lifted the lid and popped one in his mouth… I guess the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I live alone, so any food I'm cooking is destined for my mouth alone. As a result, if I happen to take a bite while I'm cooking, it's generally a bite that would have gone in my mouth after cooking anyway.

Where I do have extra bites sometimes is that it's hard to cook just 1 portion of some things so I might cook 2 or 3 and then take a few extra bites while I'm putting away the leftovers. It's not real common, but it does happen now and then.

Sandy
I'm in the same boat. I'll often have part of dd's crust, or a taste of this or a bite of that. I find that it's usually just easier for me to plan those extras into the day rather than trying to avoid them altogether. So, I try to keep my planned calories around 1200 - 1300/day to make room for those tastes and bites that I know will happen.

If I'm actively trying to lose to get back into range, that' the first place I cut.