It's tough. In fact I almost always clean my plate (heck, I'll even lick it sometimes - I know, I'm a barbarian) if the food is good enough. I think a lot depends on upbringing though. In my home the consensus is that you take no more than what you will eat. Waste is bad. Plus, if you don't finish what's on your plate, my dad will make some sort of atrocious joke about how you didn't like my mom's food. I know there are other cultures where you must not clean your plate, otherwise you're sending the messge that your hosts have not fed you well enough.

Is there any sort of objective basis for your statement about leaving stuff, Indy?

EDIT: Hmmmm. I suppose I should also mention that, like Chips, I am blessed with a pretty damn decent metabolism.

Edited by - Codename on 10/18/2004 8:50:46 AM

have to admit Indy - being blessed with a metabolism which is so fast its my own 'slimming diet' i find it near impossible to put on weight. As a teenager i ate ten doughnuts a day for nearly two weeks for lunch - and not even an ounce was added.

So why would it be more intelligent for me to leave anything on my plate? I can eat until i am full as i can manage.....and no weight increase - i snack, eat chocolate like i have shares in the buisness, and still nothing. I eat when i am hungry - and if i stuff myself stupid...........then i don't eat until i am next hungry.

Strangely enough i can also go for a day without even realising I should have eaten! I haven't had breakfast yet - and its 16.50pm here! (I got up 8 hours ago!). The only time my weight REALLY swings is when i am ill - and don't eat for a week...........on average i lose about a stone in those 7 days.

Edited by - Chips on 10/18/2004 8:49:06 AM

i've also got one of those fast metabolisms. not that i've tried to put on weight, or take it off. i just eat what i got. and yeah. finish whats on my plate. why? whats with the sudden discussion on eating habits? am i supposed to leave some ?

2 schools of thought on cleaning the plate. 1. It is fasionable to leave some on the plate, you enjoyed the meal, but never eat it all. 2. You clean the plate to show that it was good and you apriceate the person preparing the food. The compramise is, put smaller portions on the plate and then eat it all.

Metabilism eating? Then eat only the amount you know you can so that you maintain your weight. Reality, you eat what you want, get your butt off the couch and exercise it off.

Edited by - Finalday on 10/18/2004 9:38:27 AM

I eat what I want and put on no weight anyway...and I don't exercise (at least not specially - I have to walk to places and such like). Just one of those things.

I eat it all. ALL.

I'm exactly the same as chips. I can eat loads an i don't put on anything. My weight has stayed the same for the last 2 years so i will finish off anything i eat.

There's a saying about your eyes having an appetite that's bigger than your stomache.

In my case, my eyes and stomache seem to be in perfect synch. Unfortunately,
I normally WILL eat everything that I pile on my plate. Metabolism has nothing to do with it.

If I fed myself only what I needed to burn in the day, my guess is that I would eat from two-thirds to half as much food as I actually do. I'm just curious to know how other people regulate what they eat, if at all.

I'm not talking about no carbos or no sugars or no fats or anything like that. I've basically concluded that my problem is volume, plain and simple.

eat the goddam lot.

Says someone who seems incapable of gaining weight. You just don't understand Taw *sob* it's hard. It's very very hard for me to control my weight. *sob*

I'll eat it for you.

omfg how are you going to cope when you eventually go to Italy. even I put on a stone after a fortnight living la dolce vita.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/18/2004 11:32:55 PM

Eat whatever you can and consider yourself lucky to be part of the small percentage who are able to afford food.

just eat it and dont waste unless you intend to donate it, then dont touch it at all

I've thought about fasting before going.