Help with carb crave

tmn2016

Suggestions welcomed! I have not been able to exercise as much as I want due to an Achilles tendon injury. I am in recovery but unfortunately I cannot run (going to buy an elliptical next month or so when I can afford it). In the meantime, I'm walking as much as my ankles can tolerate and doing NordicTrack Sky machine for 15 min every day (all that i can tolerate at the moment without pain). The issue is that when I come home from work my body CRAVES carbs. My problem is that I'm a "pick eater" meaning I like to just take the crust of the bread or the top of a muffin and convince myself that it's no big deal and it won't count much. I know it does but that's the only thing that has satisfied me when I come home and before eating my dinner. It doesn't matter what I have for dinner, I want to "pick" on the bad stuff. How can I break this horrible habit? What can I substitute for my carb craving at 5pm? Veggies, fruit, none of that helps. I still go ahead and eat the bread crust or a handful of cereal UGH. And after 5pm is when I have the craving, not during the day! And with limited exercise I'm really desperate to break the habit.

sarahdayski

I find just having a slice of toast or a crumpet is enough to see me thru to dinner after exercising. Unless you are cutting down on carbs of course. If you want it eat it and just log it

Liftng4Lis

Why not just make room in your allotment? There is no "bad" stuff, unless it's rotten.

WBB55

I'm confused regarding what's wrong with having a handful of cereal.

tmn2016

WBB55 wrote: »

I'm confused regarding what's wrong with having a handful of cereal.

unless I measure (which i tend not to) I'm pretty sure that I'm eating more than I should. Then the hunger really kicks in and I end up eating more than I should. It is not the only reason why i'm not seeing a weight loss but because i can't exercise as I need to at the moment, restricting calories to filling/healthy foods I feel it would be better than "empty" calories. I guess I feel frustrated (maybe too hard on myself) that I'm not eating only healthy foods. This set back is not helping me

Psychgrrl

Maybe eat more during the day so you're less tempted to binge when you get home. Choose complex carbs, if that makes you feel better about your carb choices. Carbs are not the enemy--they're fuel! And they're yummy!

Dariasen

If you can work it into your allowment, try prebagging the cereal or other things you know you usually tend to pick at. I have to do this with crackers because sometimes I don't want to take out the food scale "in the momement".

nvmomketo

When I eat carbs I crave carbs. After switching to a low carb diet (similar to Atkins) I stopped craving carbs within a week or so. Dietary carbs don't need to be your energy source.

Something to consider if it interests you.

kshama2001

tmn2016 wrote: »

Suggestions welcomed! I have not been able to exercise as much as I want due to an Achilles tendon injury. I am in recovery but unfortunately I cannot run (going to buy an elliptical next month or so when I can afford it). In the meantime, I'm walking as much as my ankles can tolerate and doing NordicTrack Sky machine for 15 min every day (all that i can tolerate at the moment without pain). The issue is that when I come home from work my body CRAVES carbs. My problem is that I'm a "pick eater" meaning I like to just take the crust of the bread or the top of a muffin and convince myself that it's no big deal and it won't count much. I know it does but that's the only thing that has satisfied me when I come home and before eating my dinner. It doesn't matter what I have for dinner, I want to "pick" on the bad stuff. How can I break this horrible habit? What can I substitute for my carb craving at 5pm? Veggies, fruit, none of that helps. I still go ahead and eat the bread crust or a handful of cereal UGH. And after 5pm is when I have the craving, not during the day! And with limited exercise I'm really desperate to break the habit.

Sounds like you are pushing yourself too hard physically.

The more carbs I eat, the more I want. I switched my macros to 40% carbs, 30% fat, and 30% protein, which reduced carbs and increased protein. I feel much better when I eat like this.

Sounds like you don't log - if this is true, focus on including protein with every meal and snack and see how that works for you. For snacks, I like 1/2 ounce almonds and 1/2 cheese and sometimes a few ounces of apples. When I used to work in an office, I brought in hard boiled eggs as snacks and had them with almonds.

I save high carb foods for after dinner and no longer crave them during the day.

brendak76

I've been doing a lot of reading on leptin levels. You might want to google it. It's the hormone that makes you feel full. I'm trying to increase my leptin levels. Eating 400 calories every 4 hours. No snacking. It's REALLY helping. Especially the carb snacking at night. Because I'm actually full!

tmn2016

Thank you all for the good tips!

Brookeschack

catscats222 wrote: »

could it be that you are not eating enough protein for lunch?
or consider something with protein for a 2:30 snack such as almonds, cheese stick?
on your drive to work, drink water, it helps with cravings.
* make sure you are getting enough daily protein, for some, it really curbs cravings
* (but you have to eat the protein before the craving hits)

I agree! If I don't enough food/calories during my day and I go to work out, I'm starving afterwards. I have protein 5x a day and it really helps!