New to Calorie Counting

lickmytoe318

I am new to calorie counting. I am excited to get started. I am on my 7th day of tracking my normal diet to find my pit falls. Then I will browse through and find out where most of my calories are going. So far it is going on junk food. Any tips on junk food replacement? I have a huge sweet tooth.

kommodevaran

Maybe replace it with ordinary food?

totaldetermination

When I first started, I would buy junk food daily in a single portion packet, and allow myself one each day.

Each day I would allocate a few hundred calories to a 'treat', and each day I could buy whatever I felt like most.

Believe it or not, after a while some days I wouldn't really feel like any treats, and preferred to eat 'non-junk' food. But for me, knowing that I was allowed some everyday made it easier for me to eat less of it.
I've been on MFP for nearly 2 years, now.
I still (usually) only buy whatever I have calories for and plan to eat that day. But I let myself buy as much or as little as I like (as long as it fits my calories). the difference is though, that I no longer want to eat 'junk' food every day. It probably took me about 8 or 9 months to get to that point.

Hope that helps, and good luck !

lickmytoe318

Thanks! It does help. I went and bought a bad of apples and oranges to snack on for when I am craving junk food.

ChloeJane0823

I have such a major sweet tooth. That's one of my hardest challenges. When I get a craving I usually have a diet soda or a sugar free hard candy. I have heard that quitting sugar (outside of natural sugar) is the best thing.
As for junk food I found that it had more to do with the easy access. So I started preparing my meals for the week. I have 2 kids and no time for cooking all through the week.
I also started eating a healthy breakfast with lots of protein.
Eat all day and make things easy to get to. And don't start or end your day with sugar.
That's my plan right now, if I can stick with it I think it will work. Good luck!