Food struggles! Ideas about curving the cravings?

tessadiane92

I'm new here, I need to get healthy and want to lose 100 lbs! I know my weakness is food, I struggle with portion control and quality of my foods. I'm looking for ideas to help curve these nearly constant cravings I feel so I can get into a healthy food groove!

vikinglander

Please look at Whole30.com. Add me if you like.

kenyonhaff

I found that when I shifted from a lot of carbs to more protein-filled foods, I was less hungry. Between meals I have protein bars and things like low fat cheese sticks...nice that they're portion-controlled too! Having hot tea or coffee helps. When possible, I try to get up and do something else if I have a craving I can't immediately do anything about...often it only takes 5-10 minutes to have it subside if it's do to stress or boredom.

And yes...you must measure. People here will recommend a food scale. At the minimum measure with measuring cups your breakfast cereal, the milk, the pasta, the leftover chicken...whatever. The food diary will be inaccurate if you are inaccurate. It's a bit of a pain at first, but it's important.

But keep in mind that it's the holiday season, and this is the absolute toughest time of the year for most people to stick to a diet. By all means get started but don't be hard on yourself if you can't stick to it right away.

joemac1988

What foods do you crave specifically?

rainbowbow

vikinglander wrote: »

Please look at Whole30.com. Add me if you like.

aka let me sell you something? lol okay

Francl27

I eat what I crave in reasonable portions.

lemurcat12

tessadiane92 wrote: »

I'm new here, I need to get healthy and want to lose 100 lbs! I know my weakness is food, I struggle with portion control and quality of my foods. I'm looking for ideas to help curve these nearly constant cravings I feel so I can get into a healthy food groove!

We probably need more information, but here are my tips (I lost 95 lbs and have been maintaining for almost 2 years).

Having a plan matters. If you try to rely on "I'll just eat less or just eat healthy" and then expect yourself to follow along, you are making it harder than it needs to be. The problem usually is not you or your "cravings," but lacking a plan (and a reason to follow it).

Are there specific times when you want to eat but think you shouldn't? Think about that.

In general, look at how you eat now and when/how you are getting in extra calories. Is it at meals, between meals? Sweets? Emotional eating? Eating while doing other things? Because you eat out a lot? Can't say no when someone else says "let's go get X!"?

For me, I don't care for snacking and do better/am less likely to overeat when I don't. So I focus on three main meals. You might like that pattern, you might be a 2 meal person, or you might like including in a few snacks. Think about that and if you don't know try things out.

Starting with the 3 meal pattern and my calories, I figured out what a standard breakfast would be (the easiest thing, as many eat the same thing every morning). My personal goals for breakfast are (1) a good amount of protein (makes me less hungry all day and also helps me meet my protein goal), and (2) vegetables (I eat vegetables at every meal I can). So based on that my original plan was a 2 egg omelet with vegetables and some extra protein (smoked salmon or, often, cottage cheese on the side). Again, this is based on my goals and what works for me -- I'm sure you can figure out what will work for you for breakfast (skipping it is also an option if you are someone not hungry in the morning).

Next easiest was to plan lunch. Again, my lunches are pretty consistent and I like to take them from home (to work) so I either cooked ahead or brought leftovers (made extra for that purpose). I included again protein, vegetables, and usually some kind of starch or fruit (bread works if you like sandwiches, I don't so much so do other things). I have a general calorie target for lunch and breakfast that I know should keep me satisfied and make sure I have a decent amount of volume and foods I think are really tasty and satisfying!

Then dinner -- again I think of this as a protein, a starch, and lots of vegetables, and mix and match (and sometimes add in fruit) within that context. Pasta with shrimp and vegetables and some olive oil and pinenuts, check! Stir fry with rice, lots of vegetables, and chicken, check! Pork with brussels, apples and onions, winter squash, and some sauerkraut, check! It's endless. My tip for this is have your main proteins on hand, know how long they take to cook and have some dishes in mind, and buy lots of vegetables and use what you have. You can mix and match everything and never have to buy to the recipe.

I often save calories for a little something extra after dinner to look forward to (and I vary this). It might be ice cream, might be fancy cheese, might just be fruit or nuts, depends.

Then, what about wanting to eat at other times or temptation? Well, I know my day is plenty of calories and satisfying, so if I am hungry it's not real hunger. So if I want to eat between meals I remind myself of that. At first -- won't lie -- getting used to it can be hard, and I let myself eat raw vegetables (and sometimes berries) if I just wanted to eat SOMETHING. But I mostly tried to remind myself it wasn't that long until I'd be eating again and thought about how delicious my planned meal would be. It look a week or so, but once I got in the habit it was mostly easy. When things appeared in the breakroom I would just think to myself "oh, I don't snack" and it soon stopped being something I thought about. At first, especially since I emotionally eat, I had to work on it -- write down why I thought I wanted to eat, go for a walk or workout, distract myself. (If busy the latter was pretty easy.) Just having a cup of coffee also could work. The point is habits are important and once you set new ones it gets WAY easier.

Do I occasionally eat a bit differently? Sure -- if truly worth it treats are in the break room I might fit it in (reduce calories at dinner and skip the after dinner extra, maybe). Point is my main thing -- a victory -- is hitting the calories, so I don't do this without logging it and figuring out how it fits. I also knew my social life involved going out once or twice a week, so I fit that in. Later with exercise calories, at first by allowing myself one maintenance day (and eating a bit lower on the others, but still in a really satisfying way).

Feel free to experiment with different things and keep track of what you feel. If after a while you are eating in a way that should be satisfying and still feeling hungry, play around with macros (but don't worry about wanting to eat at first, some people react that way to just cutting calories and it normally goes away -- a "craving" or desire to eat is not an emergency).

Hope that helps and I am sure you will figure it out!

esjones12

Learn what portions are with a food scale. Log your food to start understanding how many calories you really are supposed to eat in a day.

Learn about quality food by research (or just start eating way more veggies and quality meats, etc). You will notice they fill you up much more than sugary junk food, and therefore you are hungry less often.

Losing 100 pounds will take time, effort and education. It can be a fun journey as long as you remember to keep a positive attitude and are open to learning new things and trying different things to get to where you want to be.

Good Luck!

flagrantavidity

Drink two large glasses of water and wait 30 minutes before eating a main meal. Depending on your size, go up to four glasses of water. The goal here is to fill up your stomach prior to eating a main meal.

vikinglander

rainbowbow wrote: »

vikinglander wrote: »

Please look at Whole30.com. Add me if you like.

aka let me sell you something? lol okay

I would just like to defend my post by saying that the Whole30 protocol works just fine and does not require one to make ANY purchases. The entire protocol is laid out online and does not require you to buy the creators' book.