CRAVINGS!!!

HakunaMatata137

Cravings are my biggest problem. If I have a craving, I have it bad. And I'll think about the craving all day, it doesn't just go away (most of the time). So if I'm craving a piece of chocolate cake, 9 times out of 10 I get chocolate cake. Same goes with Chinese food (my weakness), pizza, mac and cheese, etc. And if I don't eat what I'm craving, nothing satisfies me, and I'm in a bad mood because I want that craving. But then if I do eat what I'm craving, I'm happy for the moment, but then feel 10 times worse afterwards and I feel like a failure. And it happens almost everyday. I crave something unhealthy EVERY. single. day. It just seems like a lose-lose situation!!

Do you guys have any tips?! How do you make your cravings go away?

sarahlucindac

When I really want something but I know it doesn’t fit into my calories for the day, I ask myself these questions:

1) Have I had it before? Do I already know what it tastes like?
2) Will I have the opportunity to eat this some time in the future?
3) Do I really need this or do I just really want this?

I can talk myself out of eating what I’m craving most of the time because I know there will be cheeseburgers (or whatever) in the future. Then I plan a day in which my calories will allow for what I’ve been craving. I’ll eat light and workout extra hard to make that cheeseburger work on a planned day.

Perhaps part of what you’re experiencing (which is what I’ve gone through) is feeling like you’re cheating yourself out of what you really want (ie the cheeseburger). Just remind yourself that you CAN have the cheeseburger, just not right now.

Does that make sense? I know what you’re going through is difficult. Hang in there. Drink lots of water too, it helps to keep the hunger/cravings at bay.

Cahgetsfit

hm, if you can fit the cravings into your calories, just eat it. I can fit in a piece of chocolate cake if I forego something else. I eat home made pizza quite regularly and it fits my macros/calories just fine.

it's not "bad" food, it's just less nutrient dense full of goodies food.

And it gets to a point, for me anyway, where I may get my craving satisfied by the chocolate cake, but then I'll be hungry later because I had to forego something else and I HATE being hungry so not worth the calories.

Get a smaller portion of something "bad"?

hroderick

For my birthday my wife always made me a delicious carrot cake and I ate most it over the next week. This year I began fretting about what to do 2 weeks early. I compromised and asked for a slice from cheesecake factory one week early. A couple of days before I asked for a small single serving from nothing bundt cake. On my birthday I blew out the candle and we split it. I had my cake and was pleased with my good choice.

At our favorite mexican restaurant they knew the tip was bigger if the chip basket got refilled 2-3 times. I love good fresh fried tortilla chips and salsa with enchiladas on the side. Now I have fajitas with no tortilla wrap and stop myself at just one bite of rice and beans and just 1 chip. I have my chip at end of meal like dessert and congratulate myself on amazing willpower.

I bought a box of dark chocolate macadamia nuts and some days, like whenever I look at the box, I get to craving them. When I do, I have 1 and stop.

In all cases, I've adapted my response to craving trigger to be a more appropriate response. W can't undo the love of chocolate cake smell and taste and texture. Perhaps we used to love sharing it with mom still warm out of the oven. There's no reason to deny ourselves that pleasure, but we must set boundaries on it. For me, the second bite isn't nearly as good as the first, so I choose to stop after the first.

This helped me change a lot of undesirable habits.
https://jamesclear.com/three-steps-habit-change

kdillingham7718

I've been craving a giant IHOP breakfast, along with pizza all day. So badly to the point where I'm literally looking up food menus of my favorite local restaurants. Ugh. Thanks TOM.

I just want to say thank you guys for creating and posting on this forum. It really helped to talk myself through the cravings and they have definitely subsided.

What helps for me is just telling myself that I can have them in the future, and then plan a day to satisfy that craving and put it in my calendar. It's something to look forward to but also sets a goal for me to stay on my eating plan until that day.

MadisonMolly2017

I sometimes ask myself, “What am I really ‘hungry’ for?”

Companionship?
Comfort?
Rest?
Learning?
Movement?
Creating?
Fun?
Etc. And then I go do that or make it happen...

Helps a lot.

wendsg

Feh, if you can make it fit in your calories, have it!!! Denying myself cravings got me into absolutely nothing but trouble. I'd fill the void of what I was craving with other items, then end up giving in anyway, and going /way/ over my calorie limits.

If necessary, massage your calorie intake around said craving. You said you have these daily, so alter your meal plans to accommodate. For example, I've been wanting pizza lately. So today, I planned my dinner to include pizza. Did I go overboard? Nope. Did it fit in my calories? Yup. Am I happy as a clam? Better believe it. And now that my pizza craving is satiated, I can move on.

Just because you crave something doesn't mean you have to out of control binge - this /was/ my problem. I have since trained myself to be happy with a small helping. I want chocolate? A handful of peanut M&Ms, and a whole lot of fruit to go along with them to fill the stomach. Two birds knocked out with one stone. Pasta? I plan a meal around pasta. I get home and I really want some of those delicious Lance's Captains Wafers with cream cheese filling? Then I rethink dinner to something lower in calories, and have my darned wafers!

Also, I keep drinking water throughout the day - that helps stave off most cravings, because the ol' stomach is full and I don't want to think about adding more to it.

Just some tips and tricks that work for me personally.

softsweetstrong

I’ve found that whenever I’m craving something it never fits into my calorie limit. Sometimes, I think it may just be my body having a hard time adjusting to the calorie deficit. It makes sense to me that our bodies have been preparing for a “hibernation state”, where there isn’t enough food available, and we have to prepare and build up fat stores—where now, at a calorie deficit, we’re losing those fat stores—and our bodies are freaking out because it may not be within our direct nature to do so. In the medival times, losing weight meant starving haha. It may take time to adjust.

But whenever I have cravings—I try to remember my goals. I ask myself, does this match my goals? Do I really want this?

And then, upon reflection, I say to myself, “I don’t want this. I want more clarity, a smaller waist, and a fresher mind. I want to lose weight.” The more and more I repeat this to myself, the less desirable the icecream and foodstuffs become to me.

It is a challenge though, and I’d love to hear all the tips you guys have for resisting cravings.

MadisonMolly2017

I focus on nutrition. I’ve seen that what I eat directly impacts my labs, energy, and how I feel.

If I have a craving for something (usually a restaurant meal), i’ll remind myself the last time I did that I had heartburn because of the garlic, or when I looked up the nutritional information the sodium for the pasta dish was 2000 mg which is more than I eat one day or that it had 1500 cal which is almost more than I eat in the whole day.

I have many things I no longer eat. Bacon, almost all processed foods, more than 1 oz of cheese. Almost all foods with added sugar.

I only eat one brand of bread & one of crackers (Ezekiel, Doctor Kracker)

For pasta, I really tasted plain pasta & realized for me it was just a vehicle for fat/salt. And I let it go for something with more taste.

I find that eating a very high fiber diet (40g a day) with 8-12 c. Water and <1500 mg sodium ELIMINATES my cravings.

I know if I have no cravings, I will maintain my 75 lb weight loss. Thus, I have, over time, created these rules & re-educated myself to think of good as nutrients more than entertainment or tasty treats. I used to eat out all the time & I ate whatever I wanted.

I track everything I eat every day & have for 18 months. It’s VERY helpful as you can see (as I did recently) that as I ate out more, my fiber dropped in half, my sodium skyrocketed, sugars stayed the same but cane from cane sugar not fruits/milk. My raw nut consumption dropped & my saturated fat leapt up. Data is power.

Good luck finding your path over time.

BTW a 60-90 min walk in the late afternoon/early evening helps me a LOT, too! Fun to take photographs, listen to music, sing!