How Do I Stop Cravings?

RepMarshall

Cravings are usually the result of a nutrient deficiency (pickles and ice cream are cravings for pregnant women because their bodies need more sodium and calcium) or the psychological effects of food.

First thing is to make sure that your diet isn't lacking in any macro or micronutrient that could cause cravings of specific foods. If that's not the case then you need to protect yourself against psychological impacts. Keep a healthy snacking alternative handy if you need it, if you notice your cravings corresponds with an activity or emotional state, try to avoid those.

MoiAussi93

When I think I should be done eating for the night, I sometimes floss and brush my teeth. Makes me much less likely to eat more because it won't taste right and I'll have to brush again.

Also, I just don't buy things I used to crave...though if you live with others who eat those things this won't be practical.

I used to drink bouillon when I just wanted "something" but wasn't really hungry. Tea (unsweetened or sweetened with stevia) also works. Just drinking a big glass of water also often helps to override any cravings.

Finally, I plan to eat the majority of my calories for dinner and often leave some calories for a planned snack later. When I do snack, it is always the same type of things (natural peanut butter with some dark chocolate or unflavored yogurt with natural peanut butter or a couple dozen almonds. Knowing I have a snack planned usually helps me hold off on any other snacking.

You just need to try different methods and find some that work for you.

Danp

I'm a night eater. No matter how much I eat during the day I'm always hungry at night so rather than fight my natural tendencies, making myself miserable by denying my cravings and generally make things difficult on myself I just eat my calories when I'm hungry.

Light breakfast (10%-20% of my calories), usually skip lunch as I'm busy at work, maybe a light snack in the afternoon (5%-10% of my calories) if I think I need it then a big dinner at night (70%-85% of my calories). This way of eating also means I generally have enough calories left over for a few fun size sweets every night to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Pipsqueak1965

Eat properly! A minimum of 1400 per day and you won't be so hungry later on - eat proper food as well - not cereal bars, diet yoghurts whatever. Proper meals with protein, vegetables and carbs involved. All as unprocessed as possible.

kimny72

bobthecoolsmileyface wrote: »

I would say that I'm generally good at keeping a diet until it's night time. I literally have this sudden craving to eat everything in the house or near me depending on where I am.
Does anyone have any tips of how to ignore or get rid of cravings?

If your food diary is even remotely accurate, you are struggling at night because you are aggressively under-eating, and eating a dangerously low amount of protein.

Make a commitment to log accurately for a couple of weeks to see what you are really eating. In order to do this:

1. Use a food scale for all solids whenever possible, and try not to eyeball anything. Most of us are incredibly bad at estimating how much we've eaten. Weighing out portions for a while can make you better at estimating when you have to.
2. Double check that the entries you are using in the database at least have the correct calories. Most entries are user entered, and many of them are just plain wrong. Don't use generic or recipe style entries.
3. Be honest with yourself and log everything - whole foods, packaged foods, condiments, cooking oils, nibbles, late night snacks - everything. Even if you eat something you wish you didn't or you think looks bad, log it. Accurate data is the only way to be able to understand where you might be going wrong and how best to fix it!

While logging accurately, eat the calories MFP is giving you. Eating too little and losing too fast comes with a whole host of short term and long term health issues, dangers, and downfalls. It's just not worth it.

Once you've been logging accurately and eating enough for a couple of weeks, if you are still struggling, it will be easier for us to troubleshoot what's causing the problem and what strategies might help. Right now, all we can guess is that you are starving yourself and your body is begging you for a reasonable amount of fuel.

lisa2368

I've been having a terrible time with cravings lately, probably due to stress/depression. I am determined to stop giving in because it's gotten so bad. So my new rule for myself is going to be: before eating the food, I have to take 5 long, deep breaths and ask myself "Is this really what you want? Is it going to make you feel better afterwards?" I will try it and let you know how it works. Good luck!

agendagal

I find it also helps to put the food I really crave up high on the shelf so its harder to get. If I have to drag a chair to the cupboard to get a handful of chocolate chips I can sometimes talk myself out of it.

SarahMacphail1

Night time snacker here. I make sure I keep enough calories for a snack in the evening, it's easier than fighting it. I say a snack, it's more like a meal lol. But it works for me as long as I stick to it. Which is hard when the other half has chocolate, crisps and all sorts of nice things in.

If you're under eating massively though that's probably why you're struggling

stricklee11

I've found that drinking diet soda or flavored water helps keep the night time cravings at Bay.