cravings

brenn24179
brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
edited December 24 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Do you give into your cravings or will they pass? I was reading something about the beck diet solution and she says they will pass.

I dont want to deprive myself of certain foods but I can get into bad habits fast if not careful. Recently gained 5 lbs and have 4 of it saying I would have that chocolate when I got my weight back down. I guess I will try to wait out a craving and see if it will go away, maybe distract myself and forget about it, who knows.
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Replies

  • SnifterPug
    SnifterPug Posts: 746 Member
    They pass, same as hunger, although in my experience cravings can be a bit more persistent. Maybe try to have some better choices on hand to handle a craving. If you want something sweet, maybe some fruit and yogurt, or even just some fruit tea? Or even something like home baked flapjack with as little sugar as you can get away with.
  • kaorusato
    kaorusato Posts: 6 Member
    it depends. some days they pass, but when i do give in, i limit the amount i eat. like stopping at half a candy bar instead of eating the entire thing at once.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Well..I took a peak at your food page...

    If I was eating like you are I would have problems in general. I make sure to get some exercise every day so I can eat more and get in my vegetables, fruit, protein, fat, nuts, beans, whole grains etc. I would be very hungry on the food (type and quantity) you're eating. So yeah, I'd be giving in to treats.

    I mean, I still do now and then and when I do it's 1000 calories or more so I can't really do it too often. One cookie or one chocolate I don't consider, "giving in."
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    cmriverside, you could be right, I love junk food and Mcdonalds but believe it or not I am better than I was, last couple weeks been trying to get that 5 lbs off. I need more vegetables but I dont do beans or fruit much because I do low carb which works for me. I love those chips, porkrhinds, I know. I cant do nuts, cant stop on them.
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    kristen8000 wrote: »
    Now, after losing 20lbs and getting control of my diet, I tend to crave 'healthy food'. Cookies, cake, donuts, ice cream, chocolate, potato chips, etc tend to just make me feel gross, which deters me from eating them. They may sound good...like when you are in line at the grocery store and you see Reese's Cups...I think 'yum, but I'll just feel gross'. I don't buy it and normally I forget about it and go eat some strawberries. Lol

    Learning how food makes you feel really helps, mentally, not eat the things that make you feel gross.

    wow, wish that was me, I lost 40 lbs but I don't crave healthy foods. I just make myself do it!
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    sniferpug, good to know. When I crave stuff I have eaten it and logged it but going to hold off next time. I do like you amusedmunk but going to try to hold off and see what happens. Thanks for all of your replies
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,024 Member
    edited February 2020
    I save enough calories for a LITTLE BIT of my cravings daily, like dark chocolate caramels or some lower calorie ice cream or chips and salsa...etc. The rest of my foods, I have been focusing on what provides me with the most nutrition and satiety bang for the buck. I DO have my days though that I want to eat everything in sight or use up most my calories before dinner!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    What I usually do: I set a future date to have the food if I still want it. So if I'm craving a certain food on Wednesday, I'll make a plan to fit it in on Saturday if I still want it. Most of the time the craving passes and I wind up skipping the food. But if I still want it, I've got the time to figure out how to make it work.

    I also follow the method @MikePfirrman outlined: if I can help it, I don't keep certain foods in the house. Yes, I can usually say "no," but having them there just feels like stress too much of the time, so I avoid that stress by not buying them. There are some things my husband likes to have around. He keeps them in a separate cabinet and I categorize them as "his foods," and I just don't eat them (I know this doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me).

    It was important for me to learn how to acknowledge a craving without necessarily having to fulfill it. It's also important to eat enough! I can't resist cravings long term if I'm hungry all the time -- I'm just going to snap. So what delicious and filling foods are you eating outside of your cravings? It's important to enjoy your meals, not just get nourishment from them.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Now *I've* got a craving....Fluffernutters. :)
    I find that most of the time a craving will pass; sometimes it takes a lot of work and mind control though. :/ I try to have something similar to my current craved food but less in calories. I like nonfat plain Greek yogurt and it satisfies my ice cream cravings(sometimes) as will a 40 cal. fudge pop. I try to find substitutes, especially if it's a constant craving. :/ But then once in awhile I just indulge. :blush: But as was mentioned, many things I just cannot bring into the house anymore because once I start I'll eat the whole thing. :(
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
    I try chewing mint flavour gum to distract myself from that post-lunch ‘I need chocolate!’ craving. It usually works.
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    Mike Pfirrman, laughing here, I dont even like peanut butter, we are all so different. I crave stuff like cinnamon buns which I cant have in the house and choc nut sundae or oreo sundae or cherry pie and ice cream from McDonalds, m&ms is another one. Yep I like junk, now I realize I am a sugar nut. It is a wonder I lost 40 lbs and maintained for last 2 years.
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    nighthawk, me too, I have my days when I eat all my calories early in the day, I thought it was only me. I guess we are so hard on ourselves. Jellyroll, love that name. Yes I will give it a few days and see. Sorry, Reeniehj, about giving you a craving, I do the same. Someone mentions a food I want it! This has all been so helpful!!
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,868 Member
    I’m great about not buying the chocolate and sweets but when they are given as a gift, say at work, often I cave and eat a ton. Cravings- big problem. Eventually I can say “no” but it might be a half a pound or ten pounds later. I might try gum.
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Eventually I realized that food cravings have something to do with my daily macros intake. I have made small adjustments when necessary and haven't had cravings for a long time now.
  • Sylphadora
    Sylphadora Posts: 75 Member
    edited February 2020
    In my case they don't pass. They are like brain parasites poking my brain until I give in to them. I am a food addict I and I am particular sensitive to sugar & carbs. I had to change my whole diet because living with constant sugar cravings was mental torture. First I went keto and then carnivore. Keto was good but I still craved nuts and dairy and gained weight because I couldn't stop overeating them and now on carnivore I feel more at peace with food than ever.

    I overeat on the rare day that my appetite increases but not on sugar or carbs. When that happens I don't specifically crave sugar & carbs - I just feel like I need a bigger amount of my regular food to feel satisfied. For example, the past two days I had a bigger appetite than usual because of my period and yesterday I went way above my calories but today my appetite is back to normal :)
  • katsheare
    katsheare Posts: 1,025 Member
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    Not in my case they don't. I keep obsessing for days even weeks until I have what I want. I have a mind of a 3 year old when it comes to food. Of course, that depends on the type of craving. In my case, one question is the ultimate answer to the type. If I ask myself "is this worth the calories, am I willing to reduce or re-arrange my food today for it?" and the answer is yes, then it's the type of craving that doesn't pass. If the answer is "I can't be bothered", then I sulk a bit and forget.

    Interestingly, cravings weren't a problem for me until my first time calorie counting and losing about 20kg. When I got to 'maintenance', all the foods I had had to decide 'is it worth the effort or not' became the only things I wanted. Eating less sugar, fat, within my caloric limit did not make me not want those foods; instead they became central to my diet in a way they hadn't been before the loss. It's like my brain thought I was using reverse psychology.

    So now (having regained about 15 of those 20 kg and now lost 11 - so about 4 kg from goal weight) I do much what @amusedmonkey does. I look at my cravings, look at my diary (both in terms of food and activity) and ask 'is it worth making this work?' If the answer is yes, I do. If no, I don't. In a lot of ways I'm lucky: my appetite plummets from about 6 PM (making me generally very light in the dinner category and rarely eating anything after the PM meal), but it does mean that I will go to the effort of buying whatever I'm craving during the working day.

    @brenn24179 you were spot on when you mentioned that we're so different. I'm sure there are those for whom the beck diet solution would work. But you and me? Quite possibly not.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I find I'm very satisfied with a little. One piece of chocolate. A quarter cup of ice cream. A cookie. Too much and I feel lousy. But I love the taste.

    I have read that cravings pass in 30 seconds. So I do something else. If I still want it five minutes later I eat it.
  • Siberian2590
    Siberian2590 Posts: 57 Member
    Crunchy peanut butter. There is no substitute.
  • escamillamaggie498
    escamillamaggie498 Posts: 1 Member
    Try substitute of candy, for example; if you are craving candy try the brand called Smart Sweet, has about 3g of sugar. You can have your treat and wont take over your macros. If you are craving chocolate maybe try a chocolate protein shake. There are even low carb low sugar ice-cream that can be found in grocery stores. Good luck!
  • Sylphadora
    Sylphadora Posts: 75 Member
    goldthistime wrote: »
    The fewer treats I have, the less I crave treats. In fact, about a month ago I decided to have zero sugary treats. Forever. On bad days, where I would have had a treat as "comfort" I eat a little more, but nothing sugary. So far so good. We constantly have this "abstinence vs moderation" discussion here, but after trying moderation for years, I've given up on it. Abstinence feels much easier.
    You might as well be describing me here :D I also tried moderation for years without success. It always backfired on me. Every. Single. Time. I quit sugar multiple times only to be lured into a false sense of security: "I haven't had sugar in months now and I seem to be doing OK. I think I can get away with having a piece of cake once a week. Right?" Wrong! Then I would be a whole week counting down the minutes to that moment I could have my piece of cake and all other meals were worthless in comparison to the 5 minutes in heaven the cake provided. Then I started resenting my normal meals and thinking like a brat: "Why do I have to wait a whole week for my treat?" Then I'd start having treats twice a week. Then I'd start eating way more than just a piece of cake. It snowballed and soon I was bingeing daily. I am not a moderator. I'm an abstainer
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I can usually push them off for months, maybe a year, but I need to know I can have it at some point in the future. If there is no hope then I get pretty sad.

    Interestingly I usually crave light, crunchy, sauteed vegetables and other low calorie foods when I'm trying to gain. When I'm losing I just want more of what I am eating (since I typically don't cut stuff out) and other times I crave foods I don't have access to. Meals I've had at restaurants, family cooking, food I've had on vacation, food not available in Canada etc.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,164 Member
    I get really odd cravings. Cottage cheese and protein bars. Baked potatoes. Bananas. Almonds.

    They do pass sometimes but I’ll usually have some of what I want.

    I’m not a moderator when it comes to chocolate or salted stuff like salted peanuts. I can eat them till they come out of my ears. So I don’t have them in the house often.
  • wwwtheselion11
    wwwtheselion11 Posts: 422 Member
    So i no longer drink alcohol, or eat icecream, or any sweets. Do i crave them. O hell yeah, but i can say no. Well this Friday i didn't. I got me some candy pop pop corn. Just to try it,but i was really craving Ben and Jerry's icecream an cheese cake. That i said no to. I know if i was to start drinking alcohol again. I would put on weight fast. I enjoyed finishing 6 packs of IPA. I was overweight from over drinking alcohol. That was the first craving to go. Second was ordering pizza. I no longer eat pizza unless. Its my nieces birthday party. I had pizza. 3 icecream is my favorite, but it's good once an a blue moon. 4 no fried foods, but i did order chillie reanoes. If i spell that right. last month at a Mexican restaurant. I crave foods, but i dont eat them every day. When i was with my ex , yes we pretty much eating unhealthy foods every day, by ordering out.
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,868 Member
    edited February 2020
    I give into my cravings if I give myself any wiggle room. Wine has been a wiggle room opener for me so I stopped drinking alcohol last month. Then I read on mfp about a book called Atomic habits and how if you change 1% of your life habits here and there the benefits will compound. Since alcohol was a “keystone habit”, a biggie for me, I picked that to change first (I fail at moderation after a week or month or year).

    Once I was more with it after work I started changing little (atomic) habits such as: Clean litter boxes daily, put away dishes, add one day to my workout routine, etc. I still wanted something in my wine time so I dug out the tea and tea set I got in China last year (pu’er tea) and now brew a cup or two at night while watch TV. I’m not a big fan of tea so if you’d told me 2 months ago I’d be drinking it I’d have said you were crazy.

    So, I’m starting to gain back better control of my life in the tiny ways. Now it’s easier for me to not give in to cravings. To just say “I don’t eat gluten, refined sugar, whatever” and keep going. Then that becomes a little, atomic habit. If I could eat the stuff in moderaton I would. I can eat 85% dark chocolate in moderation and don’t crave it, so bars of that are in my cabinet.
  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
    I’ve really decided sugar or chocolate just makes me crave more. I’ve tried to moderate it, but I can’t. My strategy THIS WEEK is to leave sugar alone as much as possible. Someone said earlier that it’s easier for them. I think it does get out of my system and I crave it less. I’m struggling with some schedule changes and I’m trying to really tighten up on what I keep in the house that tempts me as well as falling back on how I lost before. Whew! Say a prayer for me! It is definitely tougher than last time.
  • MadisonMolly2017
    MadisonMolly2017 Posts: 11,157 Member
    neugebauer52 wrote: »
    Eventually I realized that food cravings have something to do with my daily macros intake. I have made small adjustments when necessary and haven't had cravings for a long time now.

    @neugebauer52
    This is true for be, too.

    @brenn24179
    1. Not keeping food that calls me in the house✅ no chips, crackers, cookies...for ex.

    2. Adding healthier yet still yummy foods to my daily diet
    82% dark chocolate, 1/2 oz, at 2 meals a day
    1 oz unsalted, just peanuts PB
    Or just almonds, almond butter per day
    1/2-1 oz raw unsalted almonds and/or walnuts per day
    My motto: “If you can weigh it to the gram & stick with the plan, you can have them!”
    Side note: a house yes gave me a large can of salted nuts & as others said that’s totally different. Called me all day long from the cupboard.

    3. Studying nutrition. If I have the science about why something is good - or bad- for me, it is SO much easier for me to eat it - or not eat it.
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