Cravings and food obsessed

Milkymabel

Hello, I'm new! I've gained around 6-8 lbs since December, and was wanting to lose weight prior to that as well, so altogether want to lose 15-20 lbs.

My biggest hurdle is cravings.
Any suggestions on how to deal with constantly thinking about food? I feel like I'm often thinking about my next meal and imagining what I'd like to eat most, or just looking forward to whatever we have at home. This is especially bad during the work day, which I work from home.

Thanks for reading!

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome!

I think most of us find that it takes some experimentation and adaptation at the start, to figure out things like that.

As a starting point, don't cut calories tooooooo far, shooting for ultra-fast weight loss. Two pounds a week is really for people who are well over 200 pounds. For others, attempts to drop weight fast can result in difficulty sticking with it long enough to reach goal, then gaining rebound weight afterward. The sweet spot is losing weight with a easy (tolerable) process, and finding new habits along the way that let you stay at a healthy weight long term almost on autopilot.

With 15-20 pounds to lose, 0.5-1 pound a week (.25-.5kg) would be a reasonable thing. Even then, it would be good to slow down to the lower end of that after the first 10 pounds.

I know that seems like a long time, but the point is not just to lose weight, it's to stay at a good weight permanently, right? That means finding and grooving in new eating and activity habits. Do that as you lose!

As far as cravings go, it's normal to have an adaptation period of maybe a couple of weeks or so. Our body gets used to eating certain amounts of certain things at certain times, and it will beg for that old set of habits for a while. It's sort of like training a puppy: Be firm now, and the begging should mute down and eventually stop, as long as you're not over-restricting.

Beyond that, take a look at your eating habits. (You can use your diary to help with this.) When do you feel most crave-y? Are some days worse than others? Look for patterns. If you get crave-y in the afternoon, maybe reserve some calories for a filling snack. If you get crave-y watching TV at night because you usually snack then, maybe have some herb tea instead, or find a hobby that keeps hands busy and is distracting while watching TV. (Examples: Needlework, sketching, grip exercises.)

Cravings can be about nutrition, habit, boredom, fatigue, exercise, stress, emotions and more. Notice which days you're more hungry. What was the situation? Look for patterns.

If you're eating late in the day, that can be fatigue, maybe improve sleep quality/quantity, or improve stress management (stress is fatiguing). Notice whether your meals/snacks were different (timing, nutrients or food choices) on more vs. less crave-y days. Some people find protein filling, others fats, some high-volume foods like fiber-rich veggies - what works best for you? Some people do best with multiple meals and snacks between, or even all-day light grazing, while others do better limiting eating hours (sometimes just one meal a day or OMAD).

Experiment. Look at your food logs and analyze. Figure out what works best for you.

That said, I did find that as I was losing weight, I spent more attention on meal planning, shopping, and such . . . but for me, that was enjoyable. When I was overweight, I'd pretty much shoveling in food because it was there handy, and tasted OK. When I became more selective, wanted to spend my calories wisely, it became more fun and engaging to plan how to do that - it reawakened some actual higher enjoyment of food via being more selective. That's still true now (year 7+ of maintaining a healthy weight).

You can work this out: Don't be afraid to try different alternatives for a few days at a time, see how it goes. As long as you keep experimenting, you'll eventually find the best routine for you, and can set that in place (though you may find different things work at different phases). Don't give up, keep experimenting - patience and persistence are your friends. You can succeed.

Best wishes!