How do I start to limit junk food?

Superlicious96

For the past 2 weeks I have been bingeing on sweet foods. Before I started bingeing though, I would ban junk foods 6 days of the week successfully, and eat in moderation on 1 day of the week. I'd always go overboard and binge on this 1 day, so I was able to resist junk most days of the week but went crazy on 1. However, I've also tried once where I ate a small piece of junk food (one oreo) each day, and that also helped me to avoid bingeing (for about 4 weeks) as I had something sweet to look forward to eating after dinner, rather than thinking 'my next junk food item is like 6 days away'.

I'm aware I'll probably have really bad sugar withdrawals/cravings the first few days, as I always do when I limit or eliminate junk, so what is the best approach to limiting junk? I was thinking of going clean, so increasing my water intake back to 3L as it's dropped to 1L, and starting to eat 4/5 portions of fruit & veg again from zero currently, and only allowing myself one 70kcal ice pop a day?

Superlicious96

I guess I'm just getting sick of poisoning my body with ridiculous amounts of sugar each day, I'll just end up continuing to gain weight (have gained in these 2 weeks), and it's going to wreck my teeth. I want to stop this vicious cycle right now before I get too lax and it's too late because everyday I'm saying 'I'll start healthy tomorrow' and weeks are going by, it'll soon be months and I don't even want to think about the consequences of that.

ME0172

My husband can't go without the sweets. So we bought Dove dark chocolate pieces that are only like 120 calories for 3 pieces. He has some probably 2 - 3 times a week but it keeps him from binging. There are no other sweets in the house. Keeping them out certainly helps if you have to make a trip if you're having a craving. We also keep a lot of apples in the house... they're very sweet and unless you literally need a taste for chocolate apples help.

LiveMore101

I know how you feel. It's happened to me a lot and I would get so UPSET over it. But, even though I have binged and overeaten a few times within the past 2 1/2 months, I did manage to lose 10 pounds. It's possible to still eat a bit of the junk food you want, but to maintain a decently clean diet as well. You don't have to cut it out entirely. I know I can't!
One thing (that takes FOREVER to master, but is EXTREMELY possible), is to just build up your determination. If you're already a pretty determined person, you'll look at the goal you have for yourself and that will keep you going. That will keep you from overeating all those times. Yes, it's hard to do at first, but like I said, it's completely possible. I've been doing it for quite some time now and after a while, though you might still crave, eventually you learn to live without all the excess sweet.
BUT.... If you're one that can barely go a day without something sweet, there's this AMAZING cookbook called: Taste of Home- Comfort Foods DIET.
It is PERFECT-O! I LOVE IT! It provides SO many healthy, LOW-calorie recipes. Even DESSERTS are in there! Like Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (79 calories a cookie). Or Blondies with Chocolate Chips! A pretty good sized bar is about 100-something calories. They even have pies and ice creams.. But all of these are usually UNDER 300 calories.
Then they have a bunch of salty snacks if you want that (but are under 300 calories), and dinner/lunch/breakfast/slow-cooker/etc... Recipes. Most of those are under 400 calories!
I STRONGLY suggest getting this! You might see more success if you pick something up like this.

SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222

Stop eating it.

Capt_Apollo

what you do is you start limiting it. how ever much junk you are eating, cut it in half. or learn how to make healthy versions of it. love pizza or chinese take out? make your own. love chocolate? switch to dark chocolate (something something anti-oxidants) and maybe buy a bag of hershey's kisses, and that way you can grab one or two pieces at a time.

i love soda, so what i started to do is i stopped buying the bottles, because i'd go through a whole one in like, two days or less. so i started to buy a six pack, so i'd just have a can at a time. and i'd only keep like, two cans in the fridge at once.

greentart

I had to go completely cold turkey for about 2 months. No junk food, no sugar (besides fruit), otherwise I'd do the same thing. I now don't crave sugar or junk and I notice that when I DO eat it, I feel like crap afterwards.

Really pay attention to how your body feels after you binge, and concentrate on that before you start to snack. The bloating, the grossness, the guilt... why would you want to do that to yourself?

At some point, it just comes down to pure willpower. YOU are defeating YOURSELF.

Graelwyn75

The way I do it is to eat mostly 'clean' in the week days, having a small bag of nuts and dried fruit after dinner as my dessert, or some healthy popcorn, and a few squares of 81% dark chocolate before bed, then at the weekend, I allow a few items I like that I avoid during the week, like a piece of cake, or a doughnut or a normal milk chocolate bar etc etc. I find that if I have a packet of cookies, or a bag of chocolate etc in my home, I will generally eat it all once it is opened. Possibly this is due to having had anorexia in my past, or maybe some are more sensitive to certain substances than others? I am not sure but it is a massive bone of contention to me that I am strong willed enough to blast through 2 hour workouts even on 3 hours of sleep when I do not feel like it, yet not strong willed enough to be able to simply have a portion of chocolate or cookies or cake etc. But then I ask myself, why on earth do I need this empty crap in my home anyway when I am perfectly happy, for the most part, with the healthy foods I eat?

Anyway, I am challenging myself at the moment. I have a large bag of peanut M&Ms in my kitchen, and am determined to not touch them for a week. After that, I will work on allowing just a small portion an evening because I need to prove to myself that I can control myself around food.

_Terrapin_

It depends on the food. Maybe keep a small serving available, and the rest double bag, tie it up, and place it on a different floor if possible. Otherwise, do not bring it in the casa.

DrWhoodles

Look at your daily calories as a budget and then decide how you want to spend your calories on food throughout the day. Log everything - then you'll start seeing how many calories the food you are worried about has. Then you can look at something and think - is it worth the calories to eat? If you can make it work and stay in our calorie range then no big deal. I don't eat a lot of things simply because I don't want to use up my calories that way - the things don't actually taste that good to me so I don't bother.