I need advice on healthy eating and toning

katieearles
katieearles Posts: 1
in Getting Started
Hi,
I started using my fitness pal properly about 2 months ago and I went from being 8 stone 11 lbs to 8 stone 5 lbs but I've been on 2 holidays recently and put all the weight back on. I'm 5 ft 4 inches (and 16 and a half years old)and was so pleased and happy with my body at 8 stone 5. I have quite a toned body but the muscles arent showing as much now that I've put the weight back on and I can see a lot more fat on my stomach and arms has returned. I tend to binge eat at night, not excessively but i crave chocolate every day and I have more than one portion which I know is bad for you and really not healthy. So where I'm going with this is, 1) how do I get back on track with the healthy eating and 2) How do i control my cravings and get back to 8 stone 5lbs.


Any advice or comments are appreciated.

Replies

  • megacoco
    megacoco Posts: 32
    Sadly there's no easy answer to this... I would say to avoid buying too much chocolate and other treats, limiting yourself to something reasonable, such as a small treat once a week or every other week. Don't get too upset if you have an off day and eat too much. Just get back on track the next day. It's hard to keep yourself disciplined but the longer you keep it up, the better you'll feel and the easier it'll get to stay on track.

    I also have a night-time binge habit. I found that brushing my teeth early - rather than right before bed, like I used to - helps deter me from overeating at night.
  • nikivona130
    nikivona130 Posts: 6
    Hi there!

    I had CRAZY chocolate cravings. What helped get my cravings under control was to cut out sweets completely for 2 weeks. No sweets at all. It sounds insane, right? I never went a day without dessert and the thought of cutting out sweets completely made me panic. Literally panic.

    But I promise, you can do it. The first 48 hours are absolutely the hardest. I drank a full glass of water every time I have a craving, especially late night, and waited for the craving to pass. If I needed to snack, I choose baby carrots or snap peas—something healthy, crunchy and mildly sweet. Avoid overly salty snacks, as they made my cravings for sweet even worse. I hated life for the first few days, but by the 4th day I felt better. And by the middle of the 2nd week, I didn't even think about sweets anymore.

    Then, and only then, when the thought of having something sweet didn't even occur to me, that's when I SLOWLY allowed myself to have desserts again. I found after my "detox", it was much easier to control myself. I can now have a full-sized dark chocolate bar in my fridge and only have 1 square per night. I eat it slowly and savor every bite. And when it's gone, I'm satisfied. I don't have the uncontrollable urge to go back into my kitchen and eat the rest of the bar.

    Cut out anything you can't seem to control. Give it 2 weeks, at least. Then slowly reintroduce. I'm here if you need encouragement. You can do this!!
  • bjg2993
    bjg2993 Posts: 107
    If you can't exercise self restraint over chocolate, then you have to stop buying it - full stop. I'm like this with cakes. I've been a cake fiend the last few days if you look at my diary (I HAD TWO WEDNESDAY!), but I'm at maintenance atm so I can fit it in. But whilst I was losing I cut this out by removing the temptation by not allowing myself to buy them, except for treats every couple weeks. Out of sight, out of mind. It gets easier.

    You need to change your diet permanently to lose weight and keep it off. It seems really difficult at first, but just slowly cut out the unhealthy stuff, and aim to eat more protein. If someone had told me that by this point I no longer eat chips, bread and pasta at least a few times a week and eat salad on a daily basis this time last year I would have laughed at them - but it's the truth now.

    My tips are -
    Always try to get your five a day.
    Cut down on processed carbs like pasta, biscuits, bread etc.
    Eat good protein sources daily such as lean meat, nuts, yoghurt, cheese, lentils and beans (personally I hate the latter but they are excellent sources).
    Snack on low calorie things - fruit, yoghurt etc.
    If you really can't live without chocolate daily, you can buy chocolate coated rice cakes - not like snackajacks, but rice cakes dipped in proper chocolate, they are excellent. Possibly a better option.

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