Really REALLY like junk food

Daphnerose86

No matter what anyone tells you losing weight is hard. You can quit things like smoking or drugs or drinking alcohol and NEVER have to do them again. You can't quit food. So when your addiction is also something you need for survival, it gets complicated.

My advice. Stop whatever diet you are on. It is clearly making you miserable and your heart is not in it. You are just going to trudge along until something really tiny throws you off the wagon because you are halfway out already. And that's okay. Don't think in terms of how much you have to lose or what foods you can't have that ever again. The Tony Ferguson diet doesn't seem like something you would be able to live with long term. Having a "shake and salad" every day would drive me insane. You can still eat food and lose weight. You don't even need to go on a diet plan of any kind. Try simply tracking your food in your diary for a several weeks. Give yourself a maintenance calorie amount and see where your food intake is relative to that. Then make small changes. You can eat junk food and stay within your caloric limit- just pair it with fruits and veggies.

I hate salads. I never eat them unless they are mostly cheese. (which doesn't help!) I also don't have a lot of time at work for lunch so I never make it through a whole salad and end up really really hungry by the time I leave work. But there are many different ways to prepare vegetables that don't have to be in salads. Just look up recipes!

I'm driving the vegetables thing home because the more I started eating less processed foods and more fruits and vegetables the less I was hungry. The less all the snack food my boyfriend keeps in the house looked appetizing. My body felt better, I didn't feel sluggish or drained because my body was getting the nutrients it needed.

The more sugar you consume the more your body craves it. It's a vicious cycle.

I've been slowly changing my eating habits for a month now. I'm slowly learning how to feed my body better and the tiny victories have helped me keep motivated. There were times when I was on a food binge over the last year that I was so disgusted I'd cry myself to sleep. If I had tried during that time to start dieting I would have failed miserably. Give yourself some time to get in the right mind set and start again. You are doing this for your health and your future. Every little bit of weight you lose is a victory! You know your medical limitations on how fast you will shed the weight. Don't let that be an excuse. Fight for it. Good luck!!

robeff

My advice. Stop whatever diet you are on. It is clearly making you miserable and your heart is not in it. You are just going to trudge along until something really tiny throws you off the wagon because you are halfway out already.

I think that's good advice. If you don't find something sustainable for you, long term it's not going to be effective. When you start and stop you just keep getting more and more discouraged.

Maybe you can meet with a nutritionist? Diet is more important than exercise really - not dieting, but finding an eating plan that is going to work for you. Some fitness trainers have backgrounds in nutrition science as well.

I don't really like salad or veggies all that much either. I tend to incorporate them into dishes where they are mostly disguised, to add volume, or overpower them with other strong flavors (like stir frys with soy sauce and sriracha).

You'll have to sacrifice something though, to achieve your goals. Just the way it works. The more you sacrifice, the faster you reach them.

There are some tricks you can do though - like tonight I had a low calorie meal that left me feeling 'heavy' like I had a cheat meal. I made;

- 1 package tofu fettuccine style shiratki noodles (40 cal)
- 2 wedges laughing cow light (70 cal)
- 6oz diced chicken breast (180 cal)
- half a package of sliced sauteed crimini mushrooms (like 20ish cal)

High protein, high volume, almost no carbs and a cheesy/creamy texture like eating linguine for close to 300 calories.

You're not going to find anything like icecream that is low cal, but you can do sugar free fudge bars for 40 calories each, or actual fudge / frozen yogurt bars for around 100, or sugar free double chocolate puddings for 60 cal

I found I had to work on finding snack alternatives to fit cravings - like for salty, I'd do miso soup with some sauteed veggies and an egg (35 cal + 70cal), for pizza I make brown rice cake with melted mozzarella stick, sauteed mushrooms and taco sauce (most condiments are nearly calorie free, I use them liberally).. staying hydrated really helps too. If you feel hungry, drink some water first and wait 10-15 min. Sometimes being dehydrated manifests as hunger.

An honest accounting for calories is really important, especially when you're trying to get started. It's not always pretty - early on I'd have days where I exceeded my calorie goal by like 2000 - but if you don't at least track it you can't really see where the biggest damage is being done.

Anyway, good luck! Once can make the mental shift to really commit and get started, the weight will come flying off over the first several months.

markbully

You need to eat during the day, it's a must. If you don't eat breakfast now, then you need to start eating a small bowl of weetbix or low fat/sugar content cereal, a piece of fruit , etc. If you don't eat in the morning you are putting your body into starvation mode and it will store more fat rather than burn it off. Eat small heathy snacks during the day if you don't get to eat a proper lunch. And most of all don't pig out at dinner time, just eat a normal size portion. And try to stay below the MFP recommended calories for you chosen daily weight lose. And not to forget be positive, patient and stay focused because MFP works if you let it.

CherryChan81

me too... and i am craving for KFC all the time...

marlenadew

1st I would like to say I am no expert and still consider myself a newbie in my lifestyle change. With that being said for me I had to tackle one thing at a time since I had absolutely no discipline. For example I love pepsi and it just so happens there's a circle k right up the street! .79 cent 44 Oz drinks were happening all too frequently. So I started evaluating my diet and challenging myself one thing at a time. Believe it or not I saw a difference with every one thing I changed. My 1st 1 week challenge I dared myself to cut out soda and I lost 3 lbs that week. After seeing small success it motivated me to do more. For me looking at the big picture all at once just felt all too overwhelming but by the time I turned around 6 months had passed by and I successfully tackled some major dietary issues and now I'm down 42 lbs! You can do it. Just remember many of us cheat but it isn't a permanent fail. Just get back to where you started and keep on going.
Be encouraged, Marlena.......