Paying attention to food makes me want to eat worse

lonlonranchs

When I didn't pay any mind to what I'm eating, I ate..not well, but not abysmal (most of the time...), either. I never planned meals ahead of time and just ate whatever I was craving. Sometimes it was good! Mostly it was not. For being such an overweight person, I really didn't think about food much.

But now that I'm trying to change to planning ahead and measuring out amounts, I just end up with insane cravings for junk food. Because whenever I DID plan with food, it was planning a binge junk food fest to either stress eat or reward myself with. 'Do I want to stop and buy an entire box of cheez-its and some beef jerky, or I could just go home and eat this entire container of pasta, or go home and order a pizza and have them bring it to me...' that kind of thing.

So after being good for a few days and battling with those cravings, I thought, okay, just one last binge, buuuut it wasn't satisfying! So I tried another junk food. Not good enough! Then another. Realized I was being an idiot and just stopped caring about food and returned to my previous, sort of not really, sensible eating habits.

I'd just really love some advice on how to deal with changing eating habits when just thinking about food is the thing triggering the bad eating habits! At least I made it through making this post without the desire to eat a million bad things popping up...

edit: This would probably be better off in the General Diet etc section, but I can't figure out how to delete my post.

libbydoodle11

Why not budget your fave foods into your calorie allowance each day? This way you can have that serving of cheez its or that ice cream. This may help you nip that binging habit in the bud. You can still incorporate healthier options along the way as well.

My fave treats are cookies, ice cream, kettle chips and beer. I may not indulge in these everyday or even weekly but when I do want them I help myself.

Have you looked up IIFYM? Google it and see if it works for you.

RodaRose

GIve yourself time. You are establishing good habits for yourself.
A suggestion.
For a few days, enter EVERYTHING into the diary -- good, bad, in-between -- without changing anything that you are eating.
After four days of that, you will start seeing some things you want to cut/reduce and some things you want to keep/ increase.

cm985

Get snacks from the health food store, so just in case you eat a lot, it's not as bad.

Francl27

Well the way I see it, before, I wouldn't think about the food, I'd just go to the kitchen or the store and eat/buy it. Now I plan, and yes I think about food all the time. Yes it sucks, but it's better than the alternative.

And you can totally plan your day and fit some 'junk' in there too. You don't have to plan binges. Just plan to have one snickers bar or one small bag of cheetos or something. It can fit in your calories. And make sure you eat a lot of good food... if you plan a delicious but still healthy meal, you'll be looking forward to it too, and it will be just as satisfying as a binge... without the guilt.

knitapeace

When I decided I wanted to lose the weight for good, I started running for exercise but refused to keep a food log. Because when I had done Weight Watchers in the past I felt exactly the way you do: I thought about food ALL. THE. TIME.

But running alone wasn't budging even one pound, so I downloaded the MFP app and started tracking. After a while the obsession with calories dwindled, and I found the best way to handle things for me was to pre-log as much of my day as possible. All the food I was going to eat from breakfast until the end of the workday was already decided and all I had to do was eat at the time I wanted to eat.

Give it time. As more of your favorite foods are entered into the app you'll have to think less and it won't be so all-encompassing.

lonlonranchs

Thanks you guys! Especially Knita, that is a huge relief to hear and makes sense. TOTALLY going to do the prelogging thing once I get into a better routine, that would really really help with not having to think about food.