Cheating not so tasty anymore

SosaMinosa

I've been eating around 1600-1700 calories a day in addition to working out 6 days a week. I eat pretty clean unlike before when my diet was absolutely awful. I've been on this diet for about 3.5 months and lost around 22 lbs. Every couple of weeks I'll have a cheat meal and eat out (McDonalds, milkshakes, etc.). Lately, however, I've noticed that somethings that I once enjoyed taste odd now, and I can't make it halfway through. For example, about a month ago I got a milkshake from Zaxby's and it tasted good for about 3 minutes, and then tasted absolutely awful. I had to toss it. Today, I went to my favorite frozen yogurt shop; same result. Turkey wings that I once loved seem inedible. Has this happened to anyone else? Thanks for any help

StephenNesbit

Yes, sometimes I do. Other times, I just HAVE to have something.

It's a good problem to have, @inkteen.

SosaMinosa

I agree, it is a good problem to have I just wish I could enjoy myself every now and then, lol. Thanks for your reply

silvercat64

Happened to me too. I think it's just that our taste buds have readjusted to our new diets. In the long run, I don't see it as a problem, though I do find it very annoying to have a cheat day and discover that I don't actually WANT anything.

SosaMinosa

Thanks. Glad to know I'm not going crazy! It's super annoying, but I can deal. I guess my cheating will have to involve something else, like pistachios, if that can be considered cheating. Thanks for your help

sentaruu

I never lost the taste for it cause I never stopped eating junk!

SosaMinosa

I never lost the taste for it cause I never stopped eating junk!

Sounds nice! I totally wish I could lose weight and eat junk, but I know I wouldn't be able to control myself and I'd eat too much, lol.

Liftng4Lis

I never lost the taste for it cause I never stopped eating junk!

+1

gononi

Yes especially greasy foods. It feels like they coat the back of my throat.

mommy22alyns

Yep, I had something similar happen to me back in late Feb. I'd started my diet Jan. 1. I had a Wendy's burger one night and a couple of Dunkin' Donuts the next day. I felt SO shaky and sick, it was awful. It's made me basically swear off 99% of fast food. I don't even crave it because I know it will make me feel like crap.

WithWhatsLeft

Yeah clean eating does that to you. You decide to "treat" yourself to something you love, that you are craving, and it's suddenly nasty and isn't hitting the sweet spot.

Beware of two things:
1. You want to cure that craving so badly that you keep eating other junk trying to get the fix.
2. Taco Bell is NEVER nasty and will always hit the sweet spot, and then you'll be reminded.

*sigh*

AmandaPantz87

I went out with a friend and had some chocolate....ok, a whole box of rosebuds. BUT: I was able to do this before. Not anymore, as apparently that quantity of sugar now makes me physically ill....

IrisFlute

For heaven's sake, if you're going to treat yourself, why waste the calories on crappy fast foods? Why not head for the artisan pastry shop or the part of the freezer aisle where they keep the most ridiculously overpriced gourmet ice cream? You won't be able to afford enough to do real damage, probably, and the indulgence feels festive. Today I went into one of those crazy artisan "empty-the-tourists'-pockets" chocolate places and bought 1 single Bourbon Pecan Caramel. For $2.25. It was great!

SosaMinosa

Wow, I'm really not alone. @gononi, I haven't had any really greasy foods yet, but I do get sort of an after taste at the back of my throat when I eat junk food that totally makes me stop eating it. @Suzzaneishere. I agree that it's tempting to try another type of food after the first one doesn't hit the spot. I feel so gypped, lol I have to remind myself not to. @mommy22alyns and @AmandaPantz87, I've had that happen before! Only I ate some rice crispy treats. Not only did I feel sick, but my hands wouldn't stop shaking. It freaked me out! @IrishFlute, I'm going to try that next time. Maybe I'm eating the wrong things. I should explore the gourmet treats instead and see how I deal with them. Thanks for everyone's answers and advice I myfitnesspal!

Kalikel

I think it happens to most people who switch to healthy food. Not only does the other stuff not taste as good, you will notice that you don't feel as well. Not so much a lack of energy (maybe partly), but this feeling in your abdomen...like if you got conked over the heard and had amnesia and came to, you'd still know you had eaten something out of the ordinary.

I can't eat beef tacos at Taco Bell anymore. Last time I tried one, I took a bite and was done. Chicken soft taco without cheese - yes. Very salty! But I still like those.

ana3067

No, but I also eat anything i desire as opposed to using a gimmicky or non-sustainable approach to losing weight (not bashing - I lost weight by "eating clean" years ago, this was not sustainable and it made me develop a poor relationship with food). I actually have had the opposite effect: things I used to dislike I now like or even love, like pea pods (used to just eat the peas), cheddar cheese, and I've tried a bunch of things I hadn't tried before. Basically being open to all food has made me less picky because I want to have a lot of food to choose from.

Also unless you're fairly small, 1600 cals is probably not enough. I am 169, net 1880. I always log and eat back exercise cals. When I was doing TDEE method I ate well over 2000 every day as it included my average exercise needs in the calculation. You may want to calculate your energy needs with a proper calculator and subtract 20% from it (omit exercise from the calculation if you want to do net method and log/eat back exercise, include if you just want to eat the same every day and not log exercise). exrx.net and health-calc.com are the two links I recommend most.

ETA: eating clean did not affect how food tasted to me. It was all or nothing for me at that point, I almost never had "treats." Once I was no longer able to handle being so restrictive, I easily reverted back to eating processed foods with delight. IMO it's probably partially a psychological thing.

ana3067

I never lost the taste for it cause I never stopped eating junk!

Sounds nice! I totally wish I could lose weight and eat junk, but I know I wouldn't be able to control myself and I'd eat too much, lol.

It's very easy to eat the things you love or things you crave without over-eating. Either pre-log it if you feel you won't have room for it, or just change your mindset towards food. I have not once binged on calorie-dense junk food in the last 4 months, in the sense that I've never gone over my calories because I wanted to eat junk food. I always just make food fit into my macros (namely protein). I had 5 cookies tonight, at least 400-500 calories total. It's really just a mindset thing. Back when I "ate clean," if I had a craving for say.. chocolate, well then I wouldn't be able to stop at just a small piece. I'd easily wind up eating 2-3 large bars in one sitting. By not saying "this food is bad," but also by simply making myself aware of how many cals I'm eating and how I can make what I want to eat fit into my day, binges just aren't an issue anymore. And for a while there last year I would binge on chocolate every saturday, buying 2-3 boxes of chocolate and eating like... ALL of it. On top of my normal food intake.

ETA: another thing I've learned/developed over these last 4 months, if I'm reaaally craving something last-minute, and I don't have enough cals left over for the day, I can actually say "aw, oh well, I'll just eat it tomorrow" and I'll either pre-log it right away or I'll just log it the next day int he morning. Half the time I wind up no longer craving it the next day so I don't even eat it, other times I do eat it so I'm super glad that I made sure it'd fit into my day ahead of time. But just knowing that I am fine to eat it tomorrow and it won't skew my calorie intake actually helps me minimize the craving. Like, just recently I was craving both donuts and cookies. Only had room for one, so I decided on the donut and pre-logged the cookies for the next day. I was a very happy camper on both days.

AmigaMaria001

I haven't really lost my taste for anything, but I have noticed that I don't crave things like chocolate anymore.
I also notice that I just can't go a day without a huge salad or big-ole plate of steamed Veg anymore.
If I don't have my veggies I feel kinda sick. (That NEVER happened before I started MFP in January)
I've always loved Vegetables of every type and color but the cleaner I eat the more I crave them.

SLLRunner

I've been eating around 1600-1700 calories a day in addition to working out 6 days a week. I eat pretty clean unlike before when my diet was absolutely awful. I've been on this diet for about 3.5 months and lost around 22 lbs. Every couple of weeks I'll have a cheat meal and eat out (McDonalds, milkshakes, etc.). Lately, however, I've noticed that somethings that I once enjoyed taste odd now, and I can't make it halfway through. For example, about a month ago I got a milkshake from Zaxby's and it tasted good for about 3 minutes, and then tasted absolutely awful. I had to toss it. Today, I went to my favorite frozen yogurt shop; same result. Turkey wings that I once loved seem inedible. Has this happened to anyone else? Thanks for any help

I don't subscribe to "clean eating" (I eat everything I love in moderation), but I do know what you are talking about.

I used to LOVE movie popcorn, but for some reason it doesn't taste good to me anymore. I'd rather hide my own popcorn in a bag and take that instead.

paperpudding

I think taste buds changing over time is something that happens to many people.

You dont have to eat clean or have no junk food to experience this.

Many things taste too sweet for me now, which I used to like more than I do now, and I by no means made radical changes to my diet or ate clean.

Also 1600 -1700 is a fairly normal calorie goal for many women - of course without knowing OP's stats it is impossible to comment on whether it is right for her (profile is private) but does not seem any reason to assume it is wrong or too low.

shai74

I never lost the taste for it cause I never stopped eating junk!

Sounds nice! I totally wish I could lose weight and eat junk, but I know I wouldn't be able to control myself and I'd eat too much, lol.

It's very easy to eat the things you love or things you crave without over-eating. Either pre-log it if you feel you won't have room for it, or just change your mindset towards food. I have not once binged on calorie-dense junk food in the last 4 months, in the sense that I've never gone over my calories because I wanted to eat junk food. I always just make food fit into my macros (namely protein). I had 5 cookies tonight, at least 400-500 calories total. It's really just a mindset thing. Back when I "ate clean," if I had a craving for say.. chocolate, well then I wouldn't be able to stop at just a small piece. I'd easily wind up eating 2-3 large bars in one sitting. By not saying "this food is bad," but also by simply making myself aware of how many cals I'm eating and how I can make what I want to eat fit into my day, binges just aren't an issue anymore. And for a while there last year I would binge on chocolate every saturday, buying 2-3 boxes of chocolate and eating like... ALL of it. On top of my normal food intake.

ETA: another thing I've learned/developed over these last 4 months, if I'm reaaally craving something last-minute, and I don't have enough cals left over for the day, I can actually say "aw, oh well, I'll just eat it tomorrow" and I'll either pre-log it right away or I'll just log it the next day int he morning. Half the time I wind up no longer craving it the next day so I don't even eat it, other times I do eat it so I'm super glad that I made sure it'd fit into my day ahead of time. But just knowing that I am fine to eat it tomorrow and it won't skew my calorie intake actually helps me minimize the craving. Like, just recently I was craving both donuts and cookies. Only had room for one, so I decided on the donut and pre-logged the cookies for the next day. I was a very happy camper on both days.

I wouldn't say it's easy. That's a blanket statement. It's very very hard for a large percentage of people to eat whatever foods they want and stay within calories. I tried to do it for 20 years and ended up 50kg overweight. I knew what I was eating, I knew the calorie content of pretty much every food in the supermarket, and yet I could NOT control it. However, 8 monhts of eating clean as some of you put it, and I don't have any problems whatsoever. Those things that I could eat until I was sick don't interest me, even remotely. It's very similar to someone who is a hard core alcoholic. They can't go to a party and have just one beer. That's exactly how it feels to me.

My "cheat" meal would be going out to dinner with my partner, or lunch with a friend, and having a big steak (last week it came with bacon and avocado), with a green salad and a couple of glasses of red wine. Probably over my calories, but I don't feel like rubbish the next day.

threnjen

Like others I did not make radical changes to my diet, but a lot of the candy that I used to love tastes too sweet to me now. I still eat things with sugar (I don't subscribe to any specific "clean" eating), so I am not sure why, but I don't eat much if any candy specifically so maybe such direct sugar is just too much for me now. It's actually kind of nice because I have always had a mega sweet tooth and I don't crave those things so much anymore (but I would make room if I did)

yc4king

Definitely the same thing happened to me. I don't even know if how I eat now is classified as clean eating or not, but I generally only eat home prepared meals, try to keep the grease and sugars low, way more fruit and veggies than I used to have in my diet, and I stay away from sweets and pastries etc.

The effect has essentially been that I am quite sensitive to eating "junk" now, particularly anything that is ridiculously high in sugar, salt, or very greasy. Things overly high in sodium taste disgusting to me now a lot of the time, it's not universal but I have a hard time eating anything but salad at some restaurants because of the amount of salt or msg they use.

If I make some cookies I can eat 1 fine, but if I try to eat 2 or 3 I get a stomach ache within minutes. Something like a donut will definitely give me a lump in my stomach, and overly greasy food gives me horrible gas lol.

At the end of the day i'm actually extremely happy that this has happened. I'm still able to enjoy treats, but I have to think about it and make sure that i'm not going to make myself feel sick over it afterwards. It's actually pretty scary to me that I used to be able to pump my body full of that junk constantly without feeling any side effects from it.

I'm not advocating giving up all junk food, I still enjoy having a treat once in a while. However there is more to being healthy than just losing weight and the way I eat is much healthier than it used to be for more reasons than just reducing the quantity.