how do you deal with cravings?!?!

jcorinne16

Ok so this is my first time using mfb, I saw the site and thought i'd give it a try. One huge problem i have is cravings. I'll be doing really good with eating healthy then I give into my cravings and tend to binge eat, I think thats how you spell it lol. So can anyone give me any suggestions on how to better deal with this or let me know how you deal with this problem. Thanx!!

QuietLegs

Hmm. I tend to just indulge my cravings by planning out exactly how many calories I need, and then eating that amount. For example, half a pizza is roughly 1200 calories - not too hard for me to exercise / plan around. I'll skip breakfast, or go for an extra long run, etc., to make sure my daily intake is still within maintenance levels. Not to say this works for everyone, but it's worked pretty well for me.

If your issue is that you'll completely avoid certain foods, and then completely lose control and eat thousands of calories, I'd suggest reevaluating your diet plan. Some people have great success with completely cutting out certain types of foods, or even just specific foods. But for some of us, that just leads to serious relapses. I don't prohibit any food for myself; anything is fair game. I just keep fully aware of what I'm eating, how much, and how I need to plan around it.

What's your pattern of destruction? Maybe if you describe some examples, someone - or even you, yourself - might pick up on the problematic patterns and how best to deal with them.

xoTalim

It's all about self control. What I do is treat myself to something sweet and a bit unhealthy once a week or once every few days. Don't give into your cravings. Just focus on the big picture and you'll do fine. If you feel like you're gunna binge, just don't. Drink some water to fill you up. Or eat something else like fruit or vegetables instead.

jcorinne16

Thats a good idea how you figure out the calories and can eat some of what you are craving. Im going to try that I dont know why I didnt think of that before!! Lol ...with my cravings sometimes i jst lose control and eat whatever I want and other times I can control it.

mareeee1234

If I deny myself for a week then I just go crazy and have a huge (and regretful) splurge!
Include sweets or treats every couple of days, by make them fit within your calories for the day! ..Exercise helps cause it increases your daily goal

jcorinne16

It's all about self control. What I do is treat myself to something sweet and a bit unhealthy once a week or once every few days. Don't give into your cravings. Just focus on the big picture and you'll do fine. If you feel like you're gunna binge, just don't. Drink some water to fill you up. Or eat something else like fruit or vegetables instead.

Thats what I try to do just ignore it or eat fruit or something and it does help to. Ive also done the treating yourself once every few day or once a week to something you are craving and it works too!! I think i just need more selfcontrol

xoTalim

It's all about self control. What I do is treat myself to something sweet and a bit unhealthy once a week or once every few days. Don't give into your cravings. Just focus on the big picture and you'll do fine. If you feel like you're gunna binge, just don't. Drink some water to fill you up. Or eat something else like fruit or vegetables instead.

Thats what I try to do just ignore it or eat fruit or something and it does help to. Ive also done the treating yourself once every few day or once a week to something you are craving and it works too!! I think i just need more selfcontrol

You can do it. (: Just takes a while to get yourself used to it. I used to binge after like a week of dieting back a few years ago. Now I'll treat myself once every few days and I haven't binged since.

2essie

I used to have terrible cravings and would buy loads of chocolate to binge on. I read somewhere that green tea is good for cravings so I started drinking the flavoured kind. I love it and have cut out coffee (except for one in the morning). I don't know if it is the green tea or the healthier eating (I eat lots of fruit and veg) but I haven't had a single craving for months.

Stripple

I stopped eating low fat "diet food As it contains loads of sugar, I eat full fat versions of everything, just smaller portions, I feel satisfied, in fact cutting right down on my sugar intake has had a knock on effect on my savoury cravings as well as my sweet ones. I find it easy to just have a little of what I fancy without blowing everything..
Hope you find something that works for you, good luck

MinMin97

I eat my cravings, in moderation.

jcorinne16

If I deny myself for a week then I just go crazy and have a huge (and regretful) splurge!
Include sweets or treats every couple of days, by make them fit within your calories for the day! ..Exercise helps cause it increases your daily goal

yap thats me i do the same thing!! Lol im going to try and include it in my calories maybe that will work better and yes i started exercising more a couple days ago so that should help

RixxyRikaa

I used to do the exact same thing as you. What I have learned to do is just make sure you're doing everything in moderation, and that you're still getting all of your usual nutrition. And adequacy and balance doesn't necessarily have to be day by day-- it can go week to week, or even month to month depending on how in control you feel. Its okay to crave and indulge once in a while, but always remember that moderation is key.

jcorinne16

I used to have terrible cravings and would buy loads of chocolate to binge on. I read somewhere that green tea is good for cravings so I started drinking the flavoured kind. I love it and have cut out coffee (except for one in the morning). I don't know if it is the green tea or the healthier eating (I eat lots of fruit and veg) but I haven't had a single craving for months.

Oh wow sounds interesting!! I actually went and bought green tea the other day..I heard it was good for your digestive tract but i havnt got around to trying it yet but you made me curious so im going to lol..and sweets are my main problem to especially chocolate so i try to stay away from it!! And that nutella stuff im like addicted to it!! Lol i have to becareful not to eat the entire jar .

positivepineapple

what I usually crave is sweets so what I have almost every night is a chocolate banana peanut butter smoothie... 1 or 2 frozen bananas, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter and a heaping tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa.... Its 220 or 320 delicious healthy creamy indulgent tasting calories depending on how many bananas you use. Make sure you use very ripe spotty bananas or it won't be very sweet.

I'm on a 30 day no refined sugar challenge and this has really helped me!

or.... A bowl of oatmeal with a mashed up banana and cocoa powder is very filling and really healthy and yummy :-)

hope this helps!

skeyes54749

Chris Powell said to eat something with fat. A cheese stick or a spoon full of peanut butter and within 10 minutes your craving is gone! I find peanut butter works the best!!

AbiCusPeck

I used to have terrible cravings and would buy loads of chocolate to binge on. I read somewhere that green tea is good for cravings so I started drinking the flavoured kind. I love it and have cut out coffee (except for one in the morning). I don't know if it is the green tea or the healthier eating (I eat lots of fruit and veg) but I haven't had a single craving for months.

They say Green Tea is good for boosting metabolism - I need to drink more of it!!

2essie

Trouble with me and peanut butter is I could eat the whole jar lol. Green tea is an anti-oxidant it is also supposed to help with weight loss too but I think that it has minimal effect on that. If you don't get on with the plain green tea, try the flavoured or you can add it to gravy and sauces. A really interesting way is to add it to coffee. I love it like that but I do drink black coffee. No harm in trying it and I hope it works for you.

Rsm220

have sex

spark409

i dont know why but i feel like brown rice and oatmeal has really helped.
i think eating something quite sweet at bf has helped. what i do is microwave half a banana and top it on oats, with yoghurt, blueberries and cinnamon. i really find it helps cravings in the morning and i dont even eat a lot of it about 300 cal bf. banana is really quite sweet and its healthy

and brown rice is really fulfilling i find. if i eat bread/ flour my body will just burn through it so quick and ill end up craving more.

anyway its a fine balance between treating yourself and not depriving yourself.
good luck

positivepineapple

Trouble with me and peanut butter is I could eat the whole jar lol. Green tea is an anti-oxidant it is also supposed to help with weight loss too but I think that it has minimal effect on that. If you don't get on with the plain green tea, try the flavoured or you can add it to gravy and sauces. A really interesting way is to add it to coffee. I love it like that but I do drink black coffee. No harm in trying it and I hope it works for you.

admittedly peanut butter is kind of dangerous in my house, that's one thing I absolutely love and have to practice self control when I eat it.

lets just say I have a love/hate relationship with peanut butter lol.... I measure out my portion.... Screw the lid back on and stick it in the back of the cupboard... Out of sight out of mind

positivepineapple

have sex

there you go! Perfect

roswyn80

I've found that eating one little square of dark chocolate, such as Loving Earth raw organic dark chocolate, satisfies my chocolate cravings (although I'll admit to normally caving and having three, maybe four squares). As a bonus it's delicious, full of antioxidants, and you can justify it by saying it's good for you. Eating it slowly helps - I nibble it and slowly suck on it rather than wolfing it down.

If you have a craving, I think it's best to satisfy it with a low calorie option if possible, because when you deny yourself is when you end up binging badly the next time you have that particular food. The other day I was craving fast food burgers, so I bought myself some low fat mince meat, made some patties, and had my own burgers which were just as yummy... and better for me. Pizza is one of my worst cravings, but I've found that spreading a little tomato paste on bread, then toasting it with some cheese on top satisfies that craving, too.

queensturg

I think there are two good ways to handle cravings. One is to let yourself have just a little bit of something that you really want, that way you don't feel deprived, and really, a little junk food in moderation isn't going to set you back at all.

As for cravings, I've found that you can change them just by changing your way of thinking. Focus on the healthy foods that you like, think about how much you like them and how good they make you feel when you eat them. Then think of the foods you don't want to eat, how fatty, greasy, etc. they are, and how you feel worse when you eat them. I've found that I rarely crave junk foods now just by telling myselt things like that, after all, cravings are all in your head so all you really have to do is just change your mind about things!

liveit

The great thing about MFP is that you can manage what you eat based on your calories. If you have to have your fav chocolate bar, you can then adjust the remainder of your calories for the day/week to work around it. I think it's important to be easy on yourself. To be truly fit requires many lifestyle changes that don't happen overnight. The beauty of this system is that once you can see how that chocolate bar wreaks havoc on your calorie intake, you can gradually make adjustments, choosing lower calorie, more nutitionally dense foods. Discovering foods that I enjoy that are better for is half the fun. There's not enough talk about nutrition here, and it's so important to consider. Once we start making better choices our palette change and we no longer crave the bad stuff. It gets easier.

Code7526

Eat Apples to deal with cravings. Apples contain pectin which is a appetite suppressant and they help with sugar cravings. If you are hungry between meals, eat apples.

liveit

P.S. I love chocolate. I've gradually moved from milk to dark. I used to always have it in the house. My one treat.
Now I enjoy dates as my chocolate alternative. I find they satisfy me just as much and are also full
of nutrients. Dried fruits or an apple with peanut butter rocks too.

jcorinne16

have sex

lol i think this is my boyfriends favorite reply!!

liveit

Find a healthy alternative. I don't believe in complete denial, try Medjool dates when you crave chocolate.

mitchL93

There are lots of alternatives to aid you in suppressing your sweet tooth, urge to pig out or whatever it may be. There are lots of low calorie, sugar and fat recipes out there with ingredients that will actually benefit you. Foods like stevia which is an all natural sugar free sweetener are an absolute god send aswell. You can buy flavourings too to add to your meals and there's also a range of calorie-free products by Walden Farms. Check out leanbodylifestyle on youtube for instructionals, recipes and ideas.. there's everything from pancakes, cookies, pizza and southern fried chicken!

Also on the flipside, implementing cheat meals into your diet plan may benefit you too. I find it works as a pressure release valve and if I know i'm going to get my cheat at the end of the week then i'm more inclined to keep myself on track during the week and I won't feel guilty having it when that times comes. I do cheat meals weekly, on a sunday because after my meal is finished i'm ready to reset and begin the new week ahead with a fresh mindset. Not only are they psychologically beneficial but they also jump start your metabolism and keep it ticking over as when you put your body into a caloric deficit, your metabolism slows down. This is why you generally tend to find at the beginning of a diet you lose significantly more than you do three weeks into it.

Hope this helps!