struggling

I know I need to lose the weight. And I am trying; But ... I seem to always blow it when it comes to the food. I work out 3-4 times a week, but I overdo it on the calories. Usually junk calories! Why can't I get control of this?!?

Replies

  • 5stringjeff
    5stringjeff Posts: 790 Member
    Do what you can to eliminate the junk food from your house. If it's not there, you can't eat it.
  • Do what you can to eliminate the junk food from your house. If it's not there, you can't eat it.

    ^This. I think that this is what you might need to do at this point. My weakness was chocolate and sweets. I have command over it now to the point where I can eat a little chocolate and not go crazy. I will say that what helps me is a) eating fruit when I would normally go for some sweets and b) having something sweet for dessert that isn't terrible. Right now, that dessert item is Skinny Cow Ice Cream sandwiches. Having one of those keeps me off of the hard stuff. That being said, don't bring those into your house if you are not at the point where you can stop at eating just one. About a year ago, I would probably have scarfed down at least 2 per sitting if there were in my house.
  • kyodi
    kyodi Posts: 376 Member
    I am proof of the saying "you can't out train a bad diet". A person can workout for 5 hours a day every day, but if that same person pounds a bag of Doritos that same day its all in the crapper.

    I agree with the other guys; get rid of the junk. That's what I've had to do. And if you need junk, make good junk. I've done stuff like the black bean brownies, healthy(er) peanut butter cups, etc to get through those "son of a ... I need a dessert thing and I need it right !@#$ing now!!" moments.

    I've also found having things portioned out ahead of time helps. I'm lazy. So I'll wash the grapes when I get home, weight them, bag them, and have them ready to grab for a snack. Same goes for veggies (with greek yogurt based dip); ready to grab when I just want it now. Meal prep has helped tremendously as well. Kills a lazy Sunday, but when I get home late from work and don't feel like cooking there is no need to run to a fast food/restaurant for dinner.

    Good luck man. Keep us updated.
  • KevinS62
    KevinS62 Posts: 239 Member
    For me I needed to find my motivation and get a kick start. A couple recent pictures from last fall (one is my profile pic) and getting tired of seeing myself in the mirror. I finally go disgusted, told myself no more and set a date. I pushed REAL hard the first week and used myfitnesspal app to track what I ate. I lead a huge weight loss, which gave me the motivation for week 2.

    Hope this helps
    -Kevin
  • dan_IRL
    dan_IRL Posts: 204 Member
    Agreed to all. Set yourself up with an environment where it is harder to fail. Get the junk food out of your house. Pre portion out stuff so you don't mindlessly blast through a box of crackers or other munchies. Have plenty of quick and easy healthier snacks around that you can just grab and eat. Have ingredients prepared and ready to go BEFORE you start digging around the fridge trying to figure out what you want to make for dinner.

    The better you set yourself up to succeed, the harder it is to fail. Like the old saying goes, work smarter, not harder.

    A good book that I recently read that really talked about setting up your environment and giving yourself all the proper tools for success was Weight Loss Boss. A book written by David Kirchoff, CEO of Weight Watchers. It is a GREAT book! It's kind of WW centric but it is really more about giving yourself the tools to succeed, with whatever method you are using, calorie counting, weight watchers, etc. etc. Check it out. It really helped me get a handle on forming new healthier habits.
  • teachmagish
    teachmagish Posts: 3 Member
    I have a huge sweet tooth and I struggle with this as well. The key to managing junk cravings for me has been to let myself indulge in something small that I can control. Don't have huge bags of chips, candy, etc. lying around, but if you really want something, get a small single serving, make sure to count it in your MFP and don't give yourself too much grief about it. As soon as you forbid yourself entire categories of food, you will want them more and more and will end up saying "screw it" and bingeing.
  • dan_IRL
    dan_IRL Posts: 204 Member
    I have a huge sweet tooth and I struggle with this as well. The key to managing junk cravings for me has been to let myself indulge in something small that I can control. Don't have huge bags of chips, candy, etc. lying around, but if you really want something, get a small single serving, make sure to count it in your MFP and don't give yourself too much grief about it. As soon as you forbid yourself entire categories of food, you will want them more and more and will end up saying "screw it" and bingeing.

    perfect
  • felipejose74
    felipejose74 Posts: 21 Member
    I have a huge sweet tooth and I struggle with this as well. The key to managing junk cravings for me has been to let myself indulge in something small that I can control. Don't have huge bags of chips, candy, etc. lying around, but if you really want something, get a small single serving, make sure to count it in your MFP and don't give yourself too much grief about it. As soon as you forbid yourself entire categories of food, you will want them more and more and will end up saying "screw it" and bingeing.

    I agree with this as well. What has also helped me is thinking of my "weakmess" foods in terms of how much exercise. For example, a bag of peanut M&M's are about a 2.25mi run to burn off. I quickly began processing that in terms of my ROI for junk food and helped me think differently about how valuable those foods are.
  • red0801
    red0801 Posts: 283 Member
    Some things that have helped me are:
    If I eat sweets-they are NOT processed. If there is anything on the label I can't pronounce. It's not an option. Natural sugar..i.e. fruits/homemade ice cream.
    Determine the serving size ahead of time. Usually before I buy them.

    If your eating out of habit. Try keeping a glass jar with the following that can be eating by the handful (1/4cup) until the urge passes. Cheerios/unsalted mixed nuts/raisins