Help me stop cheating ...

jenilei08

I do good most of the day feel good but by the end of the day i am tired and hungry so i seem to pig out .. I need to stop doing that but it is hard ... I live in Nevada and it is just about summer already and i still have 60 lbs or so to go but at least 20-30 befor i will even consider wearing a swim suit ... plus they are opening 2 new water parks in a few months .... please help .....

GravyBrah

Try brushing your teeth right after your last meal, it doesn't curb cravings but it definitely makes it alot more annoying to cheat.

Cr01502

Hey OP

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate problem.

I'm an ex cheater myself and if it wasn't for my wife's big forgiving heart I'd be noes deep in a brothel right now.

I'm glad to see that there's motivation and support for people like us on MFP

Feel free to add.

:flowerforyou:

GC2B

Hey there,
Just a few quick questions... what is your calorie goal for the day? And what foods are you eating?

I ask because at 1200 a day which is what I thought I should be aiming for had me going for anything come the evening as I was hungry!! I followed some advice, did my research and maths and recalculated my goal to be 1400 (and a few more) with this I am eating more and so not feeling the need to go for it later in the day, because I've not been starving!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013?hl=in+place+of+a+road+map
A massive thread but well worth a look.

I hope some of that helps.

Bettyeditor

I do good most of the day feel good but by the end of the day i am tired and hungry so i seem to pig out .. I need to stop doing that but it is hard ... I live in Nevada and it is just about summer already and i still have 60 lbs or so to go but at least 20-30 befor i will even consider wearing a swim suit ... plus they are opening 2 new water parks in a few months .... please help .....

It sounds to me as though you are not feeding your body enough calories and nutrition. To lose weight effectively and in a healhty way, you should not be hungry and tired at night, you should feel full as a tick. ) I have learned that cravings are 99% physical. Your body does not have a voice, it's can't say "hey! you are eating too little, I don't have enough calories, I need so quick glucose right now and I'm low on protien and while you're at it, I need more high-quality fats too.:" Your body speaks to you through cravings, hormonal and chemical urges. Which your brain associates with your common foods. If you crave pizza, but give yourself high-quality protein/carbs/fats instead, your pizza craving will go away. If you crave sweets but give yourself high-qualty, quickly absorbed carbs instead, your sweets craving will go away. If you eat the right amount of caloires with all the nutrients that your body needs and you do this consistently every day, after a few weeks or months at the most you will find that you almost NEVER get any kind of cravings. Because there is nothing left to crave when your body is getting the fuel/nutrients that it needs.

I recommend a great book called Intuitive Eating. The website is awesome too. http://www.intuitiveeating.org/ Your diary is closed so I can't see your settings but if you are like most of here, you started MFP putting in "sedentary" as your activity level and "2 pounds" as your diet goal and you get 1,200 calories as your default. For more adult women who need to lose weight, 1,200 calories will not get them where they want to go. I recommend that you check out the MFP group: Eat More 2 Weigh Less. They have a ton of links and a website with tools and resources to help you find out how many calories you should be eating.

The basic idea is this: To lose weight, you should calculate how much you burn per day (e.g., 2300 calories) and then eat a moderate deficit below that (between 10-20% less), which is about 1800-2000 calories. The exception is if you are very obese with more than 75 lbs to lose, you can eat 30%+ less. But on days when you work out, eat more to fuel your workout (that's why MFP add exercise calories to your diary). I was in the category of more than 75 lbs to lose, and I did mistakenly eat too little (around 1300 for a couple months). I hope/think I didn't do too much damage to my metabolism because at least I ate every 2-3 hours, 5-6 meals a day religiously, which helps with hormones, such as helps to keep leptin in place and helps avoid cortisol. But now that I have lost a lot of weight, I've had to bring my calories back up. I'm in the process of ramping up, eating about 1700 now.

But my point is this: at no point have I ever let myself go hungry or feel deprived. I kept reminding myself that this is NOT a temporary "diet" -- this is just how I eat now. ) Even at 1300 calories, I made sure I was full all day and NEVER hungry. Best secret: eat massive amounts of veggies. I eat 2-4 servings of cooked veggies for lunch and dinner almost every day. Add on lean chicken/turkey/fish and high-quality filling carb like brown rice, and you will not be hungry at night.

I also discovered that how I ate at the very beginning of the day set up my whole day and had a ripple effect into that night. Whenever I ate right away upon awakening (within 20 minutes) and ate a full, balanced breakfast with adequte carbs/fat/protein, and in particular, a minimum of 20 grams of protein, then I noticed the whole rest of the day that I only got hungry at meal/snack times and was very satisfied with my meals/snacks. But when I didn't eat enough breakfast or 20 g protein, I would be up-and-down and plagued with ravenous hunger all day. So even if I don't feel like eating breakfast, I force myself. I know I'll be sorry later in the day if I don't.

It sounds to me like you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain date. I'm sorry to tell you, but your body is a mechanism that does not understand "swimsuit season." LOL If you feel pressured to lose weight FAST you are more likely to do counter-productive things, like cut your calories drastically at the same time that you increase your exercise sharply. This will mess up your hormones and slow your metabolism. I recommend that you take a high-pressure deadline off yourself and settle in to learning a new eating lifestyle, in a healthy way. I have lost 70 lbs while never once "dieting" -- I eat cookies almost every day and waffles/eggs/bacon for brunch every weekend. Of course, I have also learned how to find yummy delicious ways to eat 4-8 servings of veggies every day. I've been losing since Sept. 2012 and never once have I felt hungry or deprived or stressed. The "diet' mentality won't serve you, because after the "diet" is over, you will go back to the eating patterns that god you here in the first place. The other day I realized that when I reach my goal weight someday and increase my calories to maintenance levels, it will only be a few hundred calories more than I am eating now. (Because when I am smaller, it will take less calories to maintain me, so the 20% less I am eating now is close to what I'll need to eat when my body mass is 20% less). So I consider how I am eating now to be practice for maintaining a healthy weight! Basically, I am eating RIGHT NOW exactly how I need to eat to maintain my healthy weight. So, I AM a healthy weight eater RIGHT NOW, and my body is just in the process of catching up to that reality. ) This is a much happier way to lose weight than trying to deprive yourself.

Bettyeditor

The bottom line of my overly-long post being: The word "cheat" has no meaning for me. I eat what I love, I eat treats like cookies every day, and I love the yummy foods that i eat. I also love that they are a healthy balance of protein/carbs/fats and give me important nutrients. I love that whenever I have an event like a holiday, I just plan ahead, eat a bit lighter before/after, and I still balance out to my calorie/macro goals by the end of the day or at least by the end of the week.

So, I am never tempted to "cheat" because there is nothing to cheat on. This is just how I eat, this is my life. And I LOVE how I eat. And I never want to go back to the old way. How I eat now is yummy and satisfying but without the greasiness and indegestion and bloating etc...

So my best advice to help you stop cheating, is to reject the diet mentality and embrace a new, permanent, healthy way of eating that is balanced enough to satisfy you with moderate, balanced treats every day and flexible enough to work around eating out and special events. :flowerforyou:

backtovee

You know, honestly, at the end of the day it comes down to willpower. Resisting late night binges has a lot to do with your commitment to your weight loss, and being accountable for the goals you set for yourself.

Unknown

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chymerra

if you're used to eating/snacking at night, it's probably habitual. your body is used to eating during that time so it will naturally feel "hungry" even if it's not so you need to break that habit. to do this, just don't eat at that time and distract yourself. if you have eating your calories for the day and are full (before you actually get to your usual snacking time), then distract yourself - drink water, brush your teeth, go for a walk etc. the habit will break after 2-3 weeks of avoidance.

food doesn't have any power over you; YOU give food power over you!

what it comes down to is will power -- you have it within yourself!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

What's your calorie goal? How much protein are you getting?

endoftheside

For me, it's one of three things--either I am not eating enough, or I am actually tired, or I am restless/bored/unsettled in some way.

For the first, changing to a calorie level based on TDEE did the trick. 1200 calories was just punishing, eating at TDEE-20(or less)% leaves me content most of the time.

If I am actually tired, the solution to that is obvious (even if hard to do sometimes). In the past, eating when tired hasn't really helped, anyway, so it's just not worth it.

If I am restless/bored/whatever, I tell myself that I will just have a good breakfast in the morning and look forward to that instead. I eat dinner only about 2 hours before bed anyway so it isn't a huge long time to deal with. If I had to stay awake more than 3-4 hours after dinner I would make sure to plan for a 300 calorie snack. Sometimes I kinda do this anyway by making part of my "dinner" snack-like (popcorn, nuts, etc. as long as it fits in my macros), especially if it is a noshing in front of the TV kind of night.

If you determine what the real cause of your "cheating" is, fixing the problem is much easier. Willpower is a finite resource and I don't do deprivation well, so I prefer to use habits for day to day issues. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (probably available at your library) is a really good read and has lots of ideas that can be used for dietary modification.

Calliope610

As others have mentioned, you may not be getting enough to eat during the day. I experienced that before also. I would be famished by 4:00 in the afternoon and would binge as soon as I got home, then eat a full, big dinner.

I solved the problem by eating breakfast and lunch and adding a calorie dense snack in the late afternoon (nuts, fruit and peanut butter, etc).

JossFit

There are a few things mentioned here that could be the culprit;

1. Lack of willpower
2. Not eating enough
3. Habit

It's up to you to really figure out which one or combination it is and then do something about it. Saying 'someone help me' won't do much even if they spell it out for you.

dlcarroll13

You know, honestly, at the end of the day it comes down to willpower. Resisting late night binges has a lot to do with your commitment to your weight loss, and being accountable for the goals you set for yourself.

Absolutely! You will stop cheating when you decide that BEING THINNER, BEING HEALTHIER, FEELING BETTER, NOT BEING FAT (whatever it is for you) is more important than that craving you are having in the moment. It's a work in progress that starts with a snack, then a meal, then a day, month, etc...pretty soon it's a lifestyle and not a matter of "dieting vs cheating"

GamerLady

What is it that you find yourself wanting to eat that makes you cheat? If it's sweets, you could always buy a bag of cotton candy from your local movie theatre, the whole 1 oz is only around 114 calories, and it should be enough to kill your sugar cravings picking a little bit from it throughout the week.

quirkytizzy

Log, log, log. And click "finish entry" every night. It helps keep you accountable. (I'm relearning this myself after a few weeks of inconsistent logging myself.)

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Save calorie for a bed time snack. Get all unhealthy snacks out of the house.

TigressPat

to me, it seems you have two problems, possibly 3 if you count willpower.
1- you are likely not eating enough because of:
2- you have unrealistic goals and want to achieve them NOW.

this whole "need to get skinny in a month because summer is here" mantra is a load of ****

this is why you are depriving yourself and your body and then binging because you are both unhappy, unfullfilled, and underfed. This is why people might lose weight, but they are miserable while doing it, can't help but cheat, or give up, and regain the weight.

focus more on being healthy. Eat more.

you will probably stop cheating if you aren't restricting yourself unnaturally to achieve the impossible in an unlikely and restrictive time period.

blu_meanie_ca

I'll save up to half my caloric intake for a night time snack (popcorn with coconut oil and peanutbutter is yummy). That's the thing about it though is that I now plan for it, and adjust accourdingly. No, salad with vinegrette isn't the world's yummies lunch (loads of vitamins though), but having a movie night and still losing weight is killer.

dlcarroll13

What is it that you find yourself wanting to eat that makes you cheat? If it's sweets, you could always buy a bag of cotton candy from your local movie theatre, the whole 1 oz is only around 114 calories, and it should be enough to kill your sugar cravings picking a little bit from it throughout the week.

Bad idea. The sugar cravings will only become far WORSE because you will trigger an immediate insulin spike. If you have having cravings sugar and carbs are the thing you want to avoid.

ThisGirl2013

if you're used to eating/snacking at night, it's probably habitual. your body is used to eating during that time so it will naturally feel "hungry" even if it's not so you need to break that habit. to do this, just don't eat at that time and distract yourself. if you have eating your calories for the day and are full (before you actually get to your usual snacking time), then distract yourself - drink water, brush your teeth, go for a walk etc. the habit will break after 2-3 weeks of avoidance.

food doesn't have any power over you; YOU give food power over you!

what it comes down to is will power -- you have it within yourself!

This. I had the same problem! I started eating more protein in the middle of the afternoon to fill me up (saving a few calories for something light at dinner) and avoid needing so much at night. I even fasted for a few meals here and there and one day, once - just to put my mindset in the right place.

xXxHBICxXx

I have the same problem, what I do is leave enough calories for my "late night snack" and I keep it under 200 calories. Usually a 100 calorie bag or popcorn and a fiber one brownie, and then when i'm done, I brush my teeth. I just started doing this like a week ago, if that and it is truly helping me. Just save the calories and allow yourself a snack, don't beat yourself up over it.

judychicken

bump

floridapanthergirl

Sounds like emotional eating to me. Lonely? Afraid of the weight loss? Bored? Addicted to Carbs?I'd suggest some journaling. All the will power in the world won't help you white knuckle it through the issues that got you where you are. If will power was the key, not many of us would be here. Do a little self exploration and be accountable to yourself as well as others.

ryry_

OP...What is your daily calorie level and are you any particular diet (low carb, paleo, etc.).

My guess is your problem is a combination of a low calorie level and overly restrictive diet.

terbeest2009

I always like to drink flavored, sparkling water. It has no calories and no sodium, so it's better for you than diet soda. When I visited Europe last summer I noticed that all of my host families were skinny and all of them drank carbonated water. I decided that it would be a good way to fix cravings and get my water in for the day. The carbonation fills my stomach and the flavor cures my craving.

amiable_1

First and foremost, for a lot of us weight loss is a matter of a change in lifestyle. If I am cheating, my lifestyle has not changed.

Second, think of a hunger at night as a sign of "success." NOT A GOAL, but as "success." Mind over matter, the hunger goes away.

Third, have low cal healthy snacks on the counter waiting for you if you walk in -- grape tomatoes, sliced cucumber in wine vinegar, chunked cabbage, raw broccoli. You'd be surprised how good and filling they are.

Finally, trainer Bob Harper (Biggest Loser) says going to bed hungry is one of the "rules." If you cheat at night, my experience is you break the rule. Your body will burn fat at night, and you do not wake up hungry.