I'm having a hard time with "Never again"

I had a Baconator........with fries and a frosty for lunch.....I will work out hard at the gym and easy a sensible dinner..........hope that helps.

One really helpful strategy is to find recipes for these things you love that are maybe a healther interpretation. I LOVE mac and cheese, but when I make it I use whole wheat rotini (surprisingly tasty, honest, but you could use regular if you wanted) and really key, I put 2 whole heads of broccoli in, and fresh parsley or kale or fresh green beans or whatever veg in there to help fill it out and provide nutrients. Making it yourself you can also decide how much and what kind of cheese to use. So you could use the reduced fat cheddar and skim milk instead of full fat stuff. That gives the leeway to use a bit more and you really won't notice a difference once it's cooked up. Homemade casserole style mac and cheese is a lot more tasty than the box stuff too, and you can input your recipe and see how many calories there are per portion, and if, say, splitting it in 4 means it's 750 per portion you could split it into 6 servings instead and have a side salad to complete the meal. You can totally enjoy the things you love, this just gives you the tools to control how many calories are in each serving.

I also really like one of Michael Pollan's tips - he suggests you allow yourself to eat whatever "junk" foods you want, but only if you cook them yourself. Maybe you don't have to always stick with this rule 100% of the time but it is a great general guideline. Like sure, make a batch of cookies and have several in one sitting, that can be OK if you're logging it all and trying your best to make it fit in with your calorie goals. Making it yourself lets you know exactly what's in there, make decisions and maybe substitutions, and it also means eating treats involves a bit of effort instead of just a trip half a block to the corner store.

I think more people than you realize started in the exact same place that you are right now. I know I did. Many a diet was thwarted by the panic that set in when I realized that never again would I be able to split a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts with my husband, never again would I be able to eat an entire plate of cheese fries drenched in ranch, washed down with a couple of beers. Like everyone is saying, you don't have to give up any food forever, but you do have to give up overindulgence. For some reason, that was very difficult for me. I can't tell you what will work for you, but my biggest hurdle was learning to accept that I have total control over what I eat. A craving is just a craving, it's just a thought, it only has the power that I give it. Taking that control and that responsibility was a big step forward for me. I also learned that I make better decisions when I'm not super hungry. I had to set my alarm to remember to eat lunch at a reasonable hour: if I put it off until 2pm, I end up in the drive-thru at Wendy's, every time.

Figure out what you have the willpower to do. I do not have the willpower to sit down to a large bowl of macaroni and cheese and only eat half. I DO have the willpower to measure out a reasonably sized portion of macaroni and cheese, package up the rest of it and stick it in the fridge before I ever take a bite. I will ask for a box as soon as I get my food at a restaurant, and just box up half of it.

And of course, all of this is moot if you're not ready. And it's okay if you're not. At the beginning, it's really hard. I look back at all of those times that I failed, and I realize that I really wasn't ready. I wanted to be healthy, but not as much as I wanted to eat whatever I liked. Then I hit a point when something in my head clicked, and those two priorities shifted, just a little, so that for the first time, I wanted to be healthy just a teeny, tiny bit more than I wanted to eat a bag of Oreos in one sitting. It was a turning point, to be able to say "a large part of me wants to eat a slice of cake the size of my head, but a slightly larger part of me doesn't want to live like this any more."

If you're ready, or you're not sure that you're ready but you want to be, find things that motivate you. Pinterest is a good place to go for inspiration. Clothes you know you'll look great in at your goal weight, vacations that you'd love to take when you can rock a bikini, cheesy inspirational sayings, whatever keeps you moving. And good luck. It's not easy, but nothing worth having comes easy.

Sounds like addiction to me. I binge on certain types of foods and avoid them completely. They are bad for me anyway (sweets and wheat and corn products)

Never again never worked for me, either. I love food and I know that I will never be able to give up what I want. I decided to make it healthier.

Like you mentioned the mac and cheese - I make my own with low carb elbow macaroni, and a couple of different cheeses. It makes 6 servings, and it's around 388 calories per serving (I make it with ground turkey in there, too, but you could omit it and cut the calories even more).

It's all about choices and amount. The surest way to fail (for me anyway) is to say "I can't have this" - because it eventually becomes all you think about, then you end up binging on it. I changed my thinking to "I DON'T" instead of "I can't" - I don't eat processed macaroni and cheese in a box, I make my own. I don't eat storebought chocolate bars (with a rare exception) - I make my own semisweet bars. I don't eat a lot of processed foods, I make a lot of stuff from scratch, (including spaghetti sauces and soups - no canned sodium for me, with rare exceptions).

Never, say never. It's not that you will never be able to eat certain foods...everything is in moderation. As you lose weight and begin to make better food choices, you will find that you will not desire to eat a big plate of food or a large piece of that chocolate cake. A small piece might do just fine. After all your hard work and dedication, you will be making better choices without even thinking about it.

There is the problem. You can't deny yourself the food you love, whatever it is. Have it on occasion so you can keep sane. We are designed to enjoy food. I believe the key to losing weight as well as maintaining is eating as healthy as you can while still allowing yourself to enjoy anything you love. Do an internet search for "Anything Goes Diet" and if you make that investment it will change your life in a good way and help you here on MFP. Basically you need to plan to have your treats, enter them in the diary, and then work around it and keep yourself within your calorie budget.

"Diets" don't work because they are not sustainable. You can eat what ever you want, just not all at once, and usually not every day!

I was just like you. It hasn't been long since I changed the way I look at food. I got tired of having NO energy. I started researching and found that a lot of the crap they put in foods causes you to want more (buy more) and makes you feel yuck and lazy because a lot its man made stuff and your body doesn't handle it well. I REBELLED! I refuse to live an unhealthy life and continue to line their pockets! I'm not saying I will never ever eat those foods again but it sure isn't as appealing now. If I want mac and cheese I have it...whole grain pasta and real cheese. If I want pizza I make it...whole grain and fresh veggies. it takes a little time to get used to whole wheat when you've lived your whole life on white but you can do it! There are so many healthy and yummy recipes out there....check out the gracious pantry blog for a start. I changed the way my whole family eats, kids included, and no one has complained a bit. The other thing that helps me is knowing if I work out I get to eat more

Like you, I have never experienced eating just a little. There are certain foods that trigger a binge every single time and I know if I get one bite, it's all over. I don't tell myself I can never have it again. I just avoid having it regularly and I try to indulge ONLY if I'm in a position to account for the calories. Not that I'm always successful, but all you can do is try!

you are just going to have to learn to have a little, just because it's not how u did it before, doesnt mean u can't start doing it now. if u cut out foods you love completely, it is going to be harder to stick with, you will have to figure out how you can do smaller portions