CRAVING WINGS!! HELP

It's hard to say without knowing your diet. If you're just counting your calories, have the wings but calculate beforehand EXACTLY how many you can have and how much dip you can have. This is the main problem with extremely calorie dense food: one or two extra pieces is the difference between staying within your calorie budget and blowing it out of the water.

I actually recommend doing stuff like this on purpose, at least at first. I've found that allowing myself to eat things when I crave them has helped me to:

- Learn how to figure out exactly how much of it I can eat

- Develop self control to ONLY eat that amount

- Convince my inner child that it's not being deprived. I think this is THE major reason diets fail and people usually pay the weight back with interest.

Ironically, I've found that by allowing myself to have these kinds of foods (within limits) and exercising that right on occasion helps me to NOT eat those foods as often. A cheeseburger just doesn't have the same "sex appeal" when you know you can have one.

Think about this: what's the ONE thing that overweight folks tend to envy about skinny folks? If I had to guess, it'd be their ability to "just have one donut". Think about it: there are people on this planet who can eat whatever they want and not get fat. True, some of those people are just blessed with a turbocharged metabolism, but is that really all there is to it? If we look closer, we often find that our skinnier friends naturally choose healthier foods more often, and when they do eat something unhealthy, they don't make a big deal out of it. They say "a slice of pizza sounds good" or "I'll have a donut". What do most of US say? "Well, I promised myself I wouldn't have a donut and I did anyway... so *kitten* it... I'm going to eat 10 donuts!"

I think one of the most important things we can do for our long term success is to teach ourselves how to lose our obsession with the "bad foods". People used to say "just have them in moderation", but that used to be a lot harder. Now, with MFP, it's really easy to calculate EXACTLY how many wings you can have. All it takes is the discipline.

If you can learn how to have unhealthy foods in moderation, then you will have slayed this particularly nasty dragon.

I was craving my non diet buffalo chicken dip which has ranch and blue cheese and cream cheese and cheddar cheese etc etc,, so unhealthy.. so I made a healthier alternative and used it as a dressing over some shredded chicken breast in a wrap it was good.


regular buffalo sauce- 1 serving
Fat free greek yogurt- enough to make it creamy
a small drip (less than a serving) of ranch or blue cheese

stir it up and pour just enough on a bake chicken breast to make you satisfied. Save the rest for next time. Eat with lots of veggies or celery..

mmm.. didnt feel deprived at all.. and it was good enough for me

Another option would be to create the sensation of the wings with something healthier. Bone-in chicken thighs or ribs, remove skin and excess fat. So you'll have the eating-with-hands feel of the wing. Try this recipe (for an entire chicken, adjust cooking times as required) to make something similar that will be really tasty. Add more spice if you like your wings hot:

Marinade the chicken in a mix of spices (freshly toasted & ground if you can be bothered) - use chilli powder, tumeric, paprika & cumin - plus some fresh garlic in a few big spoons of low fat natural yoghurt. Leave in there for at least 4 hours (ideally do this the night before).

Preheat the over to about 200c/400F. When you're ready, take the chicken out of the marinade, put on a roasting rack in a baking dish and throw into the oven for as long as it takes. I'd only be guessing, but a full chook takes about 75min, so you'll need to test it regularly (skewer in thickest bits, juices should run clear) - start at 20min and go from there?

Dress the chicken with a bit of salt & pepper and your choice of flavours (hot sauce, lemon/lime juice, etc) and you're done. If you want a creamy sauce, make a bit extra of the marinade but leave out the garlic. Obviously DON'T use left over marinade that the chicken was in, that would be nasty (and bad for you most likely).

Hope this helps.

I love me some wings. I just buy the frozen ones from Kroger/Wal-Mart, toss them in the oven, then add a bit of sauce to them then they are done. I am a huge fan of hot sauces though, so that generally works to my benefit in the calorie department.

check out cook yourself thin and see if there is a lower calorie way of making wings. or even the skinnytaste recipes you can find online. you dont have to give up your cravings, just learn different ways to cook them and cut out a lot of useless (bad) calories. i love both of the sites and eat very well thanks to them!! good luck.

http://www.bullfrogsandbulldogs.com/pinned-it-did-it-spicy-buffalo-cauliflower/

Skinnytaste.com has healthy wing flavored recipes. Here is a buffalo chicken dip and there is even buffalo cauliflower bites that my friend said were great and she doesn't like cauliflower. Try to get the craving without the calories or figure out if you really want it or are bored or emotional. But I know if I have a craving that I do better if I have a lil of what I want instead of trying to kill it with lots and lots of unsatisfying substitutes. Unless of course it's a trigger food and once you start, you can't stop.
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/02/lighter-buffalo-chicken-dip.html?m=1

OMG THe cauliflower bites are DELICIOUS...I'm not a huge fan of cauliflower either, but mmmmm they're yummy.
You can also make your own ranch with greek yogurt & ranch dressing packets....I actually find I like it more than actual ranch