Horrible eater. Please help:)

Congrats on admitting that- thats the first step. I too am a horrible eater and its not something that will go away over time. Just last nite, I binged on oreos....smh...lol. But what is helping me is logging in all that junk food, even if I go over my calories. I like seeing green and reading "....under her calorie goal". So when I see the red, its a little disappointing. Another thing that helps is drinking water- get a big container, fill it up, and just go for it. Most days I get a gallon of water and my body lets me know if Im under that gallon. Start small and work your way up and stay encouraged. You didnt develop bad habits over nite, you wont rid yourself of them overnite either. Good Luck, feel free to add me

And I can't give up pop (or switch to diet, yuck).

Rephrase that, I don't WANT to give up pop, you can if you want to do it. Drinking your calories is one of the biggest wastes. You can have so much good food for the number of calories in a can of pop.

Willpower is, of course, the key to success. Cravings and hunger sap them.

About the only thing that will help with the hunger is to increase your protein intake. It helps with satiety. Of course you need to track your caloric intake so that you can be certain you are regularly achieving a deficit. This web site is a great tool for that.

This means that you will probably start cutting carbs to make up for the increased calories coming from protein.

What I found for me is that the best way to deal with the cravings for the foods you used to eat is to simply stop eating them. You need to switch to a new way of eating such that the foods are simply not that appealing to eat. If you make food boring rather than a source of pleasure you will be less tempted to over-eat.

It's rough for about the first 6 weeks. I personally found that I thought about food all the time. I would go to bed early sometimes to avoid thinking about food and being hungry.

But if you can break the behavioral patterns for 6 weeks, it gets easier after that. It's not that you won't still want to eat the junk food, but the cravings become more...distant. You won't look at the junk food with an insistent need to eat it that requires tremendous strength to resist - you'll look at it and recognize it for something you used to enjoy but no longer do.

Another piece of advice is not to try and do it all at once. I started taking control of my diet about 4 months ago. Once I got a handle on that I started at a gym about 5 weeks ago. I don't think I have the willpower to handle the suffering of dieting and exercise simultaneously from the start.

For weight loss, caloric intake is more important than exercise. Exercise is very good for you and will enhance weight loss, but you can't out-train a bad diet. Especially if you are out of shape right now you are going to find it very hard to exercise off two slices of pizza. It's far less effort to just not eat the pizza.

The hard part of losing weight for me is that there is no immediate positive feedback for the harsh suffering you endure. Progress is slow and gradual so it's hard to see real results even when they happen. But once you drop 15 pounds it starts becoming "real". The first time you have to buy smaller clothes you really start to realize that the work is paying off and you don't want to screw it up.

I am the worst eater with no will power. I eat junk food quite a bit. Drive throughs at least 3 days a week. I try to eat healthy but can't find anything to satisfy the junk food cravings. And I can't give up pop (or switch to diet, yuck). Any suggestions you've tried that have worked? I know I can't expect to lose the weight with exercise alone....

*puts down his book*

This is going to sound mean..

Buck Up, Take Responsibility and Stop Doing It. It's Obvious you aren't stupid. You know what the problem is.. So STOP DOING IT. Choose... Be Unhealthy/Fat or Change you life... Your choice.. You get to choose.

Key is creating good habits, you have to force yourself to have the willpower to start then you can slowly start to create a good habit out of the bad habit..

Sorry to sound mean, I'm just not sugar coating it, sometimes that is what people need.

I agree about logging your food. And your calorie goal is 1000? You should consider bumping that to at least 1200. Increase water intake. Cut soda to 1 can a day.... prolong one can.

If you want to be successful set a realistic goal for yourself. Calculate your BMR and eat above it. Setting your budget at 1000 is unhealthy and unrealistic. You've also ask about exercise that burns a ton. That won't work. You can't out exercise your bad eating habits.

It's time to step back and take a good long look at what your goal is and how you can achieve it. There are no tricks or gimmicks to weight loss. You take one day at a time, make better choices and the weight comes off one pound at a time just like it went on. You're setting yourself up for failure again by expecting too much.

We can't help you, we can only give you suggestions. You need to help YOURSELF.

I was lucky to never get hooked on pop, but if I'm craving fizz, I have a perrier.

As for "junk food" - try pop chips instead of chips, dark chocolate (a couple squares) for a sweet craving, find new recipies (Ripped Recipes) for other "junk" that is a "cleaner" version. Look these things up, there are A LOT of options.

You may have to go extreme to cut some of these habits back. Like, you may only carry money with you on Grocery and Bill Paying Day, which is one day a week. The rest of the week, you have no money, no credit card, and CANNOT get yourself drive thru food. Your budget will probably thank you in the end, as well as your body.

I don't let myself have a diet soda unless I drink my 8-12 cups of water. I do have diet soda, but I don't drink it all the time. Maybe on your grocery day you can buy one twelve pack or two 2 liters and that's IT for the week, forcing you to cut back.

I don't know if these will work for you, just some suggestions.

Good luck with starting over and realizing what you need to do. Take the suggestions that offer help, research and find out what works for you. Too many people on here start criticizing as soon as they read something and don't offer "help", that is why I seldom post on here. Good luck with your goals and hopefully you will keep your progress posted.:happy: