Do cravings last forever?

it goes away after not bingeing for a while.

for the most part, anyway.

i used to crave nutella all the time.. i'd buy the 5 pound jar and eat it all with a spoon within about 3-4 days. sometimes less.

I stopped buying it, started eating healthier, and now i haven't had nutella in a year.

i miss it, but it's a "trigger food" for me.

Get rid of those foods that trigger a binge. Log everything that you eat, and when you crave something, drink a lot of water or tea. It's going to be hard. But you really can regain self control and push through it.

I've been doing this for about three months and the craving is still there for me. I crave food basically constantly. I find chocolate Special K does a good job of holding me over and I drink a lot of tea. But every day I want a giant plate of rice. It is my craving and my desire for it is ever present.

I manage to hold to my diet most days, but it costs me focus in all other aspects of my life. I do not work as well at work, I am less attentive to events around me and I am less able to do things I don't like. Willpower it seems, is a limited resource.

Good luck with your craving.

I personally do not believe you have to give up what you crave (unless it's drugs, alcohol, gambling, or other true addictions) to enjoy a good lifestyle. What you do have to do though is change your HABIT of food consumption. Don't eat a whole pizza. Don't eat 12 bars of chocolate. Will it be tough? Probably, but if you are determined and committed, you can learn how to have what you enjoy in moderation.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

It took years, but I don't really get strong cravings anymore. Try to replace them with healthier cravings. Start rituals, like the same healthy meal after a workout, or the same healthy snack after dinner. If you are an emotional eater, the positive connotations will start to add up. I like tuna and mrs dash after a work out and sparkling water over frozen berries as an after dinner snack. Concentrate more on adding the things you want to be eating than on restricting the things you don't want. Chocolate is the worst for me. I can have a piece, but if there is a box in the house, I will keep thinking about it. This valentines day, I asked for a spa gift card instead lol.

Nope, cravings go away eventually! I gradually got anorexia . When I started restricting, I wanted EVERYTHING. But the less I ate it, the less I craved it. Just do it gradually. First, stop eating ONE thing you want. Don't eat it until you stop wanting it, wait for a week or so, and then quit something else. Soon you'll stop binging on everything (:

Did everyone else miss that??

Also, I started craving things like fresh fruit and specific kind of meals that I used to have when I ate healthier. Weird, I know.

I've been doing this for about three months and the craving is still there for me. I crave food basically constantly. I find chocolate Special K does a good job of holding me over and I drink a lot of tea. But every day I want a giant plate of rice. It is my craving and my desire for it is ever present.

I manage to hold to my diet most days, but it costs me focus in all other aspects of my life. I do not work as well at work, I am less attentive to events around me and I am less able to do things I don't like. Willpower it seems, is a limited resource.

Good luck with your craving.

I'm going to disagree with willpower being a limited resource. Starting out, I would say things like the above and "I just don't have any willpower" because I kept telling myself I didn't have it, that I couldn't do something, etc. When it boiled down to it, though, it was just an excuse I was using to allow myself to fail.

It's taken years but guess what, I do have willpower and I am able to use. I've found it's like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. I think willpower is an unlimited resource. It just takes practice and the determination not to quit to build up on it.

I was wondering....i had cravings until my vitamins and minerals got in order...that helped for alot...the rest seem to be mood eating

^^^ this

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause increased cravings so that the body has a chance to replenish, also can cause poor impulse control. If you eat nutrient dense foods you might find the cravings decrease. It has been found that people consume more calories of nutritionally void food (junk, rice, white bread etc) in a sitting just because the body is pushing for some vitamins and minerals.

The above has to go hand in hand what other's have mentioned (gradual habit changes and working at self control).

I still have cravings. I just try and make healthier versions of things... Or eat them in a way that I can't binge (buy one slice of pizza, preportioned portions etc). Frankly logging everything I eat has made a big difference though... I know how many calories things have and it stops me from eating too much of them most of the time (or I don't have dinner... which kinda sucks).

If you've been overweight and you've experienced binge eating or just emotional eating more than a few times in your life, you get pretty attached to it. We all love food, I bet there isn't anyone who doesn't, the point is that you don't just love food, you need it more than your body actually should. You can try to resolve the problem by yourself, if it's not very serious, but if you're really suffering from an eating disorder, you can't just go from craving everything and wanting to binge to dieting succesfully in a day. If you're mentally struggling not to think about food and not to binge, if it takes over your thoughts then I think you need more support than we can give to you! We've all had cravings in the beginning and some (like me) keep having them after years, but it gets better, and as soon as you lose a certain amount of weight there's no need to restrict at the point that you suffer for your cravings. If it's so out of control you can't do it all alone, you need to find out if there's a reason (psychological or hormonal or whatever) for your extreme cravings, because it seems like they're really destructive. I can tell you that YES they go away after a bit but it all depends on your mindset when you start. If you start from a position in which you can't live without thinking about food and having massive cravings everyday then it'll be enormously difficult to diet all by yourself.
There are several tips we could give you: take away trigger foods, focus on healthy foods, eat small meals throughout the day, drink enough, sleep at least 8 hours a day, take it easy and try to take care of yourself and relax. But this only works if you already have a reasonable control over your bodily needs. I really hope you can find your way because I've been in the same place and it's uncomfortable, but I know it's so so so hard when you begin.

I personally do not believe you have to give up what you crave (unless it's drugs, alcohol, gambling, or other true addictions) to enjoy a good lifestyle. What you do have to do though is change your HABIT of food consumption. Don't eat a whole pizza. Don't eat 12 bars of chocolate. Will it be tough? Probably, but if you are determined and committed, you can learn how to have what you enjoy in moderation.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I know it probably wasn't intentional, but I find that statement to be rather dismissive of people with eating disorders. Whether one has binge eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia or any hybrid - it's a real mental disorder/ addiction and it should be treated as such. Anyone who's been in the throes of an ED will tell you - it's an addiction, a compulsion that one cannot just stop, it can become one's whole life. Since one actually needs food, (as opposed to drugs, alcohol or gambling), there's also another dimension to consider.

To the TC:

If you have an eating disorder, I think it's best to get professional help from a therapist who can help tackle the root of the problem (as ultimately, it's not about food) while working towards a healthier lifestyle and relationship with food. For many people, eating disorders don't seem to just go away, but they can be managed.

If professional help isn't currently feasible, I suggest trying to find a means of diverting your focus from food. I've encountered some disordered eating habits myself that seemed to be exacerbated by calorie counting and logging what I ate, so I don't do that. Nonetheless, I find this site motivational and inspirational in other ways.

Perhaps you also have to find a new tact that will better suit you. I sometimes have urges to binge and purge, but one trick has helped me - try doing something else for at least 15 minutes (possibly longer). If you can divert the focus of your initial craving towards something else, you may find that it goes away, or at least, is far less strong. It's also important to realize that giving into the craving to binge will ultimately just trigger an ongoing cycle, so it's better to avoid it.

I also don't think it's prudent to eliminate all the "bad" food abruptly. (I actually don't think labeling food as "bad" is a healthy thing to do, either.) It seems this will only lead to binging and cravings. I know that there are trigger foods, but one way that helps me is to allot myself a certain portion size. I try not to cook in great excess and if I'm full from a large meal, I eliminate further snacking until I'm truly hungry again.

I find that it's helps to have a portion of healthy food with what you crave. For instance, if I want rice, I try to incorporate vegetables into it. If I want pizza, I try to pile it with veggies (and also have one that's personal sized because I can't do the just two slices thing). I also try to leave treats for after I've eaten a substantial meal or "real food", so that I only eat a small amount.

However, it's probably best to leave some things out of the house entirely. A couple days ago, my aunt gave me a box of cupcakes left over from my cousin's baby shower. It took a lot for me not to act on the urge to binge and purge those cupcakes.(I even argued that it wouldn't be wasteful since I didn't buy them and that many of them would probably get thrown out anyway.) Miraculously, I ate just one, and then another the second day, and it didn't bother me too much to see a few get thrown away. But really, I would have preferred if the temptation wasn't there to begin with.

For me though, exercise is the biggest support device/motivator to not binge or behave in a disordered way. It not only elevates my mood as a natural anti-depressant, but it also abates my hunger momentarily, and it makes me feel less guilty about eating while simultaneously encouraging me to make better (or at least less crappy, lol) choices.