Frustrated With Myself

I eat 3 meals a day with sometimes a coffee and a biscuit around 4pm. Do not eat after 7pm or less going to a restaurant. When craving for food have a glass of water this may help. Cut a little on carb and replace with protein may help with weigh lost, try to keep note on calories eaten daily easy if you are using the one on this website.

GabbyP93 wrote: »

I'll do good throughout the day, and right before bed, I get these ridiculous craving that I succumb to.. /: I just want to know what helped you all with food choices.

I think if this is happening, you're not eating enough.

What helped me was a very conservative deficit nutrition-wise, like 10-15% less than maintenance (e.g. just 200 calories less). I think that's close to the 0.5lb per week loss rate here on MFP. Workouts took care of the rest of the calorie burn. Sometimes I would feel slightly peckish, but I never felt deprived. It probably took a little longer than it might take people with bigger deficits (e.g. those aiming for 1-2 lb/week, or TDEE-20% or more), but it was really doable in terms of working with my lifestyle. And it worked!

GabbyP93 wrote: »

I'll do good throughout the day, and right before bed, I get these ridiculous craving that I succumb to.. /: I just want to know what helped you all with food choices. Do you meal prep? How often do you eat and at what times? Do you snack? What are some of the foods you eat that work for you? How do you curb your appetite or prep your meals when you're on the go between school and work? Every little bit helps! Please & thanks!

Like others have said, can you plan it so you have some calories left at the end of the day and then just make the evening snack part of the routine? I've found that responding to times of temptation with a strategy like that helps.

What works for me currently (I think it's good to change it up if it stops working so well or just for variety) is 3 meals plus an afternoon snack usually (this was a concession to the fact that I will usually want to snack in the afternoon, eat dinner late and often try to do a midday or early evening workout, and have lots of food that tempts me around my office that isn't really what I want to be eating). I also often incorporate a dessert at the end of my dinner that operates as part of dinner and signals to me that eating is over for the day. Since I eat late and don't eat after dinner, I generally am no longer in the habit of craving food in the evening, and that's not a challenging time--as I said, the afternoon has been.

The other important thing is planning: I have a standard breakfast, try to prep lunches (either by planning dinners that will allow for leftovers or by cooking a few additional things when I'm making dinner)--in the mornings my lunch is already in its container waiting to be grabbed, and have meat and veggies in the refrigerator that I know I can whip up a quick dinner with. I have acceptable snacks at work for the afternoon snack when I want it (Quest bar, yogurt, fruit, nuts, raw veggies), and so long as I have something planned I won't tend to crave the other stuff unless it's really special and amazing. I also know I'm not always as organized as I like, so I have some lunch places near my office that I know have food with the kinds of macros and calories and ingredients I like, and those are my fallbacks if I don't have a lunch prepared.

I am the exact same way. I get real bad sugar cravings at night. I think it's just that my body has learned to expect that sugar spike at a certain time of day, because I have snacked at night for so long. I try to buy things to satisfy my sugar cravings that are not so high in calories. My new fav right now is the skinny cow cookies and dough ice cream bars. They are so good, and 160 cal's. Also chocolate protein shakes made with 30 cal almond milk or Atkins or Quest bars also do the trick. I've also just found this new popcorn that actually tastes good, and it's only 30 cal's/cup. It's made by Popcorn Indiana, it's called "fit popcorn." I love it! (in the chip aisle). You also have to have some self control. I just can't bring "the good stuff" in the house. I've tried to buy goodies for the kids and the hubs that I love, and are high in calories, but guess who always ends up eating them? They have guilted me into buying those things for them before, but they just let that stuff sit around, and I usually end up eating them, so I just don't buy them anymore. My husband has his stash in the room, for work, and I just stay away from it. Out of sight, out of mind will usually work for me. When I do buy snacks for the kids, I try to buy things that I don't like all that much. Good luck!

i leave plenty of calories left for a night time snack.

Capt_Apollo wrote: »

i leave plenty of calories left for a night time snack.

Its this simple