Resisting the urge

Bex953172
Bex953172 Posts: 4,168 Member
edited November 15 in Food and Nutrition
What keeps you from eating high calorie foods?
How do you resist the urge?
I'm the only one dieting in the house so my partner still buys treats, so he left 1 of 2 Vanilla Creme Danish and I knew I was over my 160 calories already (which I could work off) and STILL I ate it!!
And now my exercise won't cover enough to be under my calorie goal!

What tips do you have to resist?

Replies

  • LiftandSkate
    LiftandSkate Posts: 148 Member
    My husband is a sweets junkie and a really fabulous baker, which can make things hard. I go by the rule "there are foods you eat and foods you taste." Pastries, cookies, cakes, etc are food I taste - I take 3 bites or so and really savor them. If I want more, then I just have to sacrifice and make room in my diet for more. But in general, I taste, not eat, those foods.
  • Bex953172
    Bex953172 Posts: 4,168 Member
    Oo I see what you mean. I had loads of foil wrapped chocolate balls from my Christmas stocking. And whenever I fancied chocolate I'd just have 2 because they're like 6g! But I've ate them all now, today for example he came back with pastries, quadruple chocolate cookies and a huge box of all butter shortcake
  • Dee_D33
    Dee_D33 Posts: 106 Member
    edited January 2017
    What keeps someone from resisting urges is specific to the individual, and you have to find what works for you. What you're asking about is willpower, and it's not one of those things where you either have it or not. It's something you have to build. To build up your willpower you need to start with smaller, easily obtainable goals, and not be so hard on yourself. Give yourself a cheat day, or work a treat into your calorie count every other day. Then you can slowly reduce the amount of junk food over the course of days, weeks, or months, depending on how little willpower you're starting out with. I know it's hard to stick to a diet when you're surrounded by junk food, but not impossible. What's even harder is cutting out all forms of "bad" foods cold turkey. I say "bad" because there really isn't a bad food, it's all about moderation. Half a danish isn't going to ruin your whole diet. Remember that each day you get to start with a clean slate.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    One thing you can do is give yourself a buffer to save calories for an after dinner treat... then you can see after dinner if you really want one or not. If not, you can save the calories for another day.

    Something else that sometimes works for me is ask myself what I really crave right now, and tell myself that I'm saving calories for it... so if I'm really craving an eclair... honestly eating a danish will not help me and I'll STILL crave the eclair... so I just save my calories for an eclair and I plan it for a few days later. And it will be more satisfying than the danish because I really wanted it...

    Honestly though, it's rough! That cake would do me in, guaranteed (and it's one of those things for me where I'm much better off telling myself that it won't be worth the calories and NOT have any because if I start, I can't stop). Personally, I'd ask my partner to not bring stuff he knows I really love in the house and just save them for lunch or something. Or at least to limit himself to one thing at a time or something.

    That's coming from someone who has kids and always junk in the house, but I have my weaknesses too... most of the time I'll be able to resist, but if I'm PMSing, it's pretty much a lost cause. My mom comes to visit 3x a year and ALWAYS brings back my favorite chocolates or cookies even when I tell her not to. It's really hard.
  • Bex953172
    Bex953172 Posts: 4,168 Member
    Me and my partner are both stay at home parents, so it's not like he can even take his treats to work! He can't work because of mental health and in his carer and he's incredibly fussy with food so I can't really ask him to stop getting certain foods!

    Just need to say no more often, I was doing well first half of this month but the last few days I've cracked and had all sorts!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Bex953172 wrote: »
    Me and my partner are both stay at home parents, so it's not like he can even take his treats to work! He can't work because of mental health and in his carer and he's incredibly fussy with food so I can't really ask him to stop getting certain foods!

    Just need to say no more often, I was doing well first half of this month but the last few days I've cracked and had all sorts!

    Yeah that would be difficult. Well, I'm a SAHM... when I want a treat, I go and buy one serving for myself, and would eat it in the car if I knew it would upset my husband, lol.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    Yeah, unless you have severe allergies, I think it would be unfair to ask others to stop bringing home foods they enjoy for your sake.

    You could try asking him to hide his treats or just buckle down and use willpower. When I first started losing weight, there was no way I felt comfortable enough asking my parents to do anything like that. They would have made fun of me at a time where I didn't know if that would just make me give up.

    As hard as it was, I just dealt with it and cut it all off. I support eating foods you enjoy in moderation, but I wasn't at a point to where I could do that. There were days where I would take bites or just say screw it and eat what i wanted, but I just hopped back on the horse next time. Sweets and "junk" were added back in due time. It just takes a while to get comfortable.
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    Some people find that "out of sight, out of mind" works for them.

    So, having him leave his treats on a higher shelf or in a specific cabinet that you don't go into might help. Then they're "his" snacks, and not yours.

    Keep a stock of things you really enjoy/budget for in your own spot.

    Also, talk to him about this! If he's bringing anything home because he knows you'll enjoy it, perhaps he'd be willing to bring them home less often and/or ask if he could pick them up before bringing them home so it's easier to budget.

    It's worth a try :)

    ~Lyssa
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
    My husband keeps chips, cookies, ice cream, and cake in the house at all times.

    I keep Halo Top ice cream, peanut m&ms, cottage cheese and fruit in the house. So I keep substitutions if the craving arises, which is often. I've just made a personal decision that whatever I eat must fit in my calories, for the week. If I want something extra caloric I either bank calories from another day or exercise more.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
    I can't offer advice because I often wonder how people who live with others could resist the temptation. I don't think I could.

    I'm able to have a trigger food free environment. That helps me a lot.
  • Bex953172
    Bex953172 Posts: 4,168 Member
    We buy my snacks too but ask if you're offering me a ryvita or a cream cake.. who WOULDNT take the cream cake
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Bex953172 wrote: »
    We buy my snacks too but ask if you're offering me a ryvita or a cream cake.. who WOULDNT take the cream cake

    Someone who knows that the cream cake doesn't fit into her nutritional plan for the day (although it may fit another day) and has a goal that she wants to meet.

    The world is full of delicious food. There are going to be many times when something looks or smells better than what I've planned to eat. But I know that eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted in the quantities I wanted was what resulted in my extra weight.

    If you're *always* wanting something else besides the Ryvita, maybe it's time to find some foods that excite you more? I can never stay on a plan where I'm not excited about what I eat.
  • jbeth30
    jbeth30 Posts: 42 Member
    I freeze things! The other day I made some chocolate chip cookies for my son. I noticed I kept going in there and grabbing one so I immediately froze them. Out of sight out of mind works for me. I also have a basket that I put other treats in like chips and bread and even my sons little treats. That somehow keeps it out of mind as well.
  • kellylynnshonting
    kellylynnshonting Posts: 108 Member
    I have a HUGE sweet tooth and and what has helped me is advice that my mom gave me some time ago during one of my many weight loss trys. It's this: whenever I am craving something sweet, I tell myself that I can have it when I lose ex amount of weight. What help keeps my perspective is to know that most of everything I like aren't things that are ever going to not be made.
  • Emily3907
    Emily3907 Posts: 1,461 Member
    edited January 2017
    jbeth30 wrote: »
    I freeze things! The other day I made some chocolate chip cookies for my son. I noticed I kept going in there and grabbing one so I immediately froze them. Out of sight out of mind works for me. I also have a basket that I put other treats in like chips and bread and even my sons little treats. That somehow keeps it out of mind as well.

    I like to do this too. It is just me and DH at home, so when I make cookies, I freeze the dough. That way I can pull out exactly how many I want to bake (and they are warm and gooey from the oven everytime!).

  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
    I usually will save room for dessert or a treat once a day. Some days I don't and when I don't have the room I don't eat the food.

    I try to plan to eat things I like or enjoy though so I never feel like I'm being denied anything.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    Hang out with fit people dive into the lifestyle its so much easier
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Michael190lbs wrote: »
    Hang out with fit people dive into the lifestyle its so much easier

    Lol not necessarily. Some fit people spend a lot of time in the gym (usually on their own) and eat a lot...
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  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Michael190lbs wrote: »
    Hang out with fit people dive into the lifestyle its so much easier

    Lol not necessarily. Some fit people spend a lot of time in the gym (usually on their own) and eat a lot...

    I would say, from my experience most fit people don't eat a lot of high calorie, low nutrient foods because they are working to keep a fit and healthy lifestyle and those type of foods don't really support it.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Michael190lbs wrote: »
    Hang out with fit people dive into the lifestyle its so much easier

    Lol not necessarily. Some fit people spend a lot of time in the gym (usually on their own) and eat a lot...

    I would say, from my experience most fit people don't eat a lot of high calorie, low nutrient foods because they are working to keep a fit and healthy lifestyle and those type of foods don't really support it.

    Depends on your definition of 'fit'. But for me, 'fit' means exercising and having a decent muscle mass, which means a higher TDEE... and as such, eating more. Especially those muscular dudes with 3000+ calorie TDEEs - hanging out with them is actually kinda hard because there's just no way the average person can eat as much as they do!

    If you had said 'slim' though, I would have agreed with you. The slim people I know eat in moderation and only small servings of high calorie stuff... but I wouldn't necessarily call them 'fit'.
  • plumbcrazy70
    plumbcrazy70 Posts: 2 Member
    as a big fan of junk food that made me a big man, my goal was to change my focus...the words, "discipline" and "willpower" don't motivate me at all...I decided to eat the way I want to look the rest of my life. So my focus was on effort. because that's a word I can live with. My wife has tons of junk food in my house and for 6 and a half days, my effort is to abstain from it....on Sunday evenings, I will eat those things. The reason that I do it that way, is because if I don't feel like I'm living than why give an effort. For those 6 and a half days, I gladly trade my ice cream in for a protein shake because it fuels my effort for the week. Once in a while, I will get really tired halfway through the week and I will take 1 meal and carb it up...the reason that it happens is that the leptins in my brain are changing and my body is hitting starvation mode...the carb up reactivates those leptins and the metabolism responds.....the other thing that I do is focus on the 7 day calorie deficit. Not the 1 day. It didn't take me eating badly 1 or 2 meals a week to gain a bunch of weight and eating healthy 1 or 2 days a week to lose weight....it's a body of work, like anything else. Discipline has always failed me. Willpower has always failed me, but effort has always moved me toward my goals.
  • Steff46
    Steff46 Posts: 516 Member
    This probably sounds weird but...........when you know the snacks are there and they are tempting you try chewing mint flavored gum, or brushing your teeth. I've even used Halls sugar free cough drops to make me not want something. I've also put treats in the freezer for later then thaw out a little at a time to meet my calories.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Bex953172 wrote: »
    We buy my snacks too but ask if you're offering me a ryvita or a cream cake.. who WOULDNT take the cream cake
    Are those the only options? For me, to lose the binary thinking, is important to succeed in weight management (and probably other areas in life too). I have stopped eating food I don't like, no matter if they are "healthy". Instead, I eat food I can eat to satisfaction. That is most foods, and I enjoy a variety of them every day. I eat meals, and only at meals. I don't buy foods I have trouble moderating "for the house". I only eat "trigger" type foods on occasion and out of the house.
  • Bex953172
    Bex953172 Posts: 4,168 Member
    I actually like ryvitas I get the sesame ones :)

    Thanks for all your advice, so far today I have competed with pizza, selection of danish pastrys and custard donuts and I'm WINNING! Not had one bit although I'm so very tempted!!

    I like to snack a lot so my snacks need to be really low calorie.
    Bit low on veg so can't snack on them til next week because we need it for evening meals (carrots celery etc)

    You've all helped me get back on track and keep my goal in focus! And I need to not be tempted or work it into my calories!
    And whoever suggested Jello i just found some sugar free jello in my cupboard! Woohoo!


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