I just can't cheat

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When i do, it derails everything... my wife and I were talking. Nearly two months ago we were being very successful in our weight loss Journey as we both had lost quite a bit of weight. However comma after about seven weeks of eating very clean we decided to eat some pizza on the night of the national championship football game. Once that occurred, it seemed like all the desires to eat bad foods were back. I guess I'm just a big mental case and I'm not one of those that can go out and eat the things I enjoy all the time and step right back in. Thus, therein lies the problem with me. Anyone else like this?

Replies

  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
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    What would happen if you balanced out your exercise and nutrition in such a way, you wouldn't have to see food and drink as a moral situation and could do away with feelings of guilt because you understand nutrition better?
  • highlightshadow
    highlightshadow Posts: 116 Member
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    Its a tough thing to break.... I am being pretty strict but i already know i need to be careful ...
    I can feel the old feelings coming back .... will power is a finite resource... and i know when i have had a bit of a mixed up or chaotic day i can find myself looking in cupboards at home wondering what to nibble on.... i know i don't need it .... and for now i can control it....

    Most of the time i just talk to myself (inner monologue) and discuss why i am trying to do this to myself again after suffering all this time.... i can generally 'talk myself down' :)

    Habits are formed slowly and are strong.... it cannot be an overnight job to readjust and find new habits ... but that's the thing ... we crave habits as a creature... finding a new habit that you can deal with with help
  • KatieJane83
    KatieJane83 Posts: 2,002 Member
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    How about, instead of cutting out all the stuff that you have decided is "bad" completely, and then making it this big, forbidden thing that becomes a rare treat, you just work these things into your daily allotment, and make sure it all fits into your calorie goal? Eating 'clean', whatever that means to you, isn't going to magically make you lose more weight, and as you've found, by restricting so severely, it has made you prone to going overboard once you try to allow yourself the 'bad' stuff. So, instead of restricting so severely, I would recommend trying to practice some moderation instead, and allowing a reasonable amount of the yummy stuff on a regular basis. I still eat all that stuff, cookies, pizza, potato chips, etc, on a regular basis, along with a mix of the 'healthy' stuff too, and manage to maintain both my weight loss and my sanity, lol.
  • deneenae
    deneenae Posts: 97 Member
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    Yeah, sometimes it's hard for me to eat yummy food responsibly. But that's part of the challenge... I know I can still eat yummy foods in moderation and that this is a lifestyle, so I have to learn how to eat delicious foods responsibly. I still want hot wings, pizza, and brownies, so I have to work it into my calorie budget. Sometimes it works and other times I just have to abstain because I know I'll go crazy....
  • Brocksterdanza
    Brocksterdanza Posts: 208 Member
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    Actually my major vice is chicken wings
  • Hello_its_Dan
    Hello_its_Dan Posts: 406 Member
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    Actually my major vice is chicken wings

    Add volumous nutrient dense food with the wings. Celery and carrots, a serving of each. Drink ample water.
    And slow down your eating time.
    Taste and enjoy everything.

    And for the love of whatever you believe in, work towards a better understanding of how food works in your system so you can move away from "good/bad" or "clean/dirty/cheat" ideology.
    That's where most people build unhealthy relationships with food.
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
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    I find it sometimes happens for instance after christmas that I end up choosing not the foods that I normally eat.
    What works for me then is pre-logging a week in advance, making sure it is in the house and off I go again into my normal lowered calorie routine
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
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    I know what you mean.

    Personally I have to be careful of sugar- it's practically addictive for me. But the key is just recognizing when I'm eating too much of the wrong things and then I cut them out for a while until maybe I feel like I can have them in reasonable portions. And if that doesn't work- if I'm always tempted to overeat that particular food- then I have to keep it off limits. But if you get back to healthier eating the cravings for hunk foods will diminish quickly.

    Alternatively you could have 1 cheat day a week and eat the naughtier things you like, but then no matter what the other 6 days of the week it's all healthy. This might be difficult though and I'd still stay away from your trigger foods.

    Generally thinking in terms of "bad" and "good" foods is not the best thing, it ivercomplicates things, and you can still overeat "good" foods and cause weight gain. So maybe just think of it like optimal and less than optimal foods (nutrition wise), and trigger foods (foods you shouldn't really be eating and that cause cravings and over eating). Try for mostly optimal foods, a few less than optimal foods for treats, and avoid trigger foods.

    Most importantly stay within your calorie goal and then no matter what you eat you will still make progress.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    When i do, it derails everything... my wife and I were talking. Nearly two months ago we were being very successful in our weight loss Journey as we both had lost quite a bit of weight. However comma after about seven weeks of eating very clean we decided to eat some pizza on the night of the national championship football game. Once that occurred, it seemed like all the desires to eat bad foods were back. I guess I'm just a big mental case and I'm not one of those that can go out and eat the things I enjoy all the time and step right back in. Thus, therein lies the problem with me. Anyone else like this?

    Sure, some people are abstainers and some moderators:

    Back by Popular Demand: Are You an Abstainer or a Moderator?

    ...When dealing with temptation, I often see the advice, “Be moderate. Don’t have ice cream every night, but if you try to deny yourself altogether, you’ll fall off the wagon. Allow yourself to have the occasional treat, it will help you stick to your plan.”

    I’ve come to believe that this is good advice for some people: the “moderators.” They do better when they avoid absolutes and strict rules.

    For a long time, I kept trying this strategy of moderation–and failing. Then I read a line from Samuel Johnson, who said, when someone offered him wine: “Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.”

    Ah ha! Like Dr. Johnson, I’m an “abstainer.”

    I find it far easier to give something up altogether than to indulge moderately.

    Read more: http://gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2012/10/back-by-popular-demand-are-you-an-abstainer-or-a-moderator/

    I'm going with this. You personally have to know how different foods affect you. If you can work in pizza now and then, do it. If it sends you off the rails, though, it isn't worth it.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    When i do, it derails everything... my wife and I were talking. Nearly two months ago we were being very successful in our weight loss Journey as we both had lost quite a bit of weight. However comma after about seven weeks of eating very clean we decided to eat some pizza on the night of the national championship football game. Once that occurred, it seemed like all the desires to eat bad foods were back. I guess I'm just a big mental case and I'm not one of those that can go out and eat the things I enjoy all the time and step right back in. Thus, therein lies the problem with me. Anyone else like this?

    Sure, some people are abstainers and some moderators:

    Back by Popular Demand: Are You an Abstainer or a Moderator?

    ...When dealing with temptation, I often see the advice, “Be moderate. Don’t have ice cream every night, but if you try to deny yourself altogether, you’ll fall off the wagon. Allow yourself to have the occasional treat, it will help you stick to your plan.”

    I’ve come to believe that this is good advice for some people: the “moderators.” They do better when they avoid absolutes and strict rules.

    For a long time, I kept trying this strategy of moderation–and failing. Then I read a line from Samuel Johnson, who said, when someone offered him wine: “Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.”

    Ah ha! Like Dr. Johnson, I’m an “abstainer.”

    I find it far easier to give something up altogether than to indulge moderately.

    Read more: http://gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2012/10/back-by-popular-demand-are-you-an-abstainer-or-a-moderator/

    I'm going with this. You personally have to know how different foods affect you. If you can work in pizza now and then, do it. If it sends you off the rails, though, it isn't worth it.

    I'm an abstainer. There are some foods I will not buy. I have no control with them, but I eat other yummy stufff that I love. So I don't feel deprived.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    I like finding substitutes for foods that are out of my calorie limits. It scratches the itch, but makes me think about nutrition on a long-term basis and what I can sustain forever.
  • Sheisinlove109
    Sheisinlove109 Posts: 516 Member
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    I think most of us fit in that category. Don't deprive yourself, you'll go crazy!!!

    Eat responsibly, splurge ever once in a while but realize the splurge is temporary and get back to your goal!
  • Dreamcrusher16
    Dreamcrusher16 Posts: 1,263 Member
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    I'm a junk food and booze lover. So, what works for me is I eat super strict my first three days and stay under my calorie limit. For weight loss I'm at 1700 calories, so my first three days I stay right around 1500 calories. By my fourth and fifth days if I'm struggling I eat closer to the 1700 calories. Then my weekends in ok eating closers to my maintenance calories which is around 2500 calories. I don't restrict the types of food I eat other than I don't drink alcohol until my weekends. For me it's easier than being super strict all the time and sometimes I keep my calories low. Sometimes I need a break and use up a little of the deficit.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    this is why i dont eliminate foods from my diet.

    i eat the same stuff i always have, just less of it.
  • beccahun1
    beccahun1 Posts: 44 Member
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    While most of the people commenting are right, elimination is generally a recipe for disaster...

    But I'm with you! If I derail it takes me a long time to get back into my healthy routines. For me a cheat day turns into a cheat week, and so on. It snowballs and gets UGLY fast!
    Its a nearly impossible mindframe to reconfigure.

    I stopped allowing myself cheat days. I now have 1 no log day a month (the first of the month so I can remember when it is/was). I don't "cheat" on that day, I just don't log every little thing I consume.
    I am very much a one extreme or the other person.

    We're all a work in progress in our own ways.
    The key is to find the progress that you can work on and take it one bit at a time.

    If elimination is what works for you, what keeps you headed in the direction you want to be going, then by all means, eliminate.
    You do you.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
    edited February 2017
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    What I wonder is, what do you mean by "derail"?

    If it's just that you are more tempted to overeat afterwards, that happens to a lot of us, but just check to make sure you are eating enough and are not white-knuckling to the extent that you're developing a desperate appetite. Your day to day food needs to be satisfying enough to keep you going. Desperate cravings after a treat meal could be a sign that it is not. Either the quantity is not enough or you need to rebalanced your food to make it more satisfying.

    Or do you mean "I end up eating 'bad' things and then I hate myself and give up logging"? If that's the case, you need to break that cycle by logging through it, no excuses.

    I do get an increase in cravings after overeating, but they don't get troublesome unless I do it several times in a row. A single treat meal has little impact. It could just be a difference in our appetites, or it could be a sign you need to change something.