I just can't cheat

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.

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 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

Brocksterdanza 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.

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!

this is why i dont eliminate foods from my diet.

i eat the same stuff i always have, just less of it.

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.