Craving bad food

Eat something good for you like a banana or apple.

i am the same way. i was craving a burrito from chipotle the other day, and that is WAY over my daily calorie count! instead, i bought a chicken breast and an avocado, added some tomato and made my own for a fraction of the calories. sometimes that won't work, and i'll break-down and eat a burger or pizza. just get up the next day and start again.

What do you view a bad food?

Work those items into your calorie goals!

Have a smaller lunch so you can indulge in a small bag of chips or a small cup of icecream.

It's all about moderation and you can fit junk food into your daily calorie goals. If you want it, make room for it! Or find lower calorie substitutions.

georgiamaxine1 wrote: »

How do I get out of this? Craving bad food so bad, but I've done so well so far I don't want to go back to my old eating ways!

Change your way of thinking. Food is not good. Food is not bad. Food is fuel. You have certain nutritional needs, of course, but its not like every bite has to be optimally nutritious. Labeling food as good and bad sets you up for other issues, such as guilt for eating something that you deem as bad. When it comes to weight loss, you need a calorie deficit. Even your 'bad' food can work into that. If you are trying to say you will never again eat XYZ, when XYZ is something you enjoy, life is going to be rough. Instead perhaps figure out how to have some of the 'bad' foods in moderation.

I'm going through something very similar.. how long has it been? I believe that food can and is an addiction.. It's hard to get away from.. but depending on how long it's been you may just need more time to get over it? It's taken me months to get over the Lenny & Larry's cookies that I obsessed over for a while. I still think about them but the longer I go without having any the easier it is to ignore them. This is my experience of course and may not exactly be what you're going through.

I'm dealing w/ the same thing. I have the urge to eat an entire box of Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies or Poptarts. It's bad. I have no advice.

georgiamaxine1 wrote: »

Some days I want to eat McDonald's, pizza, chocolate, crisps, sweets and binge eat. That's what I class as bad food lol. I can't just have a small piece of chocolate, once I start I can't stop so it's either don't eat any at all or have a binge day, I've always had a bad relationship with food and saw a psychiatrist but still can't get over it!

Allow those foods in your way of eating. Instead of a piece of chocolate, just get 1 bar from the store. Make sure to hit your macros and fibre first, then add your favourites.

Calories are king.

Ignoring cravings can lead to possible binges. Make peace with them, but be sensible. A balanced diet is healthy for the body mind and soul.

I'm going to make a comment I fear is not helpful to you, but might be to others reading here.

I like potato chips. No issue eating a family sized bag while watching tv. Did it on a regular basis. Part of the reason I hit 330 lbs. So I'm not doing that anymore. But I still have a box of small bags of chips, ~30g each, and will have one every second or third night. Same for Mars bites, Rolo's and Aero minis. I can have a half portion of them and am good for a couple nights.

This works far better for me than to say I can't have them. Having smaller portions available keeps me from eating the family sized bag.

But it sounds like you would not be able to stop at a few, or a small bag. If that's the case, then you just don't have them in the house. Unfortunate if that is the case, but you've got to figure out what works for yourself with this. Maybe a substitute will work, maybe allowing something one day a week. It all comes down to what works for you and what you can handle.

Good luck.

When I do the following, I don't have cravings:

1. Get sufficient sleep
2. Exercise regularly - when I get the happy hormones from exercise, I'm not prone to seeking them from food.
3. Get sufficient protein in relationship to carbs. I'm not low carb, but reducing carbs and upping protein worked for cravings for me. See also http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html
4. Eat moderate amounts of fruit. This makes me less interested in higher calorie sweets.
5. Take a magnesium supplement. This can be especially helpful for women premenstrually.
6. Save foods like chocolate for after dinner, in small amounts
7. Stay hydrated
8. Have a calorie deficit that is appropriate for the amount of weight I need to lose. An overly aggressive goal can definitely lead to cravings.
9. Eat at maintenance when my appetite goes up premenstrually. I take this opportunity to eat "bad food."

I'm tired. I thought your title was about craving cat food. That would be a problem.

My advice about craving "bad food" is stop and think about why you are limiting or avoiding these foods.
Drop the labels good or bad on individual foods and just look at specific nutrients and your whole diet. Are you meeting your nutritional needs? Will it really be harmful to eat some of whatever less nutritious food you are avoiding if the bulk of your diet is nutrient packed?

You want to eat in a way you can sustain long term. If you are having intense cravings and struggling to stick to your plan to me that says you have restricted too much either type of food or calories for you to sustain.
1. Make smaller changes to your diet over time rather than a huge change all at once. Buy smaller amounts of your problem foods to help you learn to moderate.
2. Have a smaller calorie deficit. Lose slower but more comfortably. Along the way learn to reduce portion sizes.

If you have problems with emotional eating or drinking work on developing different coping tools that are not food. Therapy, art, music, journaling, exercise, meditation, change your environment, etc.

That's different.
I crave kale.

georgiamaxine1 wrote: »

Some days I want to eat McDonald's, pizza, chocolate, crisps, sweets and binge eat. That's what I class as bad food lol. I can't just have a small piece of chocolate, once I start I can't stop so it's either don't eat any at all or have a binge day, I've always had a bad relationship with food and saw a psychiatrist but still can't get over it!

Happy meal, individual pizza, single serving candies and crisps...etc. There are other ways, you know. Buying a bunch of goodies and expecting yourself to just take a bite and have perfect self control around the rest is not the only way.

Do you see yourself not eating any of these foods 10 years from now? And I don't mean the motivation fueled inspirational poster image you have in your head of the need to be strong and that you can do it and so on and so forth. Really, honestly and deep inside, do you believe you can give up these foods or would want to give them up? Do you think it's a viable sacrifice and step to take? If the answer is yes, tough it out for a little while longer. When something is not an option (and you need to be stern that it's NOT an option) your brain gets used to the idea and you stop thinking about it as often.

If the answer is no, it's time to learn how to moderate. You do that slowly and gradually. You don't expect to be perfect all the time. You give up the idea that foods are "bad" and try to start treating them just like any other foods. You don't expose yourself to temptations that you know you can't tackle yet, and make it less likely to overindulge by not having indulgent quantities around, if at all possible. Gradually get used to the act of fitting something small into your calorie budget. Another form of moderation would be to plan larger indulgences but less often.

Whichever route you choose, you need to know that it takes time, patience, experimentation with different strategies, and being kind to yourself when you aren't being perfect.