Diet is horrible need motivation!

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amaneigh15
amaneigh15 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I have been on and off working out but I know the main component to losing weight is Diet. I suck at diets I always have. I love sweets I also have very little motivation, but I want to know what I can do to lower the craving and better my motivation any suggestions?

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  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    Try to eat the same things you're already eating, but in a caloric deficit. In other words, you don't have to give up sweets. Just eat them in smaller portions and/or less often.

    What you're going to find is that certain foods will help you feel fuller longer. It depends on the person, so you might need to experiment. For me personally, I decided to focus on hitting my protein target and let everything else sort itself out. And for me, that means usually being close to or over my carbs and moderately low-fat. Some people find that fat is very satiating and carbs make them feel hungry faster. I'm not one of them, but you might be.

    Look for lower-calorie options that will still give you the tastes/textures you want. I've got more of a salt tooth than a sweet one, but I do enjoy eating a dry cereal as a snack that's sweet, but not overly so. (It's Quaker Corn Squares. I'd put it a couple of notches below Golden Grahams on the sweetness scale, but well above Cheerios or Corn Flakes.) Otherwise, I satisfy my salt cravings by reaching for string cheese or popcorn, not chips.

    I make desserts, but seek out the ones that are 200 calories/serving or fewer.

    And I mostly eat a varied nutritious diet, making room for treats in moderation.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    edited September 2017
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    amaneigh15 wrote: »
    So I have been on and off working out but I know the main component to losing weight is Diet. I suck at diets I always have. I love sweets I also have very little motivation, but I want to know what I can do to lower the craving and better my motivation any suggestions?

    Do you want to be alive, healthy and be able to run with grandkids some day?
  • counting_kilojoules
    counting_kilojoules Posts: 170 Member
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    I love sweet things as well. The rest of my diet is easy but the sweet thing is hard. I try not to have the higher kilojoule things in the house but I keep on hand some jelly lollies which are lower in kilojoules. I like them and they satisfy my sweet tooth but I don't like them enough that I'm tempted to eat more than fits into my kilojoules for the day. Plain(ish) biscuits are good for this too. I like Honey Jumbles and often have four of them for afternoon tea which feels like a treat but is only 678 kilojoules (162 calories). So mostly - I just find lower kilojoule options that I like but won't tempt me to binge on them.

    Some people do well substituting sweet and sugary things for fruit (still sweet but with more fibre so you probably won't eat as much and can be lower in kilojoules than other sweet things.)

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Don't try to push through until you know you're on the right track and that you have to push through. Pushing through is generally needed only in short, infrequent bursts. If you often find yourself in need of pushing through, see if you have chosen the right approach. "Motivation" is becoming a "trigger word" - a sign that you're trying to do impossible and unnecessary things.

    Don't go on a diet. Your diet is what you eat. To lose weight you have to eat less. You don't have to eat anything in particular to lose weight, just less. But you can't eat anything, just less, and lose weight, you'll get so hungry that you're just going to say screw this, and eat more of whatever. For satiety, you need a wide range of nutrients, which is easiest to get in through a variety of foods from all the food groups.

    Satiety isn't all you need. You need to get pleasure from the food you eat. If you like sweet things, eat some sweet things. But dont eat sweets in large amounts all the time. I bet you like other things too. Eat a little bit of everything. If you reduce intake of sweets, but at the same time allow sweets, and eat varied and balanced, your cravings will lessen. They will not go away, but you can tolerate them. When you learn that you can tolerate them, you don't need "motivation", and you will notice that it's quite easy to eat less.
  • TRXRocks
    TRXRocks Posts: 19 Member
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    amaneigh15 wrote: »
    So I have been on and off working out but I know the main component to losing weight is Diet. I suck at diets I always have. I love sweets I also have very little motivation, but I want to know what I can do to lower the craving and better my motivation any suggestions?
    Try not to look at it as a diet, but look at it like just trying to change your eating habits. People think diet and they think it means start and end point. That's not what you want. You want to change the way you eat. I promise you too, that as you wean yourself off sweets, it gets easier. Trust me, I'm a self-proclaimed chocoholic. But it does take a week or two. But if you eat sweets and junk every day, do you think next week you could try just 3 days? and then reduce it again the next week? Eat other things in it's place, like berries. Also, maybe protein bars or shakes. I use chocolate protein powder and protein bars as my chocolate fix. And not even all the time. Think about just eating clean natural foods. That way you're not dieting, you're just eating.

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    I like sweets, too. Use your food diary to budget your calories to get the fat and protein you need for good health, and use the carb budget for your sweet treats. Search the Recipes forum to find lots of interesting and occasionally awesome ways to get tasty food.

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