Why is this so hard?

I get cravings a lot too, it happens to us all at some point. You have to learn to control it and distinguish if your actually hungry or if it is just cravings. Try drinking some water and eat a banana, it you still crave after that then try do something productive to take your mind off it hope this helps x

It's the curse of the calorie aware. It does get easier to a degree. I do wish that 1. I didn't live alone but only for the half hour it takes to eat take away. Harder to overeat it when sharing and 2. that pizza by the slice were a thing here. Or more of a thing, it's rare you find anywhere that does it.

I do sometimes get individual pizzas from the supermarket, either in the fridge or sometimes there's kids ones in the freezer. I then add my own toppings. Helps scratch the itch.

I feel you, i never don't want pizza. always, any meal, pizza is welcome. Just recently tried Blaze pizza though and will be going back - whole pepperoni pizza was like 660 calories and yum. Will probably go every couple of weeks for that

If you can cook, you could start making your own pizza, or other fast food, so you control portion size and ingredients, you could also have a scheduled fast food meal, just do your research in advance with a number of different options, eg if I want a burger I'll get the xx from yy. If you're troubled by intrusive cravings, ther are guided meditations you can do to reduce their impact

VintageFeline wrote: »

Harder to overeat it when sharing

Except you won't share, you'll just order 2 portions of *kitten* and overeat anyway. I actually wish sometimes I did live alone: when at work I manage to balance but hubby often sabotages my efforts in the evening (and certainly during weekends)...

When I have those cravings I plan them in for the next day or two ... right now I am craving a chicken, bacon, cheese, avocado, hash brown, brioche burger .... that’s 1000kcal ... so planning it for the weekend ... along with a small lunch and a smaller breakfast

How many slices do you usually eat? Eating just one slice fewer is progress. It's hard because it's a big change, and change takes mindful effort which can be tiring sometimes. It gets a bit easier with time. Not as easy as just eating mindlessly, but easier. You will develop strategies that become kind of automatic. When I want a meal very high in calories I automatically default to skipping breakfast and lunch. Not very comfortable, but easy in the sense that I don't have to think about it, it just happens. Someone else may choose to save calories up throughout the week, and yet someone else will be fine with two slices. It's a strategy collecting, trial and error, lots of experimentation kind of learning curve. I can't promise you it will become effortless, but it does become smoother as you progress.

ETA: don't know where the other paragraphs disappeared - I wrote a lot. Anyway, here is a rewrite:

There are basically a few ways of ways to go about it, either to go all out and stop eating certain foods for a while to retrain your palate, but note this only works if you know you are cutting out foods for a specific purpose, not because foods are bad or fattening, and you know you will re-introduce them later if you wish. Downside is that this can be very stressful, upside you will see progress sooner.

The second way is to make changes that are so easy you barely feel like they are changes, but they accumulate. For example, drinking water before a meal will likely help you to consume a little bit less, not guaranteed but it doesn't cause the stress of having to control your portion. Then later reducing your portion just a little bit at a time to where it doesn't feel like you are really reducing it. For example, I used to eat a large pita sandwich, then I started giving the first bit to my dog, then I started cutting the pita and eating two thirds, until I was down to half which was my desired portion. Downside it can take longer to arrive where you want to be, upside more of these changes are likely to stick and become your new norm.

Another way is to just go in, doing the proper things, changing things in the process and expecting some discomfort. This is basically like eating in moderation and watching your portions right off the bat. Downside, lots of trial and error possibly before you are mentally ready to handle trial and error (new dieters tend to freak out over the slightest bump in the road), upside you get to learn a lot about yourself and make progress sooner.

Personally I used all three ways for different things. Nuts I had to snip right off because it was more stressful for me to moderate them than to cut them out. It was hell at first but it passed. I haven't fully re-introduced them as a stand-alone snack, but I can have them in things and it's perfectly okay for me. Things like oil and bread I reduced very gradually. Things like pizza I went right to portion control because it's not a food I'm prone to stressing about.