Need help letting go of bad foods and drinks!’

igolvera210
igolvera210 Posts: 7 Member
in Introduce Yourself
I can’t quit soda or junk food!! I’m currently working out and I look pretty decent in size BUT I could look a whole lot better if I had discipline!!! Someone help!! 😩😩😩soxbbb1r09y1.jpeg

Replies

  • slimgirljo15
    slimgirljo15 Posts: 269,456 Member
    Yep ^^^ That, 100%
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Have to agree with the above. How do you want to live your life, by externally imposed ideas even dogmas or by moderating what you do now to achieve what you want for yourself? Assuming you have no reason to eliminate foods, why should you. Life is to enjoy not to endure. Variety is said to be the spice of life. Work to achieve plenty of variety and your nutritional bases should be covered. Enjoy life with, a little of what you fancy. (wish I had that all covered)
  • Evelyn_Gorfram
    Evelyn_Gorfram Posts: 706 Member
    igolvera210 wrote: »
    I can’t quit soda or junk food!!
    You can't quit them, or you don't want to quit them, or you have trouble consuming them in moderation?

    If the stakes were high enough (for example, if your body suddenly started making an enzyme that would instantly turn soda into deadly poison), you would stop. And, when you decide that you want to be healthier and better-looking more than you want to keep drinking soda in quantity, you will stop.

    Of course, you'll have to make that decision again every time you're confronted with a can of soda, and that's where it helps to have a plan for consuming things like soda in moderation.

    I don't classify any foods as "bad," but there are foods that I behave badly in the presence of. When it comes to potato chips or breakfast bars, it's not that I can't stop eating before the package is finished, I just Really. Don't. like to. I don't buy them anymore, because it's just not worth it.

    Ice cream and cookies, I've better behaved around: I can work them into my eating plan and still meet my goals. And they're an important part of my plan: if the plan didn't allow some treats, I'd start feeling frustrated and deprived and eventually give up all my healthy eating in a fit of frustration and spoon-wielding.


  • Healthy_Libby
    Healthy_Libby Posts: 26 Member
    Find alternatives :) For me I really really have a sugar habit.... but once I got over the initial few weeks of cutting it out my tastes changed. Now fruit tastes so much sweeter, and it normally does the trick. Add fruits or veggies to your water adds flavour, no sugar or calories (I make up a jug in the fridge, lemon juice and rinds), cucumber, raspberries all work. Sparkling water always is my "go to" when im out, still has the fizz. Meal prep. Sunday Meal prep, breakfasts and lunches, if not dinner too. When Im out and about is the most difficult, so if you are prepared, that helps so much.

    But if I really really want the (insert food of choice my weakness is a good creme brûlée) I will have it. Because life is short and food is good. But its not every day (since I can't make creme brûlée, thank god.)

    Good Luck.
  • Zinka61
    Zinka61 Posts: 563 Member
    For me, for certain kinds of foods/drinks, eating in moderation is more difficult than just eliminating them altogether. When I give something up, I look for something healthier to put in its place. It takes awhile to adjust, but after awhile willpower isn't an issue anymore with those things. I would say get the junk food out of the house and replace it with foods you like that are actually good for you. Then count your calories.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    igolvera210 wrote: »
    I can’t quit soda or junk food!! I’m currently working out and I look pretty decent in size BUT I could look a whole lot better if I had discipline!!!

    Are you logging your food and hitting your calorie goal? Are you getting enough protein? If so, you actually probably wouldn't look better.

    If you are going over your calories because of soda and junk, that's a different story. First, switch to diet soda. Save the calories and move on. For other treat foods, the key for me was accurate and consistent logging, forming that habit, and then prelogging everything possible. So if I really want some ice cream I log it first and see what it will do to my numbers, then make a conscious decision to have it or not

    If you are eating a healthy diet, there is nothing wrong with fitting in a treat or two. Foods aren't good or bad, it's your diet as a whole. "Junk" is only bad if it's crowding out foods that will provide the macros and micros you need. Most people can fit some junk into a healthy diet. And if you are trying to get fit or muscular, your activity level and workout program are the key, not eating perfectly.
  • hippysprout
    hippysprout Posts: 1,446 Member
    Good habits are built by discipline, and without discipline, you are unlikely to break old habits and replace them with your preferred habits.

    That said, no one can "help" you do that. Absolutely no one here (or anywhere) has the magic phrase designed to suddenly assist you with saying no to a particular type of food that you want to replace with another. I personally, do not think any food is "bad". There are foods that meet my nutritional goals better than others, but I like my occasional treats as well.

    This problem you perceive yourself to have is 100% in your head. You've decided soda is bad for some reason, and you're beating yourself up because you lack the discipline to stop drinking it. Whether it's bad or not is a moot point: If you don't want to drink the soda, then don't. Same with any food you've listed under your demon-food list. Flip the coin: If drinking the soda makes you happy, then fit it into your diet in a reasonable way. Same with the foods you're trying in vain to avoid. Either way, stop beating yourself up. It's just food.
  • elsie6hickman
    elsie6hickman Posts: 3,864 Member
    I really love French fries, but I gave them up because I didn't like the idea that food had a hold on me and they weren't healthy for me. I think it is possible to give up foods that you don't feel good about eating. But it has to be your choice and not because you think you must.
  • igolvera210
    igolvera210 Posts: 7 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    The usual advice here on MFP is to stop dividing foods into good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, and stop relying on discipline, and instead build good habits. Unless you're an athlete in training for competitions, you can eat anything in moderation. Before you assume that I'm suggesting your diet should consist of nothing but fries and soda: Feeling free to eat anything in moderation, will usually lead to feeling more relaxed around food, which usually leads to more awareness of how the different foods and combinations of foods make you feel and perform, and then better overall food decisions over time.

    This right here made total sense to me...thanks for the advice I really appreciate it and also everyone else’s thought on the subject...I’m just trying to be the best me I possibly can be without cheating myself from my own potential
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    edited September 2018
    Cutting a food you love out of your life works great as a strategy until you can't stand feeling deprived any more and go out and eat a ton of it. Here's how I've handled maintenance: I love ice cream. Not ice milk, or that Halo stuff - real, full fat, high calorie ice cream. I don't keep it in the house (I know myself), and it's a special treat a couple times a month. I go out and have a dish at a local dairy or get one to go. I have the occasional McDonalds or Wendys meal, too, or a candy bar. It doesn't have to be a matter of cutting things you love out entirely, it's a matter of changing the frequency of your consumption and reframing "everyday food" into "once in a while treat". For me the key was finding other lower calorie options for the everyday treats; these include things like Outshine frozen fruit bars, Greek or Icelandic yogurt with some Polaner All-Fruit stirred in for flavor or some dark chocolate grated in, Fiber One bars and treats.
  • mazurkiepolish
    mazurkiepolish Posts: 363 Member
    Millicent3015 wrote: »
    You have a number of options. If you want to eliminate certain things, you could do it slowly or quickly. You could decide not to quit anything but learn to have some or all of those foods in moderation. You could gradually switch to sugar free soda, no added sugar non-carbonated drinks, or drink less of the regular soda. You could cut out calorie dense food, or replace it with more nutritious versions, or learn to eat it occasionally. There's no need to feel like it has to be be all or nothing and then panic or feel bad about what you're eating if you allow yourself choices about what and how you eat.

    Well said! ☺️

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