Help in sticking with routines

Hi there! I'm no expert, but I believe if you're craving certain things, your body is lacking in certain nutrients. I can't remember what off the top of my head, but if you Google "craving salty foods" it should come up with an article about that. Cravings seem pretty standard though when dieting. Try drinking plenty of water when you feel a craving coming, or try and find something to distract you enough that the craving passes without giving into it.

Good luck! xox

I don't have cravings, but I do sip hot water to keep myself busy when I'm snacky. When I use a calorie deficit to lose weight, it always takes me about 3 weeks to stop being annoying with feeling a bit hungry all the time. Then I get used to it and credit it to not necessarily always needing to eat but simply not being full parts of the day. This last time I told myself I wasn't going to fall off the wagon for SIX WEEKS. That's how long I needed to see real results, and after that it was the movement on the scale that kept me motivated.

Make cravings a part of your plan. Denying yourself every time a craving comes up and you'll eventually lose control and start binge eating.

Dieting, or rather a lifestyle change is a slow process. If your goal is to lose weight you have to eat less and move more for the rest of your days...reaching a goal weight and then stopping will almost surely backfire and you'll end up gaining everything back. That's a fact with "dieting".

Sustained weight loss means changing both how/what you eat and getting regular exercise and it is a slow process. Unfortunately many people think weight loss should be fast and the weight should always stay off once the "diet" has ended. Untrue. This is one of the reasons "diet" businesses make so much money. They get a lot of repeat customers!

Make sure it fits your calories, eat what you crave within your calories, log it and move on.

I know some people just can't control themselves around certain foods. If that's the case then you will need to find other foods that help with the craving but you don't binge on.

Hello. I’m definitely no food/craving expert. My biggest problem when I started was soda. I try to drink water, but at some point every day I end up craving soda. I hate Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi. So I tried diet Dr Pepper and diet Mountain Dew. They have unique enough tastes that the diet doesn’t make it too bad. Zero cals.

Sweets are hard. I find that if I need something sweet I have a single piece of dove dark chocolate.

I’d say to figure out what you’re craving and try to find other things that would hit the spot.

Good luck!

nadinemadison36 wrote: »

Hi. How do I stick with my diet? How do you avoid cravings. Any good alternatives with cravings?

- I don't include things I don't like. don't like going to the gym? don't put that in your routine. pick an exercise you DO like.
- I set a reasonable rate of loss. going for too fast a rate can create something one cannot keep for long (and weight loss comes from a calorie deficit OVER TIME) or a cycle of loss and binge.
- I include food I like in my daily diet. Or weekly. For example, I eat chocolate daily.
- I did not remove any food groups from my diet.
- trigger foods are not kept in the house. I can have them in portion controls outside the house if I chose too
- if I crave something more than a few days I eat it. I've been craving a peanut butter and jam sandwhich so I am fitting that in tomorrow. in fact I am fitting that AND a pizza tomorrow AND staying within my calorie goal. Or like today I am going to have mac and cheese for dinner cuz it's been on my mind for months (but I ended up going with other treats). I will likely end up eating maintenance today and that's fine.

So there is no outrunning cravings, but being "on a diet" doesn't mean you can't fit in foods you love and cravings. Just eat smaller portions, fit it in your daily or weekly calorie count ( cut a few calories over a few days to make room for them), chose to eat maintenance once very week or two...).

ETA: a big thing is PLAN AHEAD. it's easier to fit something in if you plan it the day or week before to set out your entire day (or if you opt to look at it on a weekly goal).

planning also means having food on hand that fits your calorie goal (snacks, ready meals) and meal prepping/planning to avoid getting home at 7pmand being starving and starting to think about what to have for dinner. Have a ready to go option (for me I make batches of things then freeze in portion containers and have lots of frozen veggies around so in a pinch there are always meals). similarly stuff like eggs can make a great meal very fast. canned tuna.