How do you fight the cravings?

I have found a handful of treats that are satisfying but for one reason or another one is enough. For example, I won't binge on Fiber One treats because I am afraid of what they will do to me. Currently though, my go tos are keto fat bombs (these are 2 parts almond butter to one part each cocoa powder and coconut oil with sweetener and other flavors to taste, current batch cinnamon and cayenne) and chia pudding (1/3 cup almond milk to 2 tbs chia seeds, usually just cinnamon and stevia).

If I still want something after I have met my calorie goals, I re evaluate. High exercise days or TOM, I go ahead and eat a bit more. Otherwise, I find ways to distract myself. Currently, I am using duolingo to learn a language.

RedAbilty wrote: »

But aren't you afraid that once you start eating that food your craving you'll lose control? & almost black out while you're eating then when it's all gone you suddenly come back to reality and realise what you've done. Well that's what I'm really afraid of.

No. I know myself, and I know that there's a 90% chance that it will happen. When I have a craving that won't go away, I know I will eat the entire package (or cheesecake, or batch of cookies...), whether that's over the course of a month or a day. But I'm not afraid of it because I know that I can compensate for it. Sure, the scale might go up a bit in the short term, but I can lower my calories by a manageable amount or exercise more over multiple days, and it'll even out. If I had cravings a lot, I might change my approach--lower calories/exercise more until I've created an extra deficit that's equal to the amount of calories in the craving food, for instance. Losing weight is a math game, and the math can accommodate the occasional cravings-satisfying binge--as long as you either increase calories out or decrease calories in to make room for it.

I figure I'm probably going to have random cravings for foods that I know I'll binge eat, for the rest of my life, and I won't resist them all the time. But my philosophy is that if it's something I'm ashamed of, I shouldn't do it; but if it's something I'll do regardless of how I feel about it, I shouldn't be ashamed. Obviously that's easier said than done, but what it means here is that I don't allow myself to be ashamed of occasional binges on foods I crave, because they'll happen regardless; instead I figure out how to work with them. Otherwise it's just another fad diet because I won't be able to keep it up.

I was addicted to gumdrops, had them every night.

When I started mfp. I tossed them. Within two weeks of eating pescatarian, my cravings were gone.

I do keep dark chocolate Hershey kisses in the fridge. One satisfies me but I rarely want one. I've had the same package in the fridge for months now.

Planning and Pre-logging the whole day of food ahead of time (incorporating a moderate serving of some delicious dessert) really helps me avoid binging because it involves changing my entire plan or going really over my calorie target.

I set a timer on my phone for an hour later. I tell myself that if I still want it in an hour when the timer goes off, I can have it. Generally the urge passes. Another thing that helps is to keep my daily carb consumption below 100g but be generous with fat consumption. My cravings are always worse when my carb consumption spikes above 100g.

RedAbilty wrote: »

But aren't you afraid that once you start eating that food your craving you'll lose control? & almost black out while you're eating then when it's all gone you suddenly come back to reality and realise what you've done. Well that's what I'm really afraid of.

No!!

I find logging the binge food helps me decide if I really want to go that far ( I’ll put the calories for the whole container cause that’s probably what I want to eat) that helps bring be back to reality and generally I’ll have a little of that thing but it’s easier to not eat the whole thing of it.

A distraction that busys you.... something you enjoy doing that's active or requires your full attention. Or take a nap.

For snacks, I just buy a single serving of the thing I want and eat it. For meals, I see if I can plan it into my day or a few days in advance. If I'm not willing to go out and buy what I want, or if planning it in feels harder than not (like if I'm having a hungry day), then I don't want it enough and I don't eat it. It's usually a "worth the calories" competition for me. The foods that feel most worth it win, regardless of what they are. Some foods are worth it less often than others because take up too much of my allowance and make it necessary to over plan, but it's all food to me in the end.

ufonut wrote: »

Start at the source I’d say: The psychology of it all. The mental part of the craving. After all, truth be told your body isn’t going to collapse if you DON’T satisfy the craving, right? It’s all in your head! So you have to mentally take charge first - whether that’s through distraction, focus, or plain ole tomfoolery! I’m amazed how many times drinking water together with doing something will take away a craving - especially during a fast - but during food-specific cravings as well.

For me, personally, cravings are rarely a 5 minute affair. They're not going to go away until I have what I want. They can last for days or even weeks (unless I don't really want the thing. If I'm not willing to go buy it, I don't really want it enough to consider it a craving). I'm not going to die if I don't satisfy my cravings, but why put myself through that if I can have the best of both worlds and satisfy my cravings while controlling calories? I guess it depends on the person. Food is important to me and I derive real joy from it. Some people see food as nothing more than fuel. I'm not like that. If I'm not happy with my food, I'm not happy, and I embrace that.

I do zero carb and I literally have no cravings. When I was keto I binged on nuts and dairy pretty often. I could eat so many Macadamia nuts, brie or camembert cheese and Greek yogurt! I quit nuts and all dairy except for raw cheese. I mainly eat authentic parmigiano-reggiano which I still find addictive but I eat it with meat or eggs, never alone or else I can end up bingeing on it too