Oh those cravings
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ptraff317
Posts: 6 Member
Any one else have a bad good day
4
Replies
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Frequently.2
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Sure. Think about it: What made it a bad day for cravings, compared to other easier days? Maybe you can figure it out, use it to fine-tune your plan. Some possibilities:
* Worse/less sleep the night before
* Intense exercise, or a particular type of exercise that day (or even the day before)
* Different timing of calories/meals/snacks, or the macro composition of those, or specific food choices
* Higher stress levels
* More sitting around (some people find mild activity to blunt hunger)
* Poor hydration
* Boredom
* Incidence of situations where eating is habitual, or other people are eating tempting things
* Too low calories, either right then or overall (sometimes trying to lose weight too fast can be a way to lose it slowly, or give up and not lose at all)
* Etc.
Look for patterns in your experience, as you go along. If you figure out what's triggering higher vs. lower cravings, you can tweak your eating (or sleep, or whatever) to reduce the problem.
Everyone is different: I figured out that I need a solid breakfast, with decent protein, plus protein through the day, or I'm going to get more crave-y. It helps me if at least one meal is high volume (for me, that's lots of high-fiber, low cal veggies). Sleep makes a difference. (Poor sleep plus a little alcohol is a bad combination, for me. If enough sleep, calorie appropriate alcohol is not so bad.) High intensity exercise or strength exercise makes me hungrier, sometimes the same day, sometimes the next day (a snack around that exercise sometimes helps). If I eat plenty of fruit, I don't usually crave more calorie-dense sweets. If I get hungry when a meal isn't coming up soon, I'm better off having a small snack (usually with some protein) rather than letting hunger build. And so on.
But that's just me. Figure out *you*. It can be really helpful.7 -
Ughhhh2
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Sure. Think about it: What made it a bad day for cravings, compared to other easier days? Maybe you can figure it out, use it to fine-tune your plan. Some possibilities:
* Worse/less sleep the night before
* Intense exercise, or a particular type of exercise that day (or even the day before)
* Different timing of calories/meals/snacks, or the macro composition of those, or specific food choices
* Higher stress levels
* More sitting around (some people find mild activity to blunt hunger)
* Poor hydration
* Boredom
* Incidence of situations where eating is habitual, or other people are eating tempting things
* Too low calories, either right then or overall (sometimes trying to lose weight too fast can be a way to lose it slowly, or give up and not lose at all)
* Etc.
Look for patterns in your experience, as you go along. If you figure out what's triggering higher vs. lower cravings, you can tweak your eating (or sleep, or whatever) to reduce the problem.
Everyone is different: I figured out that I need a solid breakfast, with decent protein, plus protein through the day, or I'm going to get more crave-y. It helps me if at least one meal is high volume (for me, that's lots of high-fiber, low cal veggies). Sleep makes a difference. (Poor sleep plus a little alcohol is a bad combination, for me. If enough sleep, calorie appropriate alcohol is not so bad.) High intensity exercise or strength exercise makes me hungrier, sometimes the same day, sometimes the next day (a snack around that exercise sometimes helps). If I eat plenty of fruit, I don't usually crave more calorie-dense sweets. If I get hungry when a meal isn't coming up soon, I'm better off having a small snack (usually with some protein) rather than letting hunger build. And so on.
But that's just me. Figure out *you*. It can be really helpful.
No no no no….
Wait. Yes.
Everything on this list.
Yes. Check.
🏆
Editing to add: My last few day have been stressful and I have definitely felt the desire to eat my stress.
Having sugar free candies on hand does help.
Just…. Be mindful of the dose. Don’t overdo them.
Lost a half pound on Saturday because sugar free wintergreen lifesavers are too delicious.1 -
Oh. Also? Cravings are part habit.
We learn to soothe our feelings with food.
We can unlearn it. But it takes time.
Eventually you won’t get so many cravings when stressed. I promise.3 -
MargaretYakoda wrote: »Sure. Think about it: What made it a bad day for cravings, compared to other easier days? Maybe you can figure it out, use it to fine-tune your plan. Some possibilities:
* Worse/less sleep the night before
* Intense exercise, or a particular type of exercise that day (or even the day before)
* Different timing of calories/meals/snacks, or the macro composition of those, or specific food choices
* Higher stress levels
* More sitting around (some people find mild activity to blunt hunger)
* Poor hydration
* Boredom
* Incidence of situations where eating is habitual, or other people are eating tempting things
* Too low calories, either right then or overall (sometimes trying to lose weight too fast can be a way to lose it slowly, or give up and not lose at all)
* Etc.
Look for patterns in your experience, as you go along. If you figure out what's triggering higher vs. lower cravings, you can tweak your eating (or sleep, or whatever) to reduce the problem.
Everyone is different: I figured out that I need a solid breakfast, with decent protein, plus protein through the day, or I'm going to get more crave-y. It helps me if at least one meal is high volume (for me, that's lots of high-fiber, low cal veggies). Sleep makes a difference. (Poor sleep plus a little alcohol is a bad combination, for me. If enough sleep, calorie appropriate alcohol is not so bad.) High intensity exercise or strength exercise makes me hungrier, sometimes the same day, sometimes the next day (a snack around that exercise sometimes helps). If I eat plenty of fruit, I don't usually crave more calorie-dense sweets. If I get hungry when a meal isn't coming up soon, I'm better off having a small snack (usually with some protein) rather than letting hunger build. And so on.
But that's just me. Figure out *you*. It can be really helpful.
No no no no….
Wait. Yes.
Everything on this list.
Yes. Check.
🏆
Editing to add: My last few day have been stressful and I have definitely felt the desire to eat my stress.
Having sugar free candies on hand does help.
Just…. Be mindful of the dose. Don’t overdo them.
Lost a half pound on Saturday because sugar free wintergreen lifesavers are too delicious.
Yes, stress = comfort eating.
Also stress => fatigue => energy seeking => cravings = eating.
I would've been better off going to bed early tonight, because late night last night + stress today = dysfunctional choices by evening. Live and learn. And learn . . . and learn . . . 😉🤣 Sometimes, gotta whack myself with a 2x4 (metaphorically!), I swear.🙄3 -
That little voice in my head, that I can normally silence, was screaming, “ice cream, now!” Ice cream is my stress craving. I went and got a small ice cream cone in an attempt to silence the wailing toddler in my head — didn’t work, so I have been finding ways to occupy myself and stay out of the kitchen. Cravings 😖2
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Does 'everything' count as a craving? I swear there are just days when I just want to eat for the sake of eating.8
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The worst!! I need to hire someone to just slap food out of my hands. I’m trying to horseback ride more to ease stress but that voice just won’t quit sometimes.1
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My current craving is spaghetti. I am trying to research a healthier alternative to try and if that doesn't do the trick, I'll suck it up and have a cheat meal where I make my traditional version.
The other trick I try to do is to eat something else high in protein. Those cravings sound a lot less appetizing if I'm already full.
1 -
I want to IMPULSE eat a lot more than I have specific cravings - cravings being for a specific food that sticks around for a couple of days. I'll resist the impulses with more or less success. The actual cravings? I'm eating the thing. Drawing the lines between the two - "This is available and I want to eat it" or 'I just want to eat" vs "I REALLY WANT A KRISPY CREAM GLAZED DONUT AND HAVE FOR TWO DAYS" - can help a lot. Because I'm gonna honor the second and the first means it'll go away and I'm going to go eat some carrots or drink hot tea.
Also? I learned a long time ago, when I was nearly 60lbs heavier, that I am better off going over in calories if I'm actually, physically, HUNGRY than trying to white knuckle it. So I'll go over with some chicken and broccoli or whatever, then look and see what thing 'wasn't worth it' and adjust for the future. what wasn't worth it is NEVER the meal I ate when hungry. It is OFTEN some random butt thing I didn't really want but was there, or that was higher calorie than I anticipated.1 -
My current craving is spaghetti. I am trying to research a healthier alternative to try and if that doesn't do the trick, I'll suck it up and have a cheat meal where I make my traditional version.
The other trick I try to do is to eat something else high in protein. Those cravings sound a lot less appetizing if I'm already full.
Consider red lentil spaghetti, if you haven't. I'm not saying it will work for you, just that it may be worth a try. More protein (like twice as much), the Barilla brand has a good al dente textural quality IMO, flavor is neutral. It ups the nutrition, similar subjective qualities.
I'm only singling out Barilla brand because I haven't tried too many other brands yet, and I know that I find Barilla's texture favorable. I'm very much singling out red lentil, because chickpea pasta is adequate as a wheat pasta substitute IMO but red lentil is noticeably better. (Other types have different qualities, pros/cons, but I won't belabor that topic here because I'm already off topic. 😉)0 -
My current craving is spaghetti. I am trying to research a healthier alternative to try and if that doesn't do the trick, I'll suck it up and have a cheat meal where I make my traditional version.
The other trick I try to do is to eat something else high in protein. Those cravings sound a lot less appetizing if I'm already full.
Consider red lentil spaghetti, if you haven't. I'm not saying it will work for you, just that it may be worth a try. More protein (like twice as much), the Barilla brand has a good al dente textural quality IMO, flavor is neutral. It ups the nutrition, similar subjective qualities.
I'm only singling out Barilla brand because I haven't tried too many other brands yet, and I know that I find Barilla's texture favorable. I'm very much singling out red lentil, because chickpea pasta is adequate as a wheat pasta substitute IMO but red lentil is noticeably better. (Other types have different qualities, pros/cons, but I won't belabor that topic here because I'm already off topic. 😉)
I'll definitely look into red lentil spaghetti. I'm aware of Barilla so that might be an option as well. As of now, I am looking into trying the House Foods brand after reading another thread. So many options, I just need to figure out which one works best for me!
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My current craving is spaghetti. I am trying to research a healthier alternative to try and if that doesn't do the trick, I'll suck it up and have a cheat meal where I make my traditional version.
The other trick I try to do is to eat something else high in protein. Those cravings sound a lot less appetizing if I'm already full.
Consider red lentil spaghetti, if you haven't. I'm not saying it will work for you, just that it may be worth a try. More protein (like twice as much), the Barilla brand has a good al dente textural quality IMO, flavor is neutral. It ups the nutrition, similar subjective qualities.
I'm only singling out Barilla brand because I haven't tried too many other brands yet, and I know that I find Barilla's texture favorable. I'm very much singling out red lentil, because chickpea pasta is adequate as a wheat pasta substitute IMO but red lentil is noticeably better. (Other types have different qualities, pros/cons, but I won't belabor that topic here because I'm already off topic. 😉)
Tried the red lentil spaghetti last night and really enjoyed it! Thanks for the tip, will definitely keep buying!1
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