I get intense cravings for specific foods. Now it's back to brownies.

dontlikepeople
dontlikepeople Posts: 142 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Once or twice a year I will get intense cravings for very specific things:
  • Brownies
  • Fried Fish and Vanilla Milkshake
  • Fried Chicken with Pickles

The chicken and fish cravings usually aren't so bad, b/c I can have it once or twice and move on. The brownie craving is more problematic because all it does is rev up my sweet tooth and make it hard to portion control.

I've read that cravings can mean you are lacking specific things, but my cravings seem to be a bit weird and random.

Anyone else? How do you deal with your intense cravings? I know I can't be the only one.

Replies

  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    Two ideas:

    1) Enjoy what every you want for a special treat. Fit them into your weekly calorie budget, not being overly worried about a particular day

    2) Consider substitutes. A great one for a brownie is some dark chocolate with walnuts. Skip the butter and flower and get right to the good stuff!
  • dontlikepeople
    dontlikepeople Posts: 142 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    Two ideas:

    1) Enjoy what every you want for a special treat. Fit them into your weekly calorie budget, not being overly worried about a particular day

    2) Consider substitutes. A great one for a brownie is some dark chocolate with walnuts. Skip the butter and flower and get right to the good stuff!

    I mean, that's good advice, but I have some issues with it:

    If I eat a brownie (or at least a regular brownie), I have two choices: Go over my calorie goal, or go under my protein goal. Neither of which make me mentally excited. As for substitutes.... nothing really substitutes brownies for me, and as soon as I bite into one my sweet tooth kicks in. It's like giving a recovered alcoholic a beer and saying it's okay in moderation. A lot of people don't understand this, or want to pretend it's not a thing.
  • dontlikepeople
    dontlikepeople Posts: 142 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I get cravings for fried chicken and for fish 'n chips.

    I am so glad I'm not the only one who gets the fried fish craving. I do about the same, it's not a big deal b/c I can just have it a couple times and the craving goes away. Brownies not so much, it's like one of those cartoons where the little snowball rolling down the hill turns into a snow boulder.
  • dontlikepeople
    dontlikepeople Posts: 142 Member
    Out of curiosity does anyone have any experience with "thinslim foods" particularly their ultra low calorie brownies? Wicked expensive, but I just placed an order.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    dontlikepeople wrote: »
    Out of curiosity does anyone have any experience with "thinslim foods" particularly their ultra low calorie brownies? Wicked expensive, but I just placed an order.

    I tried some of their bread when I was in contest prep. It was better than cardboard, but I bought it exactly once.
  • dontlikepeople
    dontlikepeople Posts: 142 Member
    Thanks. That is about what I would expect considering the macros on it I guess. Hoping I can just quell my craving with lousy low cal brownies. Fingers crossed. Summer is right around the corner.
  • dontlikepeople
    dontlikepeople Posts: 142 Member
    I am following up that I bought brownies (and other assorted 'sweets') from thinslim foods, and they are just awful.

    The brownies and other "squares" taste like..... wet cardboard. They're a bit gelatainous and its pretty gross

    The cloud cakes are edible but have the same cardboard + artificial flavor thing going on.

    I have eatmeguiltfree brownies coming in the mail, at least I know those are sort of tolerable.

    So far the best brownie craving killer I've found is flapjacked chocolate (or chocolate peanut butter) mighty muffins, cooked with a minimum of water.

    I spend most my days thinking about brownies for weeks. Its weird. It's like all I care about :P
  • PAPYRUS3
    PAPYRUS3 Posts: 13,259 Member


    Why don't you try making this:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10839394/ridiculous-brownies#latest

    Sounds like anything would be better than those other things you've tried.
  • dontlikepeople
    dontlikepeople Posts: 142 Member
    edited December 2021
    That's just chocolate meringue. It's not the right texture. The recipes that use dates aren't bad.

    Lenny and larry used to make a "muscle brownie" that was damn near perfect (like a little debbie brownie but with 14g protein). RIP. The EMGF brownies aren't "bad", just more pound cake than fudgey. After 5 EMGF brownies I think I'm almost over it lol.

    Edit: And I also went to town on some quest fudgey brownie bites, which are freaking amazing. I've been eating protein junk food all day and I love it.

    f0u863kso5rm.png
  • KL1887
    KL1887 Posts: 117 Member
    I tend to crave fried or salty foods in direct link with an impending or active migraine. Thankfully I’ve never been one for a sweet tooth
  • susanlee53
    susanlee53 Posts: 12 Member
    Since you can't seem to find anything to satisfy your craving, maybe the answer is just good old fashioned will power?

    When I get a craving, I go to the mantra "what do I want more? the xxx (in your case xxx=brownie) or accomplishing my goal?" which will make me feel better? after eating xxx, it rarely, if ever, satisfies the craving, and then having xxx makes still makes me feel the craving, and want more xxx. this spirals, and at the end of the day, I'd feel better about myself, my weight accomplishment if I don't succumb to the craving. I do really feel the guilt and I feel like a failure if I have xxx; if I can make myself skip it, then I feel successful. This is regular, totally predictable outcome. So why not do the things that I know I can do, and then feel good about it? All you have to do is succeed once, and then you know with certainty that you can succeed again.

    Another strategy I use is to tell myself I'll have xxx later, not deny it altogether. Then I get busy doing something else, and I might forget about the craving; also, by then, it might be mealtime, in which case I'll eat my planned meal, or not, I'll just make xxx my meal.

    One final thought, for me substitutes don't really do it. Some diet advice years ago told me: if you go for an ice cream, but it's lunch time, and have burger, fries and ice cream, it's the burger and fries that is the junk food. Just have the ice cream if that's what you wanted all along.

    Be happy in 2022!

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