Do I ever need motivational HELP!

[*Ali*Baba*]

Hey girls!

First post, WOO!

So I've been trying to get to a weight that i'm really happy with for a few years now, but I SERIOUSLY struggle with giving up junk food. I would in fact say that I am addicted.

What are some strategies that you have used to say no to chocolaty and salty temptations??

Thanks!!
Ali

[twinnett]

Instead of just cutting them out cold turkey, why don't you work on incorporating small treats and fitting them in your macros? I try to make things I like healthy...protein "ice cream" or "pudding" w/ cottage cheese, protein powder, ice, some SF/FF pudding mix. You just have to be creative!

[*Ali*Baba*]

hey thanks! if you don't mind...what is a macro?

i'm totally new to actual nutrition hahaha

[ladybugtamm]

Hi Ali, I am new here, and not a pro by far. But what has helped me is to not go too long before eating, so that you are not actually letting 'hunger' for a quick and easy junk snack attack take over. Also, keep those things that are healthy near by, my fav.s are fruit, cashews, and whole grain cereal ate dry. And then if you find yourself in a store line and already buying that candy bar ....then try to eat only half of it until the next attack. May not be the best advice, but works for me. Good luck!

[vanillabn]

hey thanks! if you don't mind...what is a macro?

i'm totally new to actual nutrition hahaha

Macro's just short for macronutrient.

The main macronutrients are protein, carbs, and fats. (Micronutrients are things like vitamins and minerals, which your body needs in much smaller amounts).

If you're new to nutrition, you may find it helpful to use fitday.com or nutridiary.com to log the food you eat, and watch the ratios of how much protein/carbs/fat you're consuming (this is what everyone refers to as tracking your "macros") People have different goals in regards to what their 'ratios' are, but I myself use a 40/40/20 split (40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat), and I've found this to work really well.

Here's a good 'overview' article about the main macronutrients:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/changingshape5.htm

Hope that helps!

[*Ali*Baba*]

thanks girls this info is so great!

this is an example of my problem though:

just had like a cup and a quarter or so of stirfry...it filled me right up. but i'm sitting here just CRAVING chocolate. i'm not at allll hungry.

HOW DO I MAKE THAT GO AWAY!?!?!?

[Mindi912]

I find the less sugar I eat the less I crave it but I haven't cut it out of my diet completely...

as I increased my protein intake and lowered my carb's my body no longer wanted to eat the junk...

your body is sustained for longer on protein so make sure you get this in, also your shakes will help. If I crave then I drink a shake

also try eating natural sugars - fruit I mean there's nothing wrong with eating fruit

[*Ali*Baba*]

good point! so pretty much just try to fulfill a craving with a healthier substitute

[vanillabn]

I agree, make SURE you're not just getting enough protein, but also timing it so that you are getting enough throughout the day. Also, increasing my intake of healthy fats was a really important step for me in regards to not craving junk. Sometimes (not saying all the time) your body is craving junk because it's not getting enough of something. In my case, I found that eating something with healthy fats like avocado, or a small serving of cashews - was enough to make me feel "satisfied". I also have a small piece of dark chocolate sometimes and just fit it into my daily macros.

However, I think if you're in the 'habit' of eating junk (which you say you are), it may take a while for your cravings to subside. As a poster mentioned below, I found that the less sugar, etc. I had in my diet, the less I craved it.

Not to be a pusher of articles ( ) but I was also reading this one the other day and I thought it had some really great points - http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ryanm14.htm.

[blair0402]

try having a few bites of dark choc. or here's what i do: when i eat spicy food at a mexican restaurant, i find myself craving ice cream for some reason. so i have one of those york peppermint patties that they have up at the register at most mexican restaurants. this usually curves my craving. but also having a real treat every now and then is ok.

thanks girls this info is so great!

this is an example of my problem though:

just had like a cup and a quarter or so of stirfry...it filled me right up. but i'm sitting here just CRAVING chocolate. i'm not at allll hungry.

HOW DO I MAKE THAT GO AWAY!?!?!?

[SpaceCakeGirl]

I basically gave up everything good in life and haven't looked back (no sweets, nothing with high fructose corn syrup or corn syrup, no artificial sweeteners, nada).

For me, I had to eliminate EVERYTHING. I give myself a cheat once every two weeks or so. If I do any more than that if messes with my head. I'm probably crazy, but if I start to give myself cheats then I feel like "Why bother? I should just stuff everything I can into my mouth", haha. No good!

Also, the less you eat it the less you can tolerate it. At my friend's birthday party I had TWO cupcakes and ONE alcoholic beverage (I don't drink anymore either). I woke up the next day feeling wickedly awful, like, as bad as a bad hangover awful. All that sugar just messed me up.

It is really really really difficult because of my living situation. For example, right now there is tiramisu in the fridge, strawberry sorbet and ice cream sandwhiches in the freezer, cookies in the pantry, and baklava and chocolate cake on the counter (and my mom wonders why she can't lose weight?) I don't even look at it and I do all I can not to think about it. It doesn't exist in spacecake land, and you can't eat something that doesn't exist.

I realize this all makes me sound crazy, but it's what worked for me.

Find replacements. For ice cream, make a smoothie (I do 1c soy, one fresh banana, 1/2 cup frozen berries - it's as good as ice cream). For chips, get Nabisco's Garden Harvest (Apple Cinamon, Banana, Tomato Basil, Vegetable - it's made with basically whole grains and fruit/veggies and not much else). Replace regular pizza with whole wheat pizza with lots of veggies. Out go the pastries, in come the bran muffins.

Also, I used fruit to ween myself off sweets. Whenever I wanted sugar, I ate fruit. Then I was eating too much fruit, so now I'm trying to ween myself off fruit and onto vegetables, haha.

[lollerskatez]

i did it cold turkey, the first 2 weeks sucked but after that it was easy peasy!

[TurbulentFluid]

I saw Supersize Me.
Again and again. And again.

Kididng... I went cold turkey and after two weeks didn't even think back, I was too busy exploring the new tastes of really healthy and GOOD foods! I think cold turkey is the way, if you keep having some it'll just tempt you. Now I stopped doing cheats 'cause I can't force myself to even have pizza...

[c0ldhart]

I've learned the hard way that I'm really carb/sugar sensitive... so even fruit is hard for me... <I get VERY HYPER...VERY ANNOYING to people around me and i feel physically horrible after i 'crash', almost hungover> so I went through the whole Atkins craze a few years ago and regardless of the goods and bads of the 'diet', i learned that I was addicted to sugar/carb stuff. So when I went cold turkey and REALLY cut it out of my life, I learned something very critical about myself. I was truly addicted to it. So I treat it like an addiction. I cut it out for a few days when I start to feel 'cravings' or lose control...very strict, i suffer through the withdrawal symptons, then after about 2-3 days... I feel AMAZING. No more cravings, no more mid afternoon energy peaks/drops, i climatize a lot better... the whole 'shebang' of just plain old feeling good. I can literally 'feel' my metabolism BOOST. To me the 2-3 days of feeling rough is worth it.

i'll periodically let myself have something, but i try to not let it be... 1. when I'm hungry. 2. not in a place where I can 'binge' or go overboard. 3. on a training day, so that i'm burning it and i'm more devoted to my diet and it forces me to feel just enough guilt (even though I earned it) to keep me on track. Preferrably the first night of my split, so I'll have the rest of the split to keep me straight.

If i give myself a cheat day or meal, I don't let it be on my 'rest' day, it's too easy to go overboard and lose control for the entire day versus what I've decided is my 'indulgence'.

I also learned that I only truly 'binge' or overindulge when I'm hungry, so I eat CONSTANTLY... 6 meals a day, fat and protein are a MUST and it keeps me on track and full longer.

I hope this helps, it's probably more than you wanted to know about me and you most likely don't have the same degree of 'issue', but maybe it will help you add another 'tool' or tactic to your arsenal to help you seek your gaols... Sorry that it's a bit long, i just finished a good run and I'm still kinda 'juiced' up...

[*Ali*Baba*]

i did it cold turkey, the first 2 weeks sucked but after that it was easy peasy!

LAWLZ @ YOUR USERNAME.


hahaha

anyways, it's taken me a while to get back on this but thanks everyone for the great advice, and your stories!!!

i'm stillllllllll struggling with saying no to dips granola bars (they are my main enemy) but i'm getting better.

i will keep you posted whether you like it or not! hahaha

[dvsness]

The best way I've found to avoid junk is to simply not buy it. If it's not around you or in your house, it can't be eaten.

[*Ali*Baba*]

The best way I've found to avoid junk is to simply not buy it. If it's not around you or in your house, it can't be eaten.

Haha yep but unfortunately i'm a student and live at home and my dad is not so much into keeping junkfood out of the house. if i were living alone and in charge of my own groceries, i don't think this would be at ALL a problem for me.

[biochick]

I get good chocolate, and then eat a small amount of it. Dove Dark Chocolates are my weakness, but I only eat one or two at a time. The 100 calorie packs are good when you need a salty fix - doritos or sun chips are my favorites. I saw in a magazine they have 100 calorie packs for chocolate stuff now too. You can use it for motivation as well - if you don't go to the gym that day, no treat. In reference to a few of the posts above mine, Supersize me is a great demotivator to go to any fast food place and eating less sugar will have you craving it less. It is now hard for me to eat an entire chocolate bar. I have a small piece and then I put the rest away for later.

[one*hot*mama]

I also love sweets, so I feel ya! Where I work, we've got candy jars EVERYWHERE and I mean everywhere. I would snack on Twix and M&M's all day long.

Then, I found that once I just stopped eating it, I didn't crave it anymore.

Good luck - you will learn to replace your candy/junk food craving with other healthy options!

[yogastrong]

Hi! Im new too but I still want to say welcome to you!

ANyway Ive been eating well for about the last 8 years, occasionally I get out of the habit and eat poorly, but I always find myself lacking in energy and feeling really poorly physically and psychologically. I just wanted to share what works for me and hope it helps. As others mentioned, eating every 2-3 hours definatly helps, if I go too long without eating my blood sugar gets low and I start craving "junk" (mostly carb which my body knows will hit my system fast!) I also drink lots of water, that seems to help with cravings.

Ultimately the best thing that works for me is just being PREPARED. Have one day to prep stuff and planthe meals ahead of time so you arent scrambling for a food solution and settling on the first thing you lay eyes on.
Good luck on your goals!