Ideas to stop being self defeating with my diet

U

usamarsha

Cathlete
I would love some help with ideas to stop being counterproductive with my diet. I have no problem exercising regularly, but when it comes to my diet I have the worst time controlling myself. x( I really want to lose 30 lbs. 15 of which is left over from my pregnancy. (My son is 5 months old) I know I need to control my appetite, but it is so hard!

My issues are: I am hungry all the time, which happens every time I start exercising more; and I love my sweets. I will be good all day then "reward" myself with a sundae after dinner. }( How do you all control these type of cravings? Any thoughts would be very helpful!

Thanks,
 
I have the same problem. My "trouble time" is between 8:00 & 11:00 pm--it's the only time of day I get to sit down & relax, but if I'm not busy I tend to give in to my food cravings.

I try to pick one day a week that I'm "bad." It kind of gives me something to look forward to. It's not 100% effective, but it helps.
 
If you are hungry, you need to feed yourself. Drastic calorie reductions will get you nowhere. When you exercise regularly, your body needs lots of energy to get through those tough workouts. When you feel hungry, fill up on high-fiber, low-fat foods like vegetables and fruits, and maybe have a small handful of almonds, or a piece of low-fat string cheese or some low-fat yogurt. Fiber and protein increase satiety, so you don't feel like you have to eat as much or as often.

I love my sweets too. It's very hard to stay away from them. I like Laura's idea about allowing yourself a treat day - one day a week where you get to indulge in the sweet treat you want. My treat days usually end up being twice or three times a week - LOL! But I try. :)
 
Also if you want something sweet try fruit, or your just craving it. Try some lemon juice in water. Sour and sweet have the same receptors so a lot of time you can fake out your craving with something sour.

Other things have already been mentioned, start adding more protein and fiber to your diet, both fill you up so your not hungry, and when you exercise hard you need more calories no matter if you want to lose weight or not.

As for treat days, start with them then slowly make them less and less, as all it takes is a treat that's 500 calories and mostly sugar and you just erased 3 days of being good and eating right + exercise. So it'll put you at least 3 days further from you goal, as sugar is not nice to the blood stream, too much and it'll actually burn the blocd cells, so if that happens the body turns all that extra sugar into fat ASAP. So you may end up with 300 calories of new fat in your body. This is the reason why once you can do it once a week and are fine with it, to start cutting back, it'll make losing weight go a bit faster.

HTH,

Kit
 
Two thoughts spring to mind:

1) don't have it around. I'm a terrible grazer, so if junk is around I'll be at it all day. Would it be possible to only keep healthy snacks around?

2) wait. when I do have something around, like ice cream, I tell myself I can have some but have to wait til an hour after dinner to see if I am really wanting it. It sounds silly but when an hour or thirty minutes rolls around, I'm often engaged in something else and not even thinking of the ice cream or chips or chocolate anymore. :)

HTH,

Sparrow.

_____________
www.scifichics.com
 
Hi Marsha,

Do you think it's true hunger? I do the same thing with sabotaging myself. I think to myself...I worked out hard, I DESERVE this..

The more you tell yourself you can't have something, the more you want it. The fruit suggestions are a great idea. I'm a huge chocolate junkie, so the suggestion to eat it one day a week or in moderation doesn't work for me. I need to completely eliminate it from my diet until I get to where I need to be. You'll be SHOCKED if you can get through the first 2 or 3 days without it. It will be tough for those few days but you won't be craving it anymore. I promise! I also take L-Glutamine and I find that helps with my sugar cravings.

Have you ever been 30 pounds thinnner? I know you said 15 of it was left over from your pregnancy. If you've never been 30 pounds thinner or if it's been forever since you've seen it, you may be setting yourself up for a goal that you really don't think you can achieve. And so you self sabotage to prove yourself right. This one I know from experience. Set smaller goals for yourself. You'll find mentally they're much easier to achieve and if you can see it..you can be it! :)

Good luck,
Christine
 
It's corny, but one thing that helps me is the old saying "nothing tastes as good as being thin feels."

Now, I can't remember what it's like to feel thin, ;) But I know there must be a reason why I want it so badly!

I completely eliminated simple carbs, other than occasional fruit, from my diet. I'm usually okay - until PMS time. Then I fight the sugar cravings with sugar free hot chocolate (Nestle is my favorite) or something sweet made with Splenda.

Another trick is to eat 1-2 pieces (not bars!) of Dove dark chocolate. They're so rich and sweet a little goes a long way.

Am I dreaming or did I see a commercial for giant M&Ms last night? Sugar cravings can definitely mess with your mind!

Joni
 
No, I think I saw it too, Joni!!!

Maybe a chocolate protin shake, or "diet" bar?? No, there not all that great, but some are ok, and satisify that "sweet" craving... Chocolate is my HUGE downfall too.
Why is everything that Feels good, tastes good and looks good Not so good for you anyway... who's idea was that???
 
I could be wrong about this (& Kit please correct me if I am), but as far as I know that only applies to low carb diets, b/c x number of carbs will bring you out of ketosis phase & you pretty much have to start all over again to get back into the serious fat burning phase.

I don't worry about that so much b/c I think I've been on low carb long enough that one splurge a week doesn't bring me out of ketosis, plus I'm not really trying to lose weight anyway, just maintain.

But it is relevant if low carb is what you're doing. I hadn't heard this before re. low fat or low cal (although that doesn't mean it isn't so).
 
I have problems with craving sweets as well. I find that my protein shakes and bars help with that a lot. I also have found that at night the best thing for me to have as a snack to attach a sweets craving is some plain yogurt with splenda and some berries.

Katie
 
There is one more solution, I don't know if you get Schwanns, but if you do they have a great frozen fudge bar that is sugar free and fat free. So, maybe treat yourself to that once a week, or even twice a week. I think Blue Bunny makes something similar. I believe they are only 40 calories, and they taste great.

Kathy
 
I also just bought Dreyer's no sugar added, fat free ice cream in chocolate vanilla swirl. I took a tiny taste last night just to see if it was any good and I was extremely impressed with it. It has 100 calories per 1/2 cup serving and only 4g of sugar.

Katie
 
Bev, this is true. She totally can! I'm just thinking that if she wants to get rid of the sweet tooth in order to wheen herself off of sweets this might be a good way to go about it.

Kathy
 
I have a sweet tooth, but don't intend to give up sweets unless the doc say, "Babe, you got diabetes bad & the sugar is history." I have yogurt and Kashi Go Lean & Fiber One for my "sweet thing" every day, twice as a matter of fact, then lots of sweets only one day per week on my cheat day. I keep trigger foods out of the house, and just exercise will power until Saturday roles around. I think if you know you have that to look forward to, it makes it easier. Anyway, it works for me, and I'm at the lowest weight I've been in about25 years. Maybe easier said than done, but it works for me. That and food journaling.
 
Setting goals, let's say 30 lbs ligther is the big one, the ultimate goal, so for now go for a pound lighter in two weeks, slow is better, eating good food is another goal, eat the best food, think delicious fruits salads with yogurt on top, try mangos and pinapple with cottage cheese, low fat of course, think all you can eat in the fruit group, veggies group, lean protein groups, whole grains group, do a list of your fav. good food, everything that is processed, like cheese on it, specially heavy creams, which has 0 fiber, so where all that creamy stuff go? I believe to our guts, lots of sugar, white flour, those type of foods are between you and your goals,
so go for the good fellows who are going to get you to that slim woman you want to be, good luck! and remember this website is here for ya!
Norma

http://www.geocities.com/norma123nyc/Mygreatjourney.html

http://www.lifetimetv.com/reallife/df/success/chavez.html
 
Hi all,

As for the 500 calories of mostly sugar, I consider it erasing your hard work as what you just ate, all that fat you just worked off by eating healthy and working out, for three days, has been put back so your back as square 2.

And no doesn't apply to only low-carb, this can happen to anyone, as you insulin and glucose storage boxes aren't as big as that 500 calorie desert. I haven't met anyone under 800 pounds that 300 sugar calories could be all contained in those two storage boxes, general over weight or normal people have a much smaller storage container, unless they are some insane diet.

Think of these boxes as a cup, you hold it under the faucet and if you don't turn it off, the water will run over the top. This actually happens anytime you get too much sugar at once, and it fills up both boxes, it will over flow back into the blood stream, as your body will not make another stroage box or try to pack a little more in there, when it's full all the rest goes into the blood stream. Sugar is like acid to the blood cells, so it immediately corrects the situation by taking the over flow of sugar and turning it into fat. Now this is were all your hard work just went bye bye, you just gained the same amount of fat as you just burned in about 2-3 days a good hard exercise. If you just ate 300 calories of sugar. I'm figuring the 200 calories of other stuff will hopefully not be sugar, or carbs. If it is, you just added ate another day of your hard work that week.

This is why I tell people to stay under 200 calories for a treat/reward, as that will generally take out your workout and diet for the day, maybe a little bit from the day before, but it's not a huge chuck of work that you just ate. I'm also assuming there is a little bit of protein/or fat in that treats, not just pure sugar.
Or yes you will have erased another day of hard work.

This is why too much sugar is so bad, if you can't store it, it gets turn to fat, as the blood can't carry it so it can be escorted out the door, so your stuck with all you ate.

HTH,

Kit
 
Marsha,
Have you tried using fitday.com? It's a free website that you can enter a daily food log and it calculates everything for you - percentages of fat, carbs, protein, etc. It really is a great site and it helps me to know just how much I can have later in the day, ie, dessert time :)

Also, Skinny Cow products are really great, a little pricey but very yummy. They make ice cream sandwiches, bars, and sundae cups that are low fat/calorie. You could also try having a piece of fruit after dinner and see if you still crave the sundae. Sometimes all it takes is a little something sweet to fill the craving.
 
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