Just not as satisfying...

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  • Okay, so with the way I've been doin it... I stay on track 6 days a week, and then on the 7th day (one of my choice) I pick a meal and just eat what I want, as much as I want, etc. With the way my stomach and appetite have shrunk, it's kinda hard to really TOTALLY overeat crazy style to the point where I've noticed much of a difference for more than a day afterwards. Heck, usually I LOSE by the next day as weird as that may sound.

    It's usually when I go out to dinner with friends or family, or satisfy that crazy Taco Bell craving I have, or something similar. The rest of the 7th day, I eat on track like I would any other day.

    I like this method and it really has worked for me to stave off cravings for the rest of the week and keep me totally on the straight and narrow.

    However, I've been noticing lately that whatever it may be that I was salivating over (today it was a chimichanga with light ranch dressing - i.e. about 390 cals of something definitely not that healthy!!!)... usually after I eat it I'm kinda like "Hmm. Not as good as it used to be. Really not worth breaking the diet for."

    Because even though I "plan" my cheater meals in a way.... well, I at least plan to have a cheater meal.... I still feel kind of guilty when I have them.

    Have I brainwashed myself? Or is that stuff just not as good to me and my body as it used to be??

    I've got to admit, I feel freakin FANTASTIC all over since I've gone healthy.... healthier skin, healthier hair, losing weight at a slow but steady rate.... but still? What's the deal with the naughty food losing its Yum Factor?
  • I think it's kind of like an addiction thing. A smoker smokes a pack a day and feels good when they smoke. Then they quit... and a month later they try and smoke one and they cough and hack. Only for us it's an addiction to refined flour/sugar.
  • Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

    But seriously, once I started feeding my body the good, healthy stuff - THAT'S what my body started craving. I stopped feeding it garbage - and it no longer wanted garbage. Much to my surprise. I hadn't expected that. I also felt soooo fantastic eating the good stuff, that I totally lost interest in the "not so good" stuff. And I didn't want anything to jeopardize that feeling and I was too afraid to start with "that stuff" again. I wanted to ensure my success and I wasn't taking any chances. Nu-uh. I had enough of the "bad stuff" to last me a life time. Many lifetimes in fact. The truth is, that stuff never provided me with happiness. Never.

    I knew down the road, perhaps, under controlled circumstances, I could occasionally bring back some of the "bad stuff", but while I was losing - it just didn't have a role in my life.
  • I think that once you start eating fresher ingredients and better-quality proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, your taste buds really aren't so happy with stale grease, crummy ground meat, mass-production dressing, and more fried stale grease...

    You start to notice that a french fry from a fast food place isn't really a potato, in fact, you're not sure what it is other than grease in stick form. You notice that a burger bun is way too sweet. You figure out that for those two tacos you just ate, you could have had something so much tastier and better for you and more filling. And those synthetic milkshakes? That leave a film on your teeth? Yuck!

    When your tastes start changing, it's a good thing. That food never was as good as we thought.

    Jay
  • Yes, Jay made a great point, which I totally neglected to mention.

    Your tastes change. Your actual likes and dislikes. Never mind that you don't feel as good eating it and you no longer really crave it, but it just no longer appeals to you. It no longer tastes as good.
  • Despite having been on-plan for long stretches of time, I have never lost my taste for the unhealthy, fatty, sugary foods. Never. I have to be very, very careful when I go off-plan for a meal, treat, etc, as I tend to want to binge. I'm like a recovering alcoholic. In fact, I am a former 1 1/2 pack a day smoker. I haven't had one single puff on a cig since October 18, 2005. Yes, the first couple of cigs might make me sick as a dog, but I bet you I wouldn't care. Soon, I'd be smokng 1 1/2 packs a day again.

    So, all of this leads me to say....I can only indulge in off-plan foods if they are planned well in advance, if they are eaten outside of the home and if I am feeling mentally balanced and dedicated to my weight loss journey.
  • Amanda, I have the same plan as you do and I've been having the same feelings over eating out and food not being as good as it once was. One reason is because I've gotten so into cooking at home that I truly make better tasting food. I won't even consider going out for Mexican anymore, because I do it better. Now, when I eat out from my "normal" plan, I try to get something that I don't make at home. Like really good seafood or something brand new that I've never had before. If I'm going off plan it better really wow me with great flavor.
  • I seem to be fine if I go off plan for a single serving of dessert when I'm out in a social situation. Otherwise, I think it would be a huge mistake for me.

    I have always loved healthy foods. That's why no one in my family is overweight besides me. I have always stuck the junk right on top of the healthy foods.

    I'm lucky that I love vegetables. My carb/fat/sugar think is more of an obsession, I think.
  • We have a great restaurant in our valley that prepares organic locally grown totally healthy food. As a treat, I have taken myself to lunch at this restaurant. Yes, my food choices are changing and I can't even explain in words how thrilling this healthy meal is.

    Maybe you could experiment with a totally new treat for day 7.
  • Your tastes have changed and I personally think that is a blessing!
  • It really isn't as good. It's amazing how your taste can develop after not having it for a long time. Just a caution though, I had it be not as good and then got pretty loose with things and then ... it started tasting as good again.

    So I'd keep doing whatever works for you but know if you start eating all of that again on a regular basis there is a chance it could become just as appealing again and man, is it hard to climb back after that!
  • Quote: Just a caution though, I had it be not as good and then got pretty loose with things and then ... it started tasting as good again!
    Good point! As someone said above, as well, I'll try not to look a gift horse in the mouth! I guess it's still just so odd to feel that way!
  • My tastes have certainly changed. Things I used to like, I no longer like.

    It was funny, on a road trip, my husband and I were getting hungry and options for food were pretty limited. I had told him all the taco bell signs for 400 miles had reminded me of the old days when I ate bean burritos from taco bell. So we stopped and decided to have bean burritos (no cheese). It seemed like a sensible, quick dinner in the middle of no where.

    My stomach ended up hurting so bad and feeling so heavy from just a single burrito. It didn't taste that good but in eating it, I realized that the burrito was really just a transport food for the salsas.
  • Quote: It really isn't as good. It's amazing how your taste can develop after not having it for a long time. Just a caution though, I had it be not as good and then got pretty loose with things and then ... it started tasting as good again.

    So I'd keep doing whatever works for you but know if you start eating all of that again on a regular basis there is a chance it could become just as appealing again and man, is it hard to climb back after that!
    This is truth
  • Quote: Despite having been on-plan for long stretches of time, I have never lost my taste for the unhealthy, fatty, sugary foods. Never. I have to be very, very careful when I go off-plan for a meal, treat, etc, as I tend to want to binge. I'm like a recovering alcoholic. In fact, I am a former 1 1/2 pack a day smoker. I haven't had one single puff on a cig since October 18, 2005. Yes, the first couple of cigs might make me sick as a dog, but I bet you I wouldn't care. Soon, I'd be smokng 1 1/2 packs a day again.

    So, all of this leads me to say....I can only indulge in off-plan foods if they are planned well in advance, if they are eaten outside of the home and if I am feeling mentally balanced and dedicated to my weight loss journey.
    Whew...I'm glad there is someone else out there. I haven't lost even the slightest taste for greasy, fat-laden, sugary junk food, not one bit. I am super jealous of those who have. Maybe someone who has lost there taste for the junk could have your taste buds come give my taste buds a kick in the pants. Fortunately, with cutting out the junk, I don't have the cravings for the junk like I used to, but one bite and I'm gone.