Will it ever change completely?
 

IDK about anyone else but even though I have reached my goal and know that I HAVE to and need to continue to eat healthy - why do I crave all the crap still? Is there something in my diet still that is making me think I need that other stuff - or is just a mind over matter type thing?

I have always loved breads - donuts, cakes, muffins that type of thing and I still crave them and am so completely tempted by them. So I have them once a while to kill the craving or just ignore it - or shift my diet again to see if i can get it to stop?

I just don't know what to think :(

How often are you having the sugar / white flour junk? I'd recommend cutting it out completely, going cold-turkey, and see what happens. You will continue craving for a while, but eventually I'd be very surprised if you keep craving. Give it 30 days and see what happens.

Well I have bread of some sort pretty much every day - either Subway or chicken sandwich. Also another kicker for me is chips - i eat way too many of those - definite weakness for me!

Try switching to whole grain bread and only eating it with protein. That might help.

For the last two years (since I committed to low-carb eating "most of the time"), I've tried to find an amount/frequency for high-carb foods - I haven't found it yet.

Maybe the day will come that I can (but right now, I'm kind of guessing not - or at least not more frequently than once a month, as I've not tried less frequently than that).

Cravings are food memories, so for me, the longer I go without eating something, the less I crave it. Eventually the craving disappears. But if I were to eat that food again -- man, I'd be craving all over again! So for me, cutting something out completely is the best way to stop cravings. :)

Originally Posted by JustBeckyV:
Well I have bread of some sort pretty much every day - either Subway or chicken sandwich. Also another kicker for me is chips - i eat way too many of those - definite weakness for me!

If you never quit the junk, then yes, you will always have cravings for it. Cravings for chips, white bread, and sugar are all basically the same thing. You must cut out all of it if you want the cravings to go away.

I learned while I was way off plan, that if I ate a white carb or sugar that all I would want for days after that would be more crap food.. which led to me just eating all the crap food that I wanted because I wasn't at a point mentally to stop myself.

I just had it happen again.. I ate 1 little rice crispy treat (my 4 and 5 year old made them :) so I had to tell them how well they cook ;) ) and 1 led to 4 :( once the sugar hit my mouth I lost all control for a few minutes!

So basically I need to get rid of all that if I want to stop craving it. Chips and breads totally? Hmm chips I could do without but I love to have sandwhichs - how do they eat those on the biggest loser then? I guess that is where I am confused - they always show them eating subway. I get the italian or whole wheat bread.

You need to get the whole wheat. For sandwhiches at home, our grocery store carrys a low cal wheat bread (actually it's just sliced really thin.. like 2 slices is as thick as 1 slice of regular calorie ;) ), I stick with that for myself.

Thanks! I will see what kind of bread I can find tonight at the store and NO chips!!!! Even if my DH whines! lol

Whole-wheat bread does not trigger cravings for some people, for others it does. You will need to experiment to see whether it can remain in your diet and not trigger cravings.

Make sure that you are buying bread that is completely made from whole grains, not just partly. And you want the kind that doesn't have HFCS, coloring, and other additives in it.

If they are showing contestants on the Biggest Loser eating bread from Subway, then they're doing that as a product placement advertisement, not as an actual recommendation that it's nutritious food. Subway is pretty much crap for nutrition--the bread may as well be white bread.

I'm also a white bread/muffin/potato girl. I can't have any of it. It just sort of kick starts something and then I'm craving it for days. The whole wheat bread works for me.

I found that when I cut bread/sugar/carbs out of my diet drastically for a short time (about two weeks), then I lost all my cravings. Now I am slowly adding them back in, at lunch and dinner, to see what I can tolerate adn what I can't.

Half cup of rice is fine. One cup triggers cravings the next day.
A whole soft pretzel triggers me.
One Red Lobster biscuit is fine, if it's the only grain at the meal.
One high-fiber waffle is fine, with berries, peanut butter, and low-sugar syrup. Two is too much.
One slice of double-fiber whole wheat bread is fine for lunch, but not for breakfast.
Oatmeal at breakfast is right out! But 3/4 cup of Kashi Go Lean is fine.

It's going to be different for each person. Just keep track of waht you eat, and when you have cravings look back at what you ate that day and the day before and see what carbs might be the culprits.

Something that really helped me with this was About.com's "Can Carb Cravings be your Friend?" Hope you find it helpful, too.

Hi guys! Just thought I'd toss in my .02cents into this topic about Subway.

Subway is good IF you're using the whole wheat bread options. However, just recently Jillian Michaels posted on her Facebook account that it has "come to her attention that Subway uses High Fructose Corn Syrup in their bread" and that she's "upset" because they promote Subway on the Biggest Loser.

However, she also went as far to post that she "will do a free T.V commercial for Subway IF they get rid of the HFCS in their products".

These are loose quotes, of course, but I found it interesting regardlessly.

As for craving controls? You need to figure out what works for you. If you can sneak a small portion (every now and again) into your diet (diet, in referance to anything you consume / drink) than that may sate the cravings. Some people need to rid it completely, else it triggers them to eat it contiously.

Also, it works for certain foods, too. For instance I absolutely LOVE trail mix. So healthy for you, but highly calorie dense. I can't bring this into the house. I'll eat huge portions of it without remorse. But chocolate? I still have a family size bar of 70% dark cacoa in the freezer that I nibble from time-to-time and I'm sure it'll sit up there for ages yet. Chips? I can portion out a small handful and be done with that craving. Icecream? No way in ****.

You need to figure out what works best for you. :)

Wow...that is really interesting about Subway...I had no idea! All those times I thought I was choosing a healthier option then fast food. I mean in the long run it probably is, but HFCS is just so bad...
I had a problem with cravings too. I did Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet for two weeks, and they are LITERALLY gone. DH had a Snickers a couple of days ago and I didn't even notice! usually I notice and ask for some, but he was eating it right in the car with me...that's when I knew that something crazy had happened. So I am an advocate of cutting it out for a time, and slowly adding healthy carbs back in.
Right now I am doing 1 piece of fruit every other day swapped out with a slice of bread. I eat tons of Veggies everyday, and lean protein. Also try to eat some beans. But even my skin looks totally different since eating 90% unproccessed foods. :)

I am not at goal weight, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt: I honestly don't want to live a life where I'm "not allowed" to eat a donut once in a while, or some chips around a campfire. I like my red wine and refuse to give it up. I say that *IF* you can control yourself, then have a treat now and then. Buy ONE donut and eat it slowly and in public. Buy a SMALL bag of chips. Have a chocolate bar. If you have the ability to moderate, then do so. I know myself well enough that if I totally disallowed myself from eating these things in small portions, when I want them...then it would lead to a big ugly binge.

Some people are just more carb sensitive than others. I am sitting here eating a bowl of homemade popcorn - a little oil and salt, and a whole grain (corn) that is actually extremely high in protein compared to other cereal grains.

Even with the salt and a little oil it doesn't inspire out of control cravings, nor does cereal for breakfast or a sandwich with homemade sourdough or homemade oat bran hearth loaves. The quality of the carbohydrate makes a difference, as does an individual's sensitivity. Some people really do need to avoid all carbs, but I find with calorie counting I can enjoy a good deal of carbs, even simple carbs, and still be just fine. But focus on getting more carbs from plant sources and less from refined grains and I think you'll see positive effects on your blood sugar and cravings.

This was so interesting reading the different responses to the question. I too wondered about it. I don't think I will EVER be able to totally eliminate some of my favorites, not forever anyway.

Originally Posted by JustBeckyV:
So basically I need to get rid of all that if I want to stop craving it. Chips and breads totally? Hmm chips I could do without but I love to have sandwhichs - how do they eat those on the biggest loser then? I guess that is where I am confused - they always show them eating subway. I get the italian or whole wheat bread.

Quitting white bread, sugar, chips ...calling it crap or junk food, is an opinion. A popular one shared by many but is by no means the only way to lose weight or keep it off. The theory is that some people are highly sensitive to overly refined foods (white flour and sugar, etc) and crave them like an addict craves drugs or alcohol. Other people lose weight and keep it off while eating healthy foods from all different types of foods (processed included). Subway sandwiches can be a healthy part of a moderation based diet.

If you find yourself craving certain foods, having less of them, less frequently might help reduce the cravings. If you are able to eat a Subway sandwich without then craving Subway for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all snacks...by all means don't ban them as "crap", include them in your healthy diet.

What people post here is what works for them. Some people have no problem eliminating entire food groups or types, for others it is extremely difficult. Stating it as if it is the 'end all and be all' to weigh loss and what we ALL must do because it works for them isn't accurate nor is it realistic. Cookie cutter, one size fits all...doesn't.

Do what works for you! Experiment, play around with what you eat and when and be a scientist at your own weight loss. Good luck!

Thanks again to everyone that responded.

I know for me it's more a store thing lol If I am the grocery store my brain goes all crazy. I see AND smell the donuts plus all the other breads and cakes and cookies lol

It's definitely not an every day all the time thing. I am still trying to work out what works for me and what doesn't on a daily basis. I would guess it will be something I just have to keep working at until I get it right if that ever happens.

Originally Posted by ChrissyBean:
I am not at goal weight, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt: I honestly don't want to live a life where I'm "not allowed" to eat a donut once in a while, or some chips around a campfire. I like my red wine and refuse to give it up. I say that *IF* you can control yourself, then have a treat now and then. Buy ONE donut and eat it slowly and in public. Buy a SMALL bag of chips. Have a chocolate bar. If you have the ability to moderate, then do so. I know myself well enough that if I totally disallowed myself from eating these things in small portions, when I want them...then it would lead to a big ugly binge.

HEAR HEAR!
I agree completely with you. Eating one cookie is not what got me fat. Eating the WHOLE BOX got me fat. I was reading on another weight loss forum that one of the dieters went "off plan" for Mother's Day, but didn't feel bad, because (and I'm loosely quoting) "you can't say no to everything forever".

Maybe some people have to. That's fine.
I know that when I am in maintenance, I'm not going to (and honestly don't want to) say "OMG I'm never eating a cookie/pizza/hamburger/etc... again!" because to me--and my way of thinking--that's just not realistic for me.
I'm going to indulge....and that's okay. I'm not talking a whole bag of chips; for example, I've been craving cookies, so I had one of those 100 calorie bags, and will bike it off later.

Anyway. That's my two cents.

I'm another one who had chosen to make no food completely forbidden. I do try to pick and choose carefully - for instance, for Mothers Day, I had a small portion of all the foods I wanted, even ones that were high in calories. But in exchange, I skipped dessert - not a hardship for me, as I had made a conscious choice to have the foods that I wanted the most. I would have skipped something else instead if I wanted dessert more but I didn't. And I came well under the top of my calories for the day so I got to enjoy some treats without guilt. Now granted, they aren't foods I want to eat every day because I don't think I got enough nutritional bang for my calorie buck. So that's why most days, I make different choices. But that's one of the things I like best about calorie counting is that I can make those sorts of tradeoffs while staying completely on plan.

I do think a lot of this is very personal though. When I am craving something, I can have a small portion and be happy and move on. (although the safest thing is to just have that small portion available - so no big bags of candy or whatever!) If I try to ignore the craving, I eat around it and end up having just as many calories but not being happy because I didn't have what I wanted. So moderation works for me, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking that having a small piece of chocolate, etc. every single day is moderation - the key thing is that it has to be rare and special and I can enjoy it completely but not repeat it again for a long time.

Originally Posted by PeanutsMom704:
When I am craving something, I can have a small portion and be happy and move on. (although the safest thing is to just have that small portion available - so no big bags of candy or whatever!) If I try to ignore the craving, I eat around it and end up having just as many calories but not being happy because I didn't have what I wanted. So moderation works for me, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking that having a small piece of chocolate, etc. every single day is moderation - the key thing is that it has to be rare and special and I can enjoy it completely but not repeat it again for a long time.

Very well said!

I did a lot of work on WHY i ate so much and got so FAT; once I had that 'figured out' food lost a lot of its allure to me. I still LOVE delicious, good food. Not all of it is healthy. But I make every 'calorie dollar' count. Do I love chips? you betcha, always will, I'm convinced of it. Do i have them? once in a blue moon when my calorie budget allows. I do NOT eat them when I feel I'll die if I don't LOL that's something else at play. I do eat them as a treat once in a while. No food is off limits to me, that's a dangerous game. I CHOOSE better stuff more often than not, but I still like a bit of crap now and again, and it doesn't seem to affect me negatively. I worked on the issues around food, so now I CAN have ice cream in my freezer and it doesn't sing to me... I can have boxes of cereal and have 1 bowl in the morning. As long as you feel in control of it, I don't see a problem in living life as you want.

Originally Posted by ChrissyBean:
I am not at goal weight, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt: I honestly don't want to live a life where I'm "not allowed" to eat a donut once in a while, or some chips around a campfire. I like my red wine and refuse to give it up. I say that *IF* you can control yourself, then have a treat now and then. Buy ONE donut and eat it slowly and in public. Buy a SMALL bag of chips. Have a chocolate bar. If you have the ability to moderate, then do so. I know myself well enough that if I totally disallowed myself from eating these things in small portions, when I want them...then it would lead to a big ugly binge.

This. I have a food scale and if the chip bag says 1 oz is 150 calories then I weigh out 1 oz. I ate an ounce of chips today with an egg salad sandwich on whole grain bread. The egg salad part I made myself so I knew exactly what was in it and could count the calories. I am craving salty stuff right now because TOM is coming, but if I suppress it I will make myself crazy and end up bingeing and I cannot have that happen. So, one ounce took care of it.