So this is the first week im back on my healthy kick-working out and roughly counting calories. Its usually whole fruits and veggies, wheat bread, eggs, yogurt, black beans and brown rice..all good stuff, but I did buy fudge bars...only 65 calories in one!! So I thought that would be a good item for "everything in moderation" and that way im not totally limiting myself. But even with that, Im finding myself hungry--physically and mentally. Im so used to eating a lot of tasty food-big burgers, a whole plate of chinese, tons of mexican cheesy stuff. Its really hard because I feel so deprived. Like I love mexican, so I changed to brown rice, black beans, tomatoes with spices and wheat tortillas...but its not the same. I miss eating what I used to. I know I cant put it off forever. But when will this feeling of feeling deprived from food go away? This feeling is the reason I always fail..

Hi Emma - I previously lost 105 pounds and then had a baby with serious medical issues who was in the hospital for extended stays so I ended up gaining it all back (plus some). My son is healthier and now I have more time to focus on me - so back on plan with my weight loss.

Every so often, I feel that way you do - why do I have to go without and miss the things I love to eat? I try really hard to look at it in a more positive light. It's not that I am deprived of the foods I used to enjoy it's that I am making a choice to eat healthier. I want to feel as good/healthy/strong and look the way I did when I was slender so I choose not to eat those unhealthy foods. Don't look at it like something is being taken away. Look at it as if you are 'pushing it away' because it will hinder where you want to be with your life.

For me it went away a little after one month and now (month 9) is almost completely gone. Trust me, you CAN pull this off forever. Your tastes will change, cravings will change. But you'll never know if you give up. Keep it up!

I used to LOVE Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. My wife had picked up some for my son (not sure why) but I decided to have a bowl since I haven't had any in a while. After a few bites, I couldn't eat it. It was too sweet and made me feel yuck. I've had the same kind of reaction to other foods too. Needless to say I no longer crave those items Shytowngal and HLS are right. Personally, as this is a lifestyle change not a diet, if I want to eat at McDonalds once in a great while I will. BUT, if I do, it has to be at lunch and I MUST willing to put in the effort to burn it off the same day. That's the trade off for me. If something is really worth it, then I'll do it. Most of the time it's not. Just stick with it. You're choosing to lose the weight.

I was actually just telling my coworker the other day that I'm surprised I don't crave McDonald's or nachos anymore after only a month. It goes away, trust me.

I seem to be the total exception to the rule. It has never gone away for me. I still want all that gooy stuff, and when I do occasionally indulge I think it always tastes fabulous. I think this is one of the reasons I never "cheated" during the weight loss stage of this new lifestyle. I couldn't trust myself. Ironically, I can eat MORE in one sitting now that I'm a normal weight and often if I start on some of that yummy delicious stuff I can't stop until I've consumed 1000's of calories. Best for me not to start. I can't even have substitutes, because to me, a low-fat/low-calorie replacement item makes me want the real thing even more...

It goes away eventually. I started cutting back on my food in May so its been 4 months now. One of my weakness was sweetened tea...I mean I used to put sugar, condensed milk and creamer in a cup of tea. Since May, I have hardly had any tea. Yesterday, I was feeling some gas pains so I made a cup of tea in my usual manner....the only problem was I COULD NOT DRINK IT. It was too sweet. I ended up throwing it away...

When will the feeling of feeling deprived from food go away? When you realize that you have been depriving yourself of a slim, fit, active, healthy, optimal you. Not being those things - THAT'S the deprivation. Eating those other foods and remaining overweight, not the best you possible - THAT'S the deprivation. Not passing up on some high calorie/high quantity foods.

Eating well, adhering to a healthy lifestyle that's no deprivation. This is no prison sentence. It's a key to a wonderful, fit, active, productive life. Full of self confidence, self worth and self respect. It's a life full of more opportunities, more choices, more joy, more comfort and peace. and waaaaay less hassles and worries. You can't capture that feeling from food. You just can't.

What I had to finally do - first of all - realize what I just said above (change my thinking) and than find foods (healthy, lower calorie ones) that I LOVE and adore. It's not to say that I don't care for the *other stuff*, but the healthy, delicious, tasty food - they taste phenomenal AND they're GOOD FOR ME. I had to raise my standards and require more from myself. I stopped setting for food that merely tasted good. Nu-uh. No more. It never gave me real happiness or peace anyway. Being slim, eating well does.

But you do have to give it some time. Time to let your love of the other foods die down and time for you to actually FIND/discover/create those new tasty healthy foods and for you to begin to want/crave/desire those.

It'll happen. Hang tough. There's a great outcome. Just wait. Soon the so called sacrifices will seem sooo little as compared to the huge rewards.

The more healthy I eat, the better I feel and the more I want to continue eating healthy to keep that good feeling. It gets easier... I don't really feel "deprived" anymore, b/c if I want it THAT bad, then I have it. I just make a plan. I et out how much of whatever it is that I want and then I make a plan to "get back on track".

I just posted no the Weight Loss Support forum about my vacation eating and how food crazed I was afterwards. It seems that once I get going, it is like I get addicted and need to wean myself off. I don't like feeling that way, so next time vacation rolls around, I will make different choices.

It is all about choices. And learning what works. And developing new habits. As eating healthy becomes a habit, avoiding junk isn't so much of a project anymore.

I have also heard it said that "you crave what you eat". So if you eat crap, you crave crap, but if you eat veggies and lean proteins, you being to crave that when you are hungry.

Real food is tasty. You will start to love the taste after awhile. Maybe you are making things too plain? I have a black bean/chicken/salsa dish with fresh cilantro and lime and it is wonderful. It definitely beats burgers. When I go back and eat fast food, yes, it is good, but more often than not, it is disappointing. It's funny. There's the odd super-intense food bliss feeling sometimes (like I was expecting and crave), but again, more often than not, it's "Hmmm. This is too greasy. Hmm...this KFC is overdone and dry."

That said, I do understand the anger. I feel it periodically too. What I've been doing for the last two months is logging everything I eat. When I go down my list (iphone app), there's all kinds of foods on there. Just tons, from healthy to not so healthy. There's chicken breast with ff sour cream and salsa and brown rice, there's curried lentils and chicken chili, there's veggies, but there's also cheezies, there's the odd piece of cake, a cookie or two, there's soda, there's half a piece of cheesecake. So I'm in actuality not really deprived. And I'm still losing for the most part. There have been a couple of weeks in there where I've been thrown off by a unplanned-for dinner out and a weekend away, but in general I've stayed on-plan and either lost or maintained.

Good luck. The anger is hard. You sorta just have to say, "This is what I have to do to lose weight and I will do it." Make sure it *is* actually something you can live with long term.

You are not deprived. You are making choices that will lead to a normal weight and better health. Why would you want to eat stuff that makes you overweight and unhealthy? It's all in how you look at it. If the choices you were eating didn't give satisfactory weight and health, why would you want to continue them? Bulk up your meals with more vegetables. Protein keeps you feeling satisfied the longest so have a little with every meal and snack. Exercise an hour a day (doesn't have to be in one chunk of time) and drink plenty of water. You'll look better and feel better and soon the other foods will no longer taste good if you have them.

Reading all these responses are totally inspirational. I can't wait till I'm at where all you successful people are at. I can't wait to give advice and be living proof to that it works. I'm so hyped! I can't believe you guys have gotten so far!

I am another one who never lost the desire for junk. I wouldn't call it cravings (sometimes it is, but not usually), and I generally do not feel deprived. But if I did not have to suffer the consequence of weight gain, you better believe that I'd prefer to eat the cheesiest, greasiest, most sugary junk foods in all the land. It all still appeals to me and when I do eat it, it tastes just as good as I remember.

But, I realized that, quite simply, I like being thin more than eating those foods. Sure, a free for all at the Chinese buffet is fun...for maybe an hour. Then what? I'm left feeling bloated and guilty, and if I keep up that kind of eating, fat. I'd rather not have those brief moments of eating for pure pleasure throughout the day and live a life as a thin person.

That all being said...my approach to all of this has worked beautifully for me, but absolutely would not work for everyone. I did this all through my weight loss and now in maintenance and it's never hindered my progress....I can't do mini treats throughout the week. I can be happy for weeks at a time with eating perfectly clean and on plan IF I know that I have the opportunity to indulge in the near-ish future. So about once a month, I plan (key word being plan, this isn't just any day I feel like it) a day for a total raging cheat. If I want Chinese buffet, I'll go back for seconds or thirds of absolutely anything I want. If I want a burger, I'll get it and I'll probably get fries and put bacon on that beast. I have an all or nothing mentality. Little mini treats throughout the week are absolute torture for me. Those 65-cal fudge treats that you have? I'd prefer to do without those and just get a huge serving of Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey once a month. If I had fudge bars in my freezer, I'd obsess over wanting them. If I let myself have one, I'd find some justification of why I needed all of them in one night. So I am perfectly fine without them day to day because I know that I will soon have a free for all day when I can throw caution to the wind.

And I know I said I never lost my taste for junk, but my eating capacity has gotten pretty pitiful. I still WANT mass quantities of junk, and there have been those planned days when I ate a ton of it. But, after weeks of eating clean, I'm in absolute physical agony after I eat garbage. So as the months have gone by, even on my planned cheat days where I let myself eat whatever I want with no reservation, I naturally only desire to eat slightly beyond my normal moderation.

I gave up sweet stuff cold turkey because it was just something I couldn't do in moderation and diet substitutions just made me want the real thing.

But I haven't given up other things I love - I don't do fast food, but I do occasionally have a really high quality burger. I've found most mexican and chinese places around here about the quality of "fast food" but I still treat myself to meals made with whole foods and high quality ingredients. I'd rather have a great meal once a month than a dozen lousy ones (and most of the restaurant food I used to eat really wasn't very good.)

I haven't made these changes in eating just to lose weight, I've done it to be healthier. This isn't for 130 pounds, it's for the rest of my life. It just took me this long to realize that a lot of the things I ate out of habit and enjoyed weren't really all that enjoyable. Not once I'd tried well made whole food versions. You can put a whole bunch of tasteless yellow plastic cheese flavored product in a meal or a couple ounces of good cheddar - it really didn't take me very long to decide which I actually preferred.

I liked that idea of looking at the iphone app. I just did the same thing and noticed all the "cheats" I have listed along with a lot of good food. It makes me feel a lot less deprived when I see it right in front of me.