Only been a couple days but that nagging little that wants me to eat won't shut up. How does everyone else deal with that little munching demon that does not consist of me beating my head against my desk repeatedly?

Hi Chrys!

I think you'll find that a lot of us eat pretty frequently. Do you normally have snacks at your desk? You'll just have to come up with some that are low cal. Cut up vegetables, a hard boiled egg, even gum might help.

Cleaning, my house has never been so clean.

Seriously, I'm a binger and I used to think that my urge to binge was constant but it's not, it last for about 2 minutes at a time. Knowing that the urge will go away in two minutes and finding something else to do for that time or just sitting with it and counting up to 120 helps me a lot.

Additionally I don't keep any junk in the house, if my urge to binge becomes overpowering, I have choice between sugar free jelly or raw veg, everything else is either not stocked or frozen.

Also it does get easier as time passed and you loose a little weight and look and feel better, it becomes its own reward.

Substitution has been helping me. I'm trying to give up sweets like cookies, candy, chocolate, etc. because it really triggers me. Once the sugar hits my system, I just can't stop eating. So lately, I've been keeping prunes, no sugar added in my fridge. Every time I have a sweet craving, I've been eating prunes. 40 grams (about 5-6) is 100 calories and it helps me keep my sugar cravings at bay. Really any kind of fruit would work but for some reason I've chosen prunes...

I'm a guilt laden person, so everytime I think of eating things I shouldn't, I stop and think how guilty and yucky it's going to make me afterwards. For me, this is DEFINITLEY enough to prevent me from eating what I shouldn't. And if it doesn't, and I go that piece of cake or whatever, a couple of bites end up being suffice because of it.

I drink a ridiculous amount of tea... makes you feel "full" too!

I try not to keep snacks at my desk, although that never really stopped me from walking to the cupboards. Well, these all sound like decent ideas, well except the prunes lol. I will try some of those, thank you.
and my house could use a good cleaning

Hang in there! It is hardest at the beginning. It will get easier! At the beginning, I munched on carrots most of the day. Find other low calorie foods that you can munch on, chew gum, suck on sugar free hard candy, or better yet, drink water. I use my natural tendency to procrastinate to help me. I would keep telling myself that I will snack in a little while and then delay, and delay again. Mind tricks.

You don't say what type of program you are on. My first month or so, I let myself have 1800 calories. With planning, you can eat a lot of food for 1800 calories!

I am still sort of trying to figure that out. I tried several different diets but those didn't work. I was thinking about trying calorie counting, but not sure what amount I should start with. Till I figure it out I am mostly just trying not to eat myself silly anymore.

Well there are lots of places you can calculate online good calorie goals. But actually where I would start is going over to the Calorie Counter forum. There is a thread in there about calorie targets with a lot of posts. Just find a number of people around your weight and use those as ballparks. Just don't go too low.

And you are going to tweak that number anyway as time goes on. No reason to not start calorie counting right now! I'm not one that calorie counts to exactly hit a target each day as some do. For me I find the benefit much more in keeping me accountable for my choices as well as monitoring overall food behaviors (why did I go 500 calories over today, or how did I get to 6pm only eating 600 calories, etc.)

I'm another who will tell you it does get easier as you go. On South Beach diet, the cravings stopped within three days, with calorie counting it took three weeks, but in both instances, the cravings did stop.

And I'm also another who eats 6 mini meals pretty regularly around the clock.

Chrys - Like so many others have said, it gets easier over time. Hang in there, never give up and keep us updated on your progress. I know you can do it.

Are you getting plenty of the healthy fats, protein and fiber. My other suggestion would be coffee and plenty of it. I like mine with sweenter and almond milk. Plus, coffee can slightly boost your metabolism.

I don't get enough healthy anything.. Coffee I get probably to much of though. I am going to try to buy the healthy stuff and start counting the calories. I poked around the calorie counter forum seems 1800 would be good start for me. We will see. first test is the shopping, girl scouts are out this time of year here. hehe

And thank you everyone for the responses.

Try to find a plan--"just eating healthier" often results in an under-eating + binging cycle. Personally, I love calorie counting.

My first month I ate 2000-2200 calories a day, which is a ton. But it gave me time to learn how to manage a plan without being deprived or cranky all the time. Once I had a system down, it took about 2 months to reduce calories down to 1300-1400, and I never went through a cranky, super-hungry adjustment phase (unlike every other time I ever tried to lose weight). Taking things gradually was the best thing I ever did to lose weight.