Hi there. I really need some advice on how you guys fight your cravings. The funny thing with me is that I'm asian and I'm always wanting to eat rice with everything, but i eat wayyyyyyy to much rice...don't even get me started. not only that, i just give in to my cravings all the time after having such a good workout and losing 1 or 2 pounds, but i gain the pounds right back.

In the past I've lost over 20 pounds and was able to stop eating rice for a good amount of time, but I've gained it back and more by telling myself "just a little won't hurt." So all in all, in lack of better words, how do you guys not give?

Thank you in advance!!

Oh, join the club, my friend :P Really, though, fighting cravings is something we all have to face at one point or another in our weight loss journey. There's always ways to help, but I guess different things work for different people at different times. There's no one sure way (though I wish there was!), but I've seen these tips be thrown around before and tried a few of these methods myself. They can help sometimes, so hopefully they can help you!

• Portion control. Saying, for example, you'll only have half a cup of rice during lunch and half a cup during dinner, or whatever portion you want to use. I'm personally obsessed with these cereal bars that are dipped in chocolate because I started using them as a chocolate "substitute", and soon I realized I was eating up to 5 a day. So in my case, saying I could only have one a day could help. I've only found this to make things worse sometimes, though, and avoiding something so specific completely is what really worked for me. Eating one will start the whole "but is it really so bad to have another one?" debate in my head and I often won't stick to the numbers I put forward. That's my case, though, it could still work for you!
  
• Do something else. I saw this as a tip to avoid late night snacking on Kayla Itsines. It's actually a great tip! Plan to read for at least an hour or do your homework or whatever it may be. This helps me tons since it's between meals that I tend to give in. Trying to not think of junk food right after eating a good meal also really helped me realize how dependent on food I was emotionally. So really set time apart, get distracted, and it could help!
  
• Tea! It helps me because, since I'm already having something, I don't feel the need to have anyhting else. I guess it's because I've made a habit of snacking while working, so just having my hands busy with something and ingesting it slowly is enough to keep me from the kitchen. It's also warm and nice for cold days!
  
• Find a way to solve it with healthy food. If you can, of course. In my case, I have the strongest sweet tooth, so I've found that chewing on a few raisins or having a banana can help. It wasn't great at first, but after awhile, I've created a real taste for sweet fruits instead of junk food! It took me awhile, but it really does work if you insist on it. Be careful with your substitutes, though - as mentioned, I found a new addiction in what was to be a healthy "substitute" food.
  
• Water. This works for me because I eat a lot out of boredom, but after I started having enough water during my day, I realized my "hunger" in the afternoon was often thirst! I've heard people say that being dehydrated can make you feel false hunger before, but I've only really felt that recently.
  
• Avoid it 100% for awhile. I, uh...still have to do that...hah. But people say avoiding their craving food (whatever you'd like to call it) for about a month is enough to get them so stop wanting it so badly. I'm hoping to try this, though it hasn't been quite easy!
  
• Realizing when I'm eating emotionally. This is a strong one for me haha I stress eat all the time. At those moments, I have to really try to stop myself and realize what I'm doing, and try to deal with it properly instead of just jumping on food. You have to look at your own habits, though, this may not apply to you at all.

These may not work all the time, but they can be helpful! Don't forget to go easy on yourself, too. These things don't work overnight, so we're going to slip up tons still!

Pre-plan your day to include the meals you'll eat and amounts. Then you can fit that exact amount of measured rice into your day.

I also like to find recipes that accomplish similar flavor profiles - like using cauliflower rice (or 50/50 mixed) as a sub in a recipe that you may not notice it so much.

In general, I can make buffalo chicken meatballs instead of wings, or a pita pizza instead of takeout, oven fried chicken instead of tenders, lean meat burgers instead of fast food, etc.

I really like every single meal I eat.

Well, eating sugars (and white rice is a sugar) makes you crave sugars. For me, I have to just avoid sugars so that I don't get the insulin spike. HOWEVER, I still like sweet, so I will allow myself fake sugars - like fake sugar sweetened iced tea works great for me in crushing the cravings. Even a plum tomato helps, for some reason! But if I start eating the carbs, I start wanting the carbs. I have to keep them under 60 net for the day.

Do you think it's realistic to quit rice altogether? I don't. It's a matter of changing a few habits and practicing portion control. You've already tried quitting rice and it backfired, you gained all the weight back, don't do that again because you've proven it doesn't work. I don't know why people repeat this scenario of quitting and yoyoing back up, it's an endless cycle. Besides, I assume you are surrounded by other Asians and what will you do for the rest of your life at family dinners and events? Avoiding rice will prove to be an unecessary torture.

Cravings - I don't "fight" my cravings. Fighting creates anxiety, and it prompts my primal instincts to binge for some reason. Brains can't think in negatives so if I'm saying to myself "don't eat rice, don't eat rice" all my brain registers is "rice, rice, rice rice" creating a sort of obsession. The more I avoid food the more I binge on it.

Cravings is a word that could mean many things and you have to find a way to discern them. Firstly, make sure you're eating enough. This is really important because if you're denying your body a legitimate need for sustenance it will backfire and you'll end up binging. So eat enough to satisfy your physical hunger. Secondly, some cravings are habitual. If you're "used to" eating 3 bowls of rice with dinner you could try cutting it down to 2 bowls and bulking up on the veggies and protein and then play around with the ratios until you get used to a more reasonable portion of rice.

But then there are some cravings that are just meaningless thoughts that pop in my mind. I don't fight these cravings. I am aware of them, but I try not to engage with those thoughts. Not every thought is worth pondering over. They do go away but the trick is not to fight and white knuckle through them. I just think of them as dandelion fuzz floating around. You can't fight it, just gently blow it away. This gets much easier with practice.

If you are carb-sensitive, quick-burning carbs (and rice is a quick-burning carb) will cause your blood sugar to spike and then drop, causing you to crave more quick-burning carbs to get it to rise quickly again. It becomes an endless cycle and you end up eating because of cravings when you just ate not long ago! To break this cycle, you need to avoid quick-burning carbs and try to level out your blood sugar. I'm on a diet that is based on this premise. I go 6 days eating slow-burning carbs, along with protein and fats, and then on the 7th day, I have a cheat day when I can have some of my favorite quick-burning carbs. It gives my body a break for most the week from all the drastic highs and lows but I don't have to give up any food completely. Maybe something like that would work well for you. I do hope you find your answer! Good luck!

Thank you all!! I'm glad i joined because i really needed some advice - and i got exactly what i needed. Like some of you said, i backfired again so now i just need to learn to portion control because i can't escape rice due to the people that surround me and the environment that i live in. And yes, i can even substitute rice with something else. Thank you, i am very grateful for your time and consideration when replaying to my post! ♡