Its so difficult for me to have my week free "cheats". What are tips that allow you to have that extra dose of Will Power. Because i simply can not defy temptation. I have my days were I say NO! " The calories in the food simply are not worth it to have to spend 30 extra minutes on the tread mill burning it off". Then I have my late night binges when i realize i did good all day where I have like 600 cals left so I over indulge on my left over calories. How do you stay "cheat" free.

I honestly don't know. I just ate healthy, whole foods I liked and I ate plenty of calories every day, I ate every 2 hours before I got hungry, I was never tempted to cheat. The whole time I was actively losing weight, I had two cheat meals - my birthday dinner and Christmas dinner.

Now that I'm maintaining, I usually have one "cheat" meal a week where I drink a glass of red wine and split dessert with friends.

If you overindulge and constantly want to cheat, try to figure out what your body is missing. Maybe you need a little bit of chocolate every day or something like that to keep you satisfied (everybody is different, you have to find out what works for you).

I put on my smallest clothes when I am tempted to cheat and this helps to keep me focused. I also come on here and get inspiration from others who are working just as hard as me to lose the weight. I try to stay focused on my ultimate goal. The only real cheats I have allowed myself were one piece of dessert on Christmas and Thanksgiving and my birthday.

I am having this problem at the moment "staying cheat free" I think for me "that" type of food has been a normal way of life for me for so long, to me it's like smoking, an addicition, it take's a lot of will power and determination to kick it, when it has been such a huge part of your life. The only thing that helps me get through a weak moment is alot of support and sitting at the computer consiantly reading others success stories, one persons weight loss can be a huge inspiration to help you say no to temptations.

Thank you for starting this thread. I've also been wondering what is wrong with me that I can't seem to not eat more than I should. According to my weight, I should be taking in 1650 calories a day and I'm around 2000. I'll post my fitday from a typical day soon. I don't know if I'm so used to being 160 and above that it's hard for me to imagine a smaller size so I'm creating walls where I shouldn't or if it's something else. I'm truly happy for those people (Glory87, lillybelle) who have managed to lose a lot of weight but I wonder if maybe their determination was just a helluva lot more than mine. *sigh*

For me it is not about how I "feel" or what I want... it is a DECISION that I am just flat out not going to eat stuff I shouldn't.

yeah, i find it so hard to do that. Do you guys think that it is not good eating sugar free items, because it may one day tempt you to eat something that has the sugar.

I avoid sugar free items almost completely (the exception being the coffee syrup I use in my lattes) but not for the reason you gave, although I do think you have a good point. I avoid it because I am totally convinced artificial sweeteners are bad for you, addictive, and actually cause weight gain.

If I am super tempted, I watch the movie Super Size Me to disgust myself off of food or I drink some water and head to bed early or go lay down. Keep the faith, You can do it!

I could have written that!

Also, in previous weight loss attempts, I used to eat all the fake stuff - low fat this, sugar free that and it NEVER satisfied me. I could eat a "serving" of Snackwell's cookies (or whatever) and I would immediately want more. This time, I gave up all that stuff too, somehow a serving of Bing cherries satisfies me in a way that fake sugar and chemicals never did.

Personally...I don't. I have days where I know I'm going to cheat. Like when friends were in for a visit this past weekend. But the point is that I ALSO know it's one day, compared to an entire week of eating right and exercising. If it stalls my loss, it's no biggie. I'm not gaining...which I always did in the past trying to never cheat and starving myself with 100% salads. Now I cheat occasionally, and I eat more than salad. And basically I'm still losing. Just not as quickly as if I didn't ever cheat.

But you better believe when we had our Saturday BBQ and cheesecake with cherries afterward, I ate every bite of my steak, potato and cheesecake w/ cherries.

One thing that's always helped me avoid "cheats" during sucessful weight loss attempts is having something around the house that is considered "decadent" but isn't a trigger food. For me, I use those Dove dark chocolate pieces. I can eat one or two (budgeted into my calories) and I feel like I've done something naughty even though I haven't. So, when I feel like being naughty and eating a big slice of that apple pie that's downstairs in the kitchen I can have my chocolate and still have that secret *wink wink* naughty feeling.

Of course, you need to find a food that you can safely consume a small amount of. I could never do this with potato chips, the whole bag would be gone before I realized it.

I hope that acutally makes sense. I just gave blood so I'm feeling a little wonky.

I have found that if I give up the foods I LOVE, the diet doesn't last very long, and I re-gain whatever weight I did lose, and usually a few more.

Altho I'm going thru "Bad Food Week" right now, I normally stick to my healthy eating plan which consists of lots of cut up veggies, lean turkey & ham, water-packed tuna, and fruit galore! I like salads in the summertime, so eating salad is no problem for me. I like mine with boiled shrimp, yellow peppers, cucumbers, tomato & a sprinkle of grated cheese. I love chocolate, so I keep "fudge bars" in the freezer - they're GREAT! - only 80 calories per serving, and just really does the trick to satisfying my chocolate cravings.

My problem (RIGHT NOW... see my "Bad Food Week" thread... ) is when it's THAT TIME of month, I get absolutely cranky with cravings. All kinds of cravings - sugary, salty, etc. And if I don't give in to those cravings, my crankiness morphs into "cereal killer" mode...

Having you guys really is helping me tho. It's just good to come here and get a cheering squad and ideas & people who really KNOW what I'm going thru.

Thanks, y'all!

I have foudn that since I met my first goal that I will cheat more and not be so strict on myself. I will tell you this, IT IS NOT WORKING FOR ME. I need to go back to being strict again.

As for not eating something it is just all what I want more and I have to ask myself that before i eat it. However more than lately the food is winning and I need to break that habbit.

I find myself if I eat something like ice cream once i crave it the next couple of days. r any of you like that.