Please remind me why I don't need pizza, chinese, hot wings, etc
All of a sudden, I developed a ragin cravin for some JUNK food. I don't care what it is...if it's hot, commercially processed, and fatty, I want it. And I don't want the healthy versions of junk (thin crust veggie pizza with half the cheese or stir fry with no oil), no, I want the real stuff and a LOT of it, lol. I WANT the greasy/fried/drippy food and the ate-too-much tummyache with it.
Normally I am 100% content staying on plan, but for some reason tonight...I'd trade my left nipple for an all-you-can-eat crazy night at a Chinese buffet. Or an extra cheese pizza. A massive bacon burger, perhaps? And, of course, a gigantic ice cream with all the toppings for dessert. I dunno what's up with my random ravenous craving tonight. It came out of nowhere. I'm not even close to my TOM or anything, junk food just popped into my head this afternoon, and it's all I can think about.
So far I have compromised with myself to give up my evening snack and have a 12in turkey sub from Subway. That still fits well within my calorie limit for today (1450), it's not absolutely nutritionally worthless, and it still feels like a fast food treat. But for some reason, I am still wanting junkier junk than that, lol.
These days happen. I go with the "It's not off limits, it'll always be around, you can have it tomorrow if you plan for it" approach.
Remind yourself that pizza, Chinese, and wings will always be there. You can always work them in, if you REALLY want them, in reasonable amounts, right? That's the joy of calorie counting. You could do that. But you choose not to today, because you didn't plan for it, and besides, you *like* making healthier choices. But tomorrow, if you still want pizza, you can arrange your day so you can have it if you really, really still want it.
It almost always works, and probably 80% of the time, by the time tomorrow rolls around, I don't want it anymore.
Hang in there girl, you have came so far! Maybe your body is just getting tired of being restricted all the time. Its human nature to want what we can't have. I am in the same funk right now so I can really relate. mine is TOM related though and its **** for me..and my hubby LOL.
I think that the Subway compromise is a good one. You could always have a small treat if you trust yourself to not go overboard with it. Try to stay busy and sit down and write a list of pros and cons of giving in to the cravings, if you need to. Sometimes seeing it on paper is enough. Its got me out of more than one bind before
Work through it, plan for it. Just like money. If you bought everything you thought you wanted, you would be in a sad place. Instead, adults devise a plan and then execute it.
Pick one, eat it and then make up for it tomorrow. You're in maintenance. Denying yourself everything you want all the time isn't a healthy way to live, long term. But, what do I know? I'm still fat.
I agree with everyone, but I will say that sometimes I just have to give in. If it's just one night of cravings and it passes then great, but if it's days (like durning TOM) I just have to give in because if I don't I end up binging and that does more damage than one off plan meal would have. Your other options is to plan for it tomorrow. Structure your day (have a smaller lunch, skip snacks or whatever) so that you can "indulge" in one of your cravings.
Things like pizza and chinese - go with friends and then you can have a slice (or two) or tastes of a bunch of things without risking going whole hog and eating *everything*. I find that takes care of cravings and keeps me from over doing it.
As for a good bacon burger - be still my heart - but about once a month I grill with a bacon burger loving buddy with no regrets. Our goal is to make the best burger we can. Local meat, very local bacon, VT cheese, onions from the garden, and the rolls are whole grain from a local bakery (I tend to skip the roll for this shindig though). I plan for it, I love it and look forward to it, and knowing I'll be having another amazing burger within a few weeks is do-able. Honestly, if I had them every week they'd still be good but not quite as special. The whole conferring and planning with Eric about who is getting what and what sides to have etc is part of the fun.