What do you do to keep yourself from eating "bad for you" foods?

I think "What will make me happier? The lower number on the scale, or the cupcake?" It has about a 50% success rate

I make sure I don't go too long without eating. If I let myself get too hungry, I'm less likely to be able to resist the bad foods.
I also will remind myself how guilty and remorseful I will feel after I've eaten it, which would make it totally NOT worth it.
Fat lasts longer than flavor - I tell myself that over and over!

I have to do a lot of preventative work to keep myself busy, not bored, and interested in the food I am eating. If I eat the same old food for weeks, I get tired of it and go looking for tastier stuff.

I give myself a 'craving' day once a week.
If there's something I want throughout the week, I give in on Tuesdays, and only Tuesdays. (weigh-in day for me)
I still count the calories and work it into my total for the week.

This way I haven't been sabotaging with instant gratification, but at the same time if I am still craving that cupcake that was in my face on Friday come Tuesday I just have one and get it off my mind so I don't feel deprived either.
I have found that most cravings pass anyway, the ones that don't I enjoy them at their scheduled time. LOL!!

If there's an event or something that I know there will be bad stuff I either plan for it and make that my craving day for the week if I know I am going to just have to have what's there LOL or just don't eat there, just depends.

I have found this has worked for me, like i said, not deprived and in control.

I find that having the calorie cap is enough of a deterrent. If I don't have room in my calories, I simply don't eat it.

DaugT pretty much wrote my post! I try not to give in right away but if the craving keeps on for more than a couple days, I then work it into my plan and only have ONE to satisfy the craving. Example- if it's a mini cinnamon roll or a small bag of hot lime cheetos, I only make or buy one because usually I will want more, lol.

1) Try to eat every 3-4 hours
2) Try to keep the "bad" foods stored away in the pantry/fridge or not in my house at all (difficult with 3 kids running around). I find that if something is open right next to me I may sneak 1-2 thinking it wont hurt (but it will)
3) I think of my success so far and others success
4) I think of my trip in two weeks and the two piece swimwear I will have on

I tell myself that nothing tastes as great as being thin/healthy will feel. I do give myself a treat at least once a week and on those days I am certain I have burned extra calories. I try to burn 2450 and eat 1450 - if I know I have burned 3000 or 3200 - then I might treat myself so something otherwise forbidden.

I do not buy it at all because if I have it in the house, I will eat it. Oh the other hand, if I want something, then I find a way to work it into my calories. Once a week, I let myself have anything I want, but then its done and I get right back on my program. I don't believe in depriving myself to the point where life doesn't have a little fun and joy now and then. I still allow myself my glass of wine, or a plain hamburger from Mc Donalds now and then. I just get a yogurt instead of fries. It all balances out. If I am craving cake, then I find a less caloric version like angel food cake with light cool whip and fruit on top. There is always a better way to make good choices. :-) Just takes a little imagination. Also, if my hubby wants to eat out I research before we go out and see what the best option in terms of low calories at that place, and if there isn't one, we just don't go there. More and more places are providing nutritional information now, so it helps.

I do something similar to you, Angie. I ask myself, "In a year, what will I remember the most about this summer?" The answer isn't food, and if food isn't what I'm going to remember, then why go crazy on it? Works for me, anyway

I look up the calories on my calorie counter and see if it's worth it, mos lt of the time it isn't worth it at all. And that kills the craving for me

I use an exchange plan so I can choose to eat anything that fits into my exchange plan. However, I know that some foods aren't going to fill me up, and some are going to make me extremely hungry, and others are going to aggravate health issues (such as wheat causing the skin of my face, ears, hands, and feet to get red, puffy, and very, very itchy).

Instead of focusing on the foods I want to avoid, I focus on the wonderful foods that I feel are better for my body in the long run.

As an example, I don't choose to see unhealthy foods as inherently better tasting than healty ones. By choosing Ranier cherries over chocolate, I'm not sacrificing anything.

The less I eat of the processed and highly-concentrated carb/calorie foods, the less I miss those foods, and the better tasting the healthier options become.

A couple weeks ago, I had a craving for something salty/sweet. In the past I might have reached for butter toffee sunflower seeds (lots of calories), but instead I cut a pear very thinly and sprinkled the slices very lightly with seasalt.

Each bite was absolute heaven. Now, if I'd eaten them after a candybar, the candybar would have made the fruit/salt combination taste bland and perhaps even bitter. By keeping my sugar-intake low, natural sugars taste sweeter.

I'm not "loisng out" by choosing healthier food. In fact, my tastebuds are becoming more sensitive, so if anything food tastes better than it ever has.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that the decadent "treat" foods often aren't such a treat, because they deaden my tastebuds in the long-run.

It's a bit like listening to loud music. If you love it loud, that's great - but if you turn the volume up too high, you can end up with hearing loss. Flavor overload I think is similar. Eating highly concentrated fat/sugar/salt combinations seems to dull my senses for healthy food. I'd prefer to enjoy mostly healthy foods, than to eat the foods that dull my senses and make it harder to enjoy those healthy foods.

When it's a particular temptation like an offered cupcake, I tell myself "nah, not today." It's not the last cupcake I'll ever see so it's not the end of the world if I pass it up this time.

More generally, I do a lot of arranging of my environment so that on-plan choices are the "path of least resistance."

For example: one of the things that got me to my fattest was that when I got home from work at the end of a long day, I was too tired to cook a nice dinner, so I'd often just order some delicious take-out, and eat too much of it. It was quick and easy, and let me think "hm, what sounds good?" and then just eat myself silly on that.

Now, I do a lot of ahead-of-time cooking (usually on the weekend) so that some main dish - chicken, fish, lentils - is waiting for me in the fridge when I get home from work. All I have to do is spend 15 minutes or so preparing some vegetables - roasting, sauteeing, or chopping up a salad - and I have a delicious, tempting, perfectly on-plan dinner waiting for me.

I have several strategies for coping with bad cravings that I find help someone with weak will power like me to stay clean.

First of all, I've developed and nurtured a love for cooking my own foods. Why eat cupcakes or cookies or store-bought junk when I could have fun cooking something much healthier that will still satisfy those sweet/salty/fatty cravings? I have numerous standby recipes just in case I start to hear the siren song of brownies or pizza.

I also found that what helps keep me from giving into my cravings is stopping my brain from being able to obsess over the snacks in my house by allowing myself a snack once a week. By making the food 'not a big deal' in a Oh-I-can-have-that-later sort of way, it keeps me from caving in and overeating.

Also, when all else fails, a quick glance at the nutrition label can work wonders.

When I want to eat crap I get busy. Pulling weeds, mowing, hoeing, watering, cleaning, scrubbing, organizing etc. Needless to say I have a very beautiful garden and a neat and tidy house.

I gave up on trying and failing at the moderation game a long time ago... And substitutes don't cut it for me either. I am better off not buying it, not eating it and turning my attention to more productive obsessions. But as always, these are strategies that work for me, and not always the most popular methods of weightless/ maintaince.