[rach2087]

My friend suggested I come here. I am attempting to lose weight for the first time ever. I mean seriously lose it. I have gotten off 8 lbs. so far and am counting! I try to be SUPER excited about every 1/2 lb. because it's something...but I have been having a SERIOUS issue with snackfoods and junk all of the sudden...which is weird because it really wasn't an issue before?? Any helpful hints??

[LookingForHope]

Welcome, rach!
I've been coming here a year or so. I lost 60 pounds, gained 5 back, and still have a ways to go. But you can learn to succeed here. Do a lot of reading of other's posts and take bits and pieces of what you learn to make your own plan. My personal way is low fat with bursts of protein. I don't worry too much about carbs as long as I keep the fats low. But that's just me. You'll learn here and try a few things til you find what works. My first suggestion would be to look at www.fitday.com and use the tools there to help you along. It was as valuable as gold for me. Good luck, visit often, join in the fun! Lisa

[mandalinn82]

Well, it depends how you are with portion control.

If you're really good at eating a single portion and then stopping, you might try getting some lighter versions of snacks you like and having a small portion. Sometimes, one just needs some cake, lol. Usually I can buy a single serving of whatever it is I'm craving...I have been known to go to the grocery store for a single cupcake, or to buy a single sourdough roll...enough to satisfy the craving, not so much that I have to keep it around.

If the craving isn't something you can control a portion of, is there something similar you can eat that'll fix the craving? For example, if I'm craving an oatmeal raisin cookie, I'll make myself oatmeal for breakfast, sweetened with splenda, with a handful of raisins thrown in. If the craving is for a chocolate bar, I'll have a chocolate protein shake for my afternoon snack.

Congrats on your losses so far, and

[navywife022506]

I am dieting seriously for the first time to and have been on this site for about 2 days now. I have been dieting before this site and have been losing the weight. I have gone to a low fat diet and I work out at the gym everyday. I have fallen off the wagon as well and mostly with the snack foods, but I have learned that NO diet works if you feel that you are depriving yourself. I eat snack foods on occasion, but what I do is I make myself work for it. If I eat something that has 200 calories in it, I will do my normal work out at the gym and then I will work out a little more to pull off the additional 200 calories that I ate in that snack. Try doing something like that when you get the munchies!

[rockinrobin]

Originally Posted by rach2087

My friend suggested I come here. I am attempting to lose weight for the first time ever. I mean seriously lose it. I have gotten off 8 lbs. so far and am counting! I try to be SUPER excited about every 1/2 lb. because it's something...but I have been having a SERIOUS issue with snackfoods and junk all of the sudden...which is weird because it really wasn't an issue before?? Any helpful hints??

Congrats on the 8 lb loss. That's a great start.

Unfortunately giving up the snack foods and the junk was a MUST for me. I finally, FINALLY realized that I simply could not have that stuff in my life AND be the healthy, fit, thin person that I so desperately wanted to become. I couldn't have it both ways. So, I gave up the junk and the high calorie foods. I was REALLY strict at first, finding it much easier to say no all together then to stop at a small portion.

But no, I never, EVER felt deprived. Not eating some high calorie, sugar and fat laden is not my idea of deprivation. What I was doing BEFORE was depriving myself - of a full and productive life. Every time I turned down the "bad" stuff I got excited, because I was one step closer to my goal.

Luckily my tastes really, really changed and now I love and savor and thoroughly enjoy foods that never really satisfied me. Like berries and yogurt and butternut squash. I also have changed what I look at as a "snack" food. A snack for me can be a salad with a 3 oz. can of tuna. Or a semi-frozen sugar free/fat free yogurt with Fiber One Cereal or even an egg white omlette with a broiled zucchini. If you're not up to that just quite yet, there's sugar free jello and sugar free ice pops and the such.

You're doing a great thing for yourself. Experiment, look around and find foods that you LOVE, this way you will be more apt to stay on plan. Good luck to you!!

[trekkiegirl]

I agree with mandalinn. I think the first thing is to ask yourself if you are an "all or nothing, has to be cold turkey, can't have it in the house or I'll snarf it all down" type or an "I can be content with a smaller portion and won't be tempted to snarf the whole box down" type. Either way, it comes down to substitution and exploring your options.

If you absolutely can't have the snack food around without devouring it all at once, can you come up with better choices to substitute for it...something that is healthier or less caloric but that you really like so eventually you won't miss the other stuff?

I'm the other type. I love salty snacks and knew I couldn't go cold turkey or I wouldn't have made it this far. So I did a couple of things. I stopped buying cans of Pringles (which I loved) and I started buying junk snacks that I liked (but not loved with a passion, lol), bought 100-calorie-pack items, bought stuff that I could divvy up in smaller portions. I had never bought a 100-calorie pack of anything before 2007. Actually, last year, I began eating a lot of foods I had never bought before or hadn't been eating that much: soy milk, Special K with red berries, Laughing Cow cheese wedges (OMG...they satisfy my craving for cheese and they're only 35 cals a wedge...2 wedges and I'm good, lol), more fruits (bananas and oranges esp.), turkey slices, instant oatmeal....and I love this stuff, lol. Seriously, I noticed stuff in the supermarket I had totally ignored before!

I think it's easier to wean yourself away from stuff, or cut it down, if you've found a better option to replace it, either quality-wise or quantity-wise. I mean, I'd been going into McDonald's fairly often before and I haven't set foot in one in over a year. I may still be tempted if you stuck a cheeseburger and fries under my nose but I'm not craving it or thinking about it. I like the "new foods" I've found. And the kicker, besides losing the weight, is that my cholesterol went from 150, which I'd been averaging for years, to 112.