Oreos used to be high on my yummy list, but not anymore. Like taryl, just thinking about what is in them, majorly grosses me out now. Partially hydrogenated fats are basically like candle wax, and when I think about it that way...not so yummy anymore!

And besides...I can find plenty of delicious, calorie-rich foods that aren't made from junk, so I'm just a little pickier when I indulge. :-)

I love this post because it is totally me. Good job going to make tea instead of eating the treats! I find that drinking tea or water is often helpful. Good luck!

Congrats on being in grad school!!!!

Another trick that I've used to temporarily beat cravings is a little self hypnosis trick from Paul Mckenna (who I think is a bit of a quack, but he's got some good tricks anyways). Take a sec and go to the bathroom or something, and then meditate on the oreos or whatever you're craving. Instead of imagining them with the food photography lens we usually use, picture them covered in maggots and cigarette butts, spit, whatever you can to make them as gross as possible. Think of eating them like that, until you get a physical response from the meditation - like gagging. I find this solves the craving in the moment. For an extra boost, squish the tips of your middle finger and thumb together while you're doing this. Then when you feel the craving, you can get back in touch with the meditation feeling by touching your thumb and middle fingers together again. You won't be immune to oreos forever, but it can last for a few hours to a few days at least.

Wow! Thanks for all the tips everyone!

The great thing is that I left that day feeling proud and capable, and felt really good about sticking my diet. I know I can do it again. The next day I went to a local bar, had a few drinks, and was craving and craving McDonald's. I, again, kept myself from breaking my diet, and had a rice bowl when I got home instead.

The NEXT day, though, I think I was just worn out from the willpower it took from saying No. I was HUNGRY too at work. I ate a small bag of Doritos, feeling confident that I would be fine. Instead, it set off two days of eating crap and I blew my diet for last week, and for this week already. (I do WW, which measures progress by the week). I am already done with my extra points for this coming week already, and I am going to have to restrict more than ever.

I have meals planned out for the week, and they are going to be satisfying and healthy, but I am just finding it hard to hang in there, as I go into Week Six (of serious dieting) without having done one "perfect" week.

I don't know how the Oreos played into this, but they do...

In some ways (not many ways) this is harder than quitting smoking, since smokers have to go outside into designated places and sugar and food is around me all the time.

Well you have to decide what you want more. Staying on plan as as much mental and physiological - for me avoiding foods that cause cravings is a big help, but I must still have complete and unshakable mental resolve that I will lose the weight and it is only a matter of time. Then the choices become easy, because I have never regretted not eating a food, but I have OFTEN regretted caving and setting myself up for more difficulty. The longer I do this, the asker abstaining becomes. Believe it or not these junk foods do lose their power over you, but it still requires a decision to not put them in your mouth.

You can stick to your plan, it is entirely under your control :)

Exactly my philosophy. Fortunately Oreos are only about a 6 on my personal yum scale, so not too difficult to resist. My own version of junk food is stuff like creme brulee, Belgian chocolate, and wood-stove pizza with prosciutto and fior di latte cheese...

F.

Mine too, F! I consider artisan chocolates, cheese, charcuterie, and such a lot more alluring. Heck, even macadamia nuts. And those are just fine on my plan, too, so long as I watch the quantity and frequency.

For me when it came to trying to have "a perfect week" when it came to my "diet"... that always seemed to set me up for some sort of perceived "failure" on my part... As an example... If I didn't lose any weight that week than I was a "failure" because I wasn't working hard enough or maybe I "cheated" on my diet and had some sort of "forbidden" food... or whatever, etc. etc... Completely discounting all the positive things that I had done... And once I did that, then it became very easy to just keep on making bad decisions...

For me losing weight and now maintaining that loss is striving for progress not perfection...

If it's any consolation, I lost 55 pounds and have maintained the loss for over a year without ever having a perfect week (or perfect day, for that matter). There isn't a day when I didn't sneak in a few extra nibbles that weren't part of my plan. I've learned that good enough is, well, good enough.

F.