I was doing really well, and very pleased with myself. !
But, for some reason I've become hungry......By that I mean 'I want to eat and I want it now'....My disciple has one out of the window. I rush home as I want to eat.! Don't get me wrong, I gave up sugar a year ago and I am not on the sweet things, but everything else and in too big a portion. I can't seem to pull it back in. It is strange. I can feel the weight creeping on and I feel sluggish. I haven't got that feel good factor, and I liked that feeling.......
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miamia
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Morning loser
Well when you get extra hungry or get cravings its normally a sign of imbalance. Something somewhere is lacking. Be it vitamins, minerals or what ever. The body knows what it actually needs and will ask for that 'something' and its down to us to find out what that something actually is. Just as thirst can manifest itself as hunger, a lack of certain micro-nutrients can do the same thing.
Sit down and take stock. See if you are eating enough veg. If not then either take a vitamin or more likely a mineral supplement and go from there. Don't dispair as, if you write your weight down on a piece of paper over the year and the weight loss in that time, then as long as there has been a downward trend, one of a loss of 1lb a week then you are doing fine.
Yes it can be difficult sometimes to know exactly what the body wants as we have lost touch with ourselves. I hope you find the answer but my philosophy on this is
Don't diet. Just make good food choices and change a few things
Kick the sugar. Well done you on that one.
Aim to lose 1lb a week on average with 4 weeks off for actual 'life'
That would give you a 48lb a year loss. So far I'm on 147lbs......
I have experienced similar cravings in the past, in my case usually linked to emotional stuff.
My strategy is to anticipate and deal with cravings before they hit full force.
I do this by including snacks and drinks in my calorie allowance and saving them for when the cravings are most likely to occur: slice of bread and honey / low cal custard and a banana / an apple / mixed nuts / cups of tea / rice milk etc.
If you know that the desire strikes you at a particular time of day, try and understand why that is and prepare for it.
You could have a whole healthy meal prepared in a tupperware that you sit down and eat before you get home. Or, if the food craving is emotionally driven rather than actual hunger - plan to spend time socially or by doing exercise in a group.
Cravings seek rewards. You need to break the cycle of craving by changing your routine but still allow yourself to feel a sense of reward (not food based) so that you don't feel deprived.
If all fails, then go to the doc and explain the symptoms incase there is something out of balance with your system - as it could perhaps be a thyroid issue?
Thank you, thank goodness for this site and the support....All makes absolute sense....even the emotional stuff and eating. I just want my mojo back and be back focused. I know how good that feels........A spring in your step and all that....
I agree with the others. Generally excessive hunger means that you are lacking in something - nutrients, water or emotional support. Keep track of what you feel like eating whenever you are hungry. There are plenty of charts that tell you what you are lacking in based on what you are craving. Once you have established a pattern of your cravings check against those charts. Also try the other normally suggested things like drinking a glass of water, waiting for 30 mins, distracting yourself etc. If its emotional eating, try to do something else that is comforting - reading, watching a comedy show etc.
There was this really good article i read somewhere about dealing with emotional hunger. I cant find it now, but it said that you need to change the way you see hunger. Instead of thinking "oh its such an unpleasant feeling, i need to get rid of it", you need to start thinking of it as a good thing. Like if you are a bit hungry it means that you did not overeat today. It also means that your body will be forced to burn fat now. So when you have the occasional hunger pangs you need to think "oh good". Of course this is for the occasional and normal hunger pangs, if you are starving and feeling faint all the time thats a different issue, in that case you probably need to eat.
There are some really good inspirational quotes and articles on pinterest and sometimes browsing through them helps too. I loved a quote that said "losing weight is hard, being fat is hard..choose your hard". I made it my wallpaper on cellphone and tablet.
Even if you crave for something and you have it , even though it's unhealthy , the important thing is not to have that product in a big quantity and too often . Once in a while you gotta have something that you wished for .
you are doing very well caz 😘😘😘 upside down's are for all of us
Hi, could it be that you are unconsciously self-sabotaging? If you look quite a bit different from when you started, maybe if you are near your goal, it could become a bit scary, and therefore there is pressure to go back to what you know. This has happened to me - for once I really stuck to a sensible regime for several weeks, saw the results and loved them, but somehow couldn't polish off the last few pounds.
Although we all dislike being overweight, for many of us, that is what we know and what we are used to, and we can blame it for a lot of other things in our lives that we don;t like. So when we get slim, what happens if the other negative stuff in our lives is still there? I think that unconscious thought is why a lot of us struggle to lose the last few pounds and then struggle to keep the weight off.
The other possibility is that there is some stress in your life and you are comfort eating. Is work a problem, rows with partner or kids, worries about family health, etc?
For how to deal with it, I think the other posters are right to say come off the pedal a bit and focus on not over-eating, but having 3 meals a day that you enjoy and accept a slower rate of loss. You could also try waiting for 10 minutes when you have a craving before eating whatever it is. If you still crave it then have it, but the waiting time gives you are chance to reflect on if you are really hungry, or if it is comfort eating.
Keep 'a little something' in your handbag for those 'emergency' cravings. If I am going to be out for a number of hours I try to kill the problem before it gets out of hand, by having a low cal biscuit handy. Much better to have something little to fall back on than be pulled in by something in a shop or cafe that 'should not be allowed'. Sometimes that little biscuit stays in my bag for weeks on end because I just forget about it. Then it goes in the bin. No harm done. I think it is just a 'comfort blanket' - but golly we all need one of those sometimes. Well done on your loss so far. Also well done on identifying a problem and seeking ways to handle it. 👏👏👏
It's a pity you didn't post before you started eating again ? When I stopped drinking Alchohol 10 years ago and Smoking 1 year later, I had these similar pangings also, and they do leave us. Our Brain sometimes remembers what it's like when we used to binge on things and on occasion we get the physical effects like you were receiving, and these effects are alarming and powerful, we feel them however you have to believe they are not real and it's just a physical and mental craving we are going through. I was advised by fellow Alcoholics to carry water and if the alcohol craving came along I was to drink as much water as possible in one visit, I was amazed 10 minutes later and relised my craving was actually thirst. Some food cravings can also be thirst and I do the same with food now, I carry fruit and water with me and take it when necessary, my problem now is I'm not yet dedicated to stopping snacking and I can't be bothered going to the trouble of organising my diet. But we shall hopefully get there before it gets us
I know how you feel, I have had days where I just cannot get that hunger feeling to go and so end up grazing anything and everything. I find that by cleaning my teeth and having a drink often helps. Our bodies/brains get a little confused; when in actual fact we are dehydrated and need fluid we often mistake the feeling for hunger and so eat more. Cleaning my teeth helps as I don't want to mess up the nice clean feeling and often a lot of food tastes grim when mixed with minty taste.
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