How do you get over the terrible feeling when craving fast food after months without it?

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Atlanatpr

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I’ve done really well, but today I just started craving canes, and I couldn’t help myself. I’m also on Triz, and I’ve made a lot of progress. I guess I’m just mad at myself because I’m not perfect.
 
What's canes? I haven't eaten at fast food place in over 20 years. seriously.
 
I’ve been on Tirz since Feb have gradually lost weight. And guess what I ate Chick-fil-A after not eating any junk food. I work out 5 times a week with killer water intake. Was the Chick-fil-A practically my whole meal for the day? It was. Did I enjoy that spicy chicken jalepeño ranch club… I did. It’s mental you’re a human. Moderation is key, I split it with someone! If you it eat once it’s fine. If you’re frequently eating then I would re-evaluate.
 
Atlanatpr said:
I’ve done really well, but today I just started craving canes, and I couldn’t help myself. I’m also on Triz, and I’ve made a lot of progress. I guess I’m just mad at myself because I’m not perfect.

There are a bunch of ways to work it into your diet - eating less of it, not getting sides, having diet soda or water with it, etc.

Eating the food you love is such a fun part of life and permanently avoiding it isn't feasible most of the time. I've noticed that a lot of the people who are successful long term make good choices most of the time, but leave room to have some fun without beating themselves up for it. Have a bit, then hop back on, and don't punish yourself.
 
Satisfy your craving, but eat half the portion and wait a while. You might find that your stomach feels full about 10-15 minutes later (delayed gastric emptying--one of my favorite features) and that you won't want the rest of the chicken until tomorrow.
 
I find that whenever I eat something I have been craving, I can only eat like half of it. I really should eat healthier than I do but it's not really a big deal because half the time I have to force myself to eat.
 
Just have some Cane's. It's not going to hurt anything. Just order 80% less than you used to!

Every once in a while I want a burger from Wendy's, so I get it. I don't feel any guilt about it. I usually end up disappointed in it so I find I crave my old fast food faves less and less.

I always look at my calories on a weekly basis instead of a daily one. Sunday - Sunday I should be eating about 10,500 calories in total. If that shakes out to 800 one day when I just cannot be asked to eat anything and 2500 another day if I really wanted a burger, that's fine. Some people are great at tracking macros and shit, and that's great if it works for you. It definitely doesn't work for me so I don't stress about it.

We're all just people. We take comfort in and seek out pleasure in the things we do. Denying that, always and every single time, is no way to live.
 
Atlanatpr said:
I’ve done really well, but today I just started craving canes, and I couldn’t help myself. I’m also on Triz, and I’ve made a lot of progress. I guess I’m just mad at myself because I’m not perfect.
I started in January.....and no fast food/junk food etc etc ....PERIOD !!

But, the other day I bought a Ben & Jerrys coffee ice cream.

Now I'm over it and back to the clean diet.
 
I just remind myself that everything about it sucks. The price, the quality, the service. Its all bad. Also, its engineered to be addictive.
 
Everything in moderation. A treat once in a while is not going to hurt you.

Another option is air fry some breaded chicken (purchased or make your own) & make a copycat sauce. You can even use Greek yogurt instead of the mayo for protein & to be healthier. This you can even have more often
 
For me, the Quest protein chips, and my personal spices collection are the key. When I get a craving, I try to identify the flavor I'm yearning for. Then I nuke some Turkey deli slices, bought from local butcher, slap on the spices and eat them SLOWLY, washing it down with my prepared protein shake.
 
I grew up on a farm. Had McD's the first time and 14. Hated it. Pizza at 17. Hated it. I know it's not real food. Don't know what it is but it's not real.
 
Treat yourself and enjoy it, one bad weekend doesn't ruin a summer.
 
Atlanatpr said:
I’ve done really well, but today I just started craving canes, and I couldn’t help myself. I’m also on Triz, and I’ve made a lot of progress. I guess I’m just mad at myself because I’m not perfect.
Eat the canes! Don't have to be 100% all the time. Lock in tomorrow
 
Tony Robbins has a mental process for eliminating cravings and swapping in new ones. The idea is to train yourself to want a better option. Find a healthy swap for Canes. Like a grilled piece of chicken and a side of raw vegetables.. or something healthy you find appealing. You hold images of both in your mind.

Generally the first will be a bigger brighter image. Focus on that but have it recede and get less bright, while doing the opposite with the new option. Bring that in closer, bigger and brighter and focus on making it as appealing as possible. Imagine the smell, the taste, the vivid colors etc..

Have the first image get smaller and farther away until it's gone. Focus on the better choice and let yourself imagine how delicious that would be.

You can do this with any choice, habit etc..

Tony is more focused on positivity... I have always looked for ideas that would gross me out and imagine that together with the thing I want to avoid. Like cigarettes being made of smoldering compost.

Or cookies made with lard.. like that. cheese rotting... that usually works.
 
Nobody's perfect at all mate. This stuff happens, but it's all part of the journey. There's definitely healthy substitutes like people above have mentioned. But honestly, sometimes you just can't ignore that pull of something like Canes (or in my case, any good smash burger ...). Important thing is to get back on the grind as soon as you can after that.

And as long as your calorie tracking as well, something like fried chicken or a burger won't ruin your overall plan. Just try to skip the sides and stick with diet drinks. Every now and then, I'll sneak in a cheeseburger on a Friday but I make sure to track it.

If I blow over my goals (especially my sat fat that I'm watching like a hawk), I try and make up for it the next day. At the end of the day, it's more about your rolling average than any singular meal. Keep up the work!
 
I have gone the fairly extreme route of more or less completely banning myself from eating any high calorie / highly rewarding / high glycemic index foods. And kept on that for 3 1/2 years, and lost 80kg.

In my case every previous diet got messed up by extreme hunger that I could not override, that occurred an hour or 2 after eating even small amounts of that type of food, so some sort of hormonal or neurochemical stuff up in response to what I guess are blood sugar spikes and dips. I then found it extremely hard to stop. My current diet is specifically designed to prevent those spikes and dips as much as possible.

I would guess whether indulging occasionally in high calorie foods is an issue or not depends on if you have binge eating disorder or food addiction, ( which is very common in people with obesity ) and if so your prior ability to control eating amounts and for how long when eating rich food. If controlling your eating was an issue, it might be much harder to do that after losing a lot of weight. Post weight loss, I found that extreme hunger response to be amplified to very high levels.

If you did not have those types of eating issues then indulging sometimes is not likely to be a problem.

GLP drugs definitely reduce hunger and cravings for rich food, so if you are experiencing increased hunger or cravings it might be a sign that increasing the dose might be required. Assuming no problematic side effects and doses not at maximum.

But eliminating cravings entirely is not realistic, even tirz15mg/reta5mg/cagri0.5mg does not get rid of them for me but does make overall hunger much more reasonable and a lot less cravings for unhealthy food.
 
I have a better relationship with junk food since I'm on Tirz... if that makes sense.

I used to think about ordering breakfast in but stressing over the fact that I'd use 40% of my daily calories...

Now with Tirz I know I can get whatever I want because at the end, I'm not gonna overeat. I feel like I can eat whatever I want and it's liberating.

But, a quick note about the type of cheat meal is necessary.

I know for a fact that chocolate is my #1 trigger, if I eat it once I'll crave it everyday. If I stop it for 3-4 days, my overall hunger signals decrease. I think it's not just glycemic up and down, but teobromine/serotonine are heavily involved.

Different story when I crave salty foods. Low calories diet are often mineral deficient, especially if exercise is involved, so sometimes getting salt in is what we need. So in this case is not really an on/off trigger for me, but moderation is key
 
Pin&Play said:
I know for a fact that chocolate is my #1 trigger, if I eat it once I'll crave it everyday. If I stop it for 3-4 days, my overall hunger signals decrease. I think it's not just glycemic up and down, but teobromine/serotonine are heavily involved.
Despite pretty extreme addiction problems with several foods , ice cream, chips, chocolate etc. Somehow over 70% cocoa dark chocolate does not seem to trigger that response whereas milk chocolate or even not so dark dark chocolate does, so 20 grams or 100 calories per day of dark chocolate has been my one high calorie food per day. Trying to do that with milk chocolate would be very difficult , I would want more the second I finished eating it.
 
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