Please help me!

[Pumpkinlatte123]

I’m trying so, so hard to stick to my new healthy diet. I’m eating set meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner, rather than just grazing on unhealthy snacks all day. After lockdown I had got into some really bad habits- I would just graze on anything I wanted and I could do with losing around 2 stone now. I’m still allowing myself one treat everyday, but only something small like a gingerbread biscuit or a small mini bar of chocolate. I’ve stopped unhealthy deserts- im eating yogurt and fruit. If im hungry inbetween my meals im eating healthy foods- fresh vegetable sticks, rice cakes, that sort of thing.

but I’m absolutely miserable with it. I keep craving sugary unhealthy foods, or lots of crisps. I have a target in my mind of what I want to look like, and I bought some smaller jeans that I’m determined to make myself fit into. I keep thinking how good it will feel. But ALL I can think about is food. Im really struggling at work too and I’m trying so hard to ignore the cravings but all I want to do is go to Asda and gorge on crisps or chocolate. I haven’t given in yet because I am determined this diet will succeed but it’s so, so hard.

I’m very sporty but have upped my exercise and fitness too. Covid and lockdowns made me get a bit unfit

please tell me it gets easier? I’ve not long started this so I haven’t seen results yet obviously, which I think is making it harder as well because it feels like it’s not worth it.

how do people stay motivated on diets? Does anyone have any advice? Thanks!

Are you getting enough salt, healthy fats and carbs? Sounds like your body is telling you you're missing something. Try a few salted nuts or a healthy grain as a side.

Do you need a bit more fat it your diet? When I find I'm repeatedly getting hungry its because I'm missing a key food group. A glass of milk will satisfy, or including a small amount of cheese with a meal.

I was having bit of a dejavu here.
Any reason for repost under different name?

There is a weightloss section on here where people can give you some good tips

Didn’t get any replies, realised it was too long and wordy and decided to redo it without all the unnecessary detail, that’s all.

Add protein and lots of veg/salad. Add a crunchy element to meals as this is very satisfying.

If I eat really nice meals with a decent amount of protein and lots of variety on my plate then I'm much less likely to think about snacks.

Also make sure you're well hydrated.

If I open a packet of biscuits I'll eat the lot in one go so my only option is to not have these in the house. I have a rule that if I want something sweet I have to make it myself which means I have to wait until I have time.

Try supplementing with B vitamins and B12 too. B12 under the tongue is better absorbed. I’ve recently started b12 and I am no longer quite so tired and even better not so ravenous!

Kefir.
Natural, not the sweetened flavoured kind. It takes a few months of daily drinking to boost the good gut bacteria but it has been pretty life changing, along with logging calories on MFP, for me.
Up protein and fibre.
The more carbs, crisps and sugary stuff you eat the more you crave ime.

Oh and avoid dextrose at all costs! It really fires up an insatiable need for sugar.

Agree with the last poster, but one step further - you need to give up sugar completely. Someone recommended Allan's Carr's " the easy way to quit sugar" on another thread back in August. I read it out of curiosity and I'm now on day 67 of no sugar (no refined / added sugar, no bread; rice, potatoes; pasta).

Genuinely don't crave it at all. I've never managed any other "diet" this long because you're dependent on willpower. No one can have willpower forever - you have to remove the "want" so you don't feel like you're missing out!

Anyway, I really recommend trying it!

The only way to do it is to not have the one treat a day. Sugar is addictive, that little hit only makes you want more.

I find i have to wind down in a structured way. 1 treat a day now, so tomorrow move to one every other day, then one every 3 days, until you get to something manageable like only havinh a treat on saturdays.

Swap white carbs for brown. It does just help.

If you've upped your exercise levels are you definitely getting enough calories? If not that could be causing the cravings.

Also yoghurt, fruit and rice cakes all still have calories. It's good that you're making healthy swaps but what sort of quantities are you eating? Sometimes it makes more sense to have a Mars Bar and cure the craving than 3 yoghurts and a banana to try to dull it!

It would help to reframe your thinking about it. Consider it more of a lifestyle change rather than a diet in which you have to endure misery to shed 2 stone. I think you should cut out the one treat a day. If you must have one treat meal a week. The daily biscuit is leaving you feeling perhaps a bit forlorn because you'd prefer to just down the whole packet.
On another note a lot of it is will power - it won't always feel fun to be so disciplined but it's something you sort of have to stick to even when you have moments of misery. Meal planning helps, having goals in mind e.g. for me one was to continuously run 5k and work up to it.

I started using a free app called 'Let's Meditate' a few months ago to help with stress.

On it, one of the sleep meditations is a story about someone who has a poor relationship with food. I tried it a few times to start with then all of a sudden realised I wasn't eating as much rubbish. Now, I try to do it every night and have dropped nearly 2 dress sizes.
Don't know how it works, but it has for me 🤷‍♀️

It's not about the 'how', its all about the 'why'

I am exactly the same OP. I think I am hooked on sugar and cutting it down is really hard. Today was my first serous day of eating healthy, I had porridge for breakfast, prawn salad for lunch and then used leftover prawns for a curry for dinner. Usually I would have some thing sweet after dinner, it’s just become a habit but I am trying to cut that out or just have a few grapes but it isn’t easy. I’m also trying to cut down on bread as I eat way too much.

I think the key is not to plan too far ahead, work towards getting through one day without eating rubbish and without snacking, don’t think about the next day or the next week or it just seems unachievable. Just take one day at a time. Keep busy between meals, stay away from the kitchen/fridge and never go shopping whilst hungry.