<p>I believe you. You are the expert on you, and you can certainly tell whether you are tempted by foods that you used to like. Congratulations on maintaining the weight you like.</p>
<p>Now. Would you please believe me? I have also tried eating “clean” diets for a time. And it has never, not for a millisecond, “trained” me not to like delicious food. If I base any weight-loss plan on my not liking food that I now like, I’m wasting my time. I had better try a different plan, because that one is a sure loser. And I’m willing to venture a guess that a lot of people have tried a lot of diets without discovering they suddenly dislike cake.</p>
<p>I have frequently read, and find to be true personally, that 21 days will break a bad habit. If I abstain from any particular food or drink that long, I’ve pretty much lost the craving. I think it is the craving that really matters.</p>
<p>When I want to lose weight I follow Gourmetmom’s plan: same breakfast and lunch daily with a simple dinner. It makes it easier for me to see where I need to adjust if I’m not losing what I want. If medication is making you gain weight, I am really not sure what you can do about that. However, if your diet is very consistent day to day - you should be able to measure whether you are up or down based on what you are eating. Good luck!</p>
<p>I am too short and small boned to snack between meals or drink much alcohol or juice or milk if I want to be thin. or sugar. or crackers. or cheese. :(</p>
<p>I think oatmeal is the perfect low calorie breakfast. Plain, old fashioned, oatmeal. Well, maybe a spoon of cinnamon ;)</p>
<p>I find hot is my friend. I drink lots of hot tea when I am dieting. I drink it about 45 minutes before dinner and then I eat less. I also like beef bullion. It has very few calories and fills me up.</p>
<p>Diet soda does help. I know that over time it can raise your “plateau” for weight. But on a short term diet, for me it works.</p>
<p>This is very unscientific - but I think diet soda makes me hungry. When I eliminate it, I can really tell a difference. I drink a lot of very strong and excellent black coffee.</p>
<p>Totally agree about reducing carbs! No more bread on the table with meals. No chips when eating Mexican food. Cut out pasta, potatoes and rice. Stick with a protein entree - and then a side of veggies, add a salad if need be. We just eat way too many carbs. Then try to reduce sugars, all processed and refined sugars best you can. Fruit - minimal- as it is healthy, but full of sugar. NO CORN - just starch and sugar. </p>
<p>Really? You go without sex for 21 days and suddenly you’re celibate? Many people don’t find that to be the case. Your body has urges that your mind can’t suppress.</p>
<p>Someone who is celibate will have to comment on the 21 days theory in this context.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang: I am more than willing to concede that the 21 days theory doesn’t work for you with the food you crave. Maybe, though it will work for the OP? It seems to work for some people.</p>
<p>What if, heaven forfend, you were attracted to children? We can all agree that having sex with children is horrifying. Do you think that a pedophile can stop being attracted to children if they don’t act on their desires for 21 days?</p>
<p>And wouldn’t that have been just as true before they lost weight? And the reason they were obese in the first place? It’s not just the calories, it’s also who is eating them. Some of us are just more efficient with our calories, and better at lowering our metabolism when calories are decreased. Unfair for sure, until the next famine hits - then you thin people are all in trouble!</p>
<p>I’ve lost more weight in my life than most people have gained, and it is a constant struggle not be obese (not thin, mind you, just not obese). If I get tired of watching every single thing I eat, it can take me a year to lose what I can gain in two weeks. The only good thing is that my appetite seems to be lessening as I get older, which makes sense, metabolism-wise.</p>
<p>Portion control is my only advice - and patience, with the process and with yourself.</p>
<p>Be careful about losing weight with diet only and no exercise. That may result in losing mostly muscle rather than body fat, which will reduce your base metabolism, which will make it harder to keep the body fat down in the future.</p>
<p>It would actually be better to track body fat loss not through weight, but through measures that target body fat (waist circumference at navel level, fat pinch calipers, body fat measuring scales). These may not be accurate in an absolute sense, but change over time can let you know if you are losing body fat.</p>
<p>Hi again everyone…OP here. Interesting and real discussion about food habits and triggers. I have heard the same about diet coke making you hungry. I limit myself to one per day, usually @the same time. I actually weaned myself off of it for several months and felt fine without it but then started drinking it again on July 4th. I think more than the diet coke at the moment are the sugar and carb triggers that I need to recognize. Just recognizing what I’m eating at this stage in my life of medications and menopause, I am seeing that what I’ve been able to eat in the past and maintain a certain weight no longer works. And since I am not a huge exerciser, then I know my diet needs to be re-shifted. I’ve also heard that cutting out sugars completely makes you crave it less and when you eat sugar, you crave it more so you eat it without thinking. I think that is what is happening to me. For years I stayed the same weight and now I am gaining for whatever reason…due to menopause, medications, sugar, carbs…so I have to be more aware of what I eat much more than I used to.</p>
<p>I will definitely try to follow a meal plan like the one EK linked or some other similar ones. My S2 is a high school senior, so I’m still making meals for the 3 of us and cannot make the same meals each day but will try to make more protein/veggie and less pasta/potato meals. I guess I could make myself something different or just make the entire meal with starch and just eliminate it for myself. I thought my food choices have always been good and healthy. They could be too much of a portion and I need to also recognize and cut out the extra sweets that I snack on. Being aware everyday should help me make better choices too.</p>
<p>I love eating vegetables and vegetarian style, but I do like bread at the restaurant dining table (!) and chocolate and…THAT’s the stuff I need to be conscious of and eliminate!! Yucch, no fun. But I have a feeling that I won’t miss it nearly as much as I think I would. Willpower! ;)</p>
<p>PS: I just read the above comments…I will test my weight loss not in pounds but how my clothing feels on me. If the clothing is less tight I’ll be a happy camper.</p>
<p>Apparently not, at least in some cases. Some people’s bodies end up in a starvation mode that they were not in before they dieted. </p>
<p>Knowing this fact might help us going forward, as a matter of public policy, because it will be easier for people who are vulnerable to obesity to avoid becoming obese than it would be for those same people to stop being obese once they have become obese, and therefore we ought to focus anti-obesity efforts on the young. </p>
<p>But it’s useless for people who are already obese. Unfortunately. One has the body one has. One can lose weight, but one can’t never have gained the weight in the first place.</p>
<p>We also have to cook for a teen boy - so that’s what we do. We make the starch/carb side for him …and we just go with the entree and veggies. I buy ONE roll out of the bins and he gets it for his plate. </p>
<p>And I do agree -the less carbs and sugars you eat - the less you crave them and they lose their appeal. </p>
<p>Just Eat Real Food is a great FB page with lots of good new dinner ideas and google paleo - and recipes in that genre. We made baked avocados one night - instead of potatoes …SO good. Amazing. Never would have even thought about that before. Found that recipe on that FB page. We made Egg Plant pizzas the other night - so good. The flavors are so much better if you cut back on the starch, sugar and processed foods.</p>
<p>In light of your comments, CF, it sounds as though you feel hopeless about having some excess weight and that you’re just resigned that nothing can be done and that you are stuck having cravings that you can’t control. I’m very sorry you feel that way.(said sincerely, not snarkily)</p>
<p>Not at all, Pizzagirl. I have about three or four extra pounds, and a month from now, they will be gone. And they will be gone because I’m working with my body, rather than relying on beliefs about eliminating cravings that would prove to be incorrect. I don’t have to not want to eat half a cake or a quart of ice cream-- that is hopeless. I merely have to not eat half a cake or a quart of ice cream, which is another matter entirely.</p>
<p>Chocchip, since you are at least somewhat computer savvy (you are on CC!) I REALLY suggest you use an online food diary as opposed to writing down what you eat - what is the good of writing things down if you don’t have the food composition to “analyze” - calories, #of carbs, grams of salt - that kind of thing . The Livestrong or other programs will show you SO much in terms of what you are eating.</p>
<p>Also it sounds like you are exercising some - you mention going to the gym. Exercise doesn’t have to be running miles or lifting weights - biking in the neighborhood, walking, etc is all great! If you can just I increase those simple exercises you are already doing now just a bit, It would help ALONG with better eating. </p>
<p>And don’t forget the other biggie : PORTION SIZE! :)</p>
<p>At least for me, it wasn’t “stop eating sweets for 21 days under the belief that doing so will mean that I won’t crave them anymore.” It was the decision to stop eating them, and then the “and now I don’t seem to crave them anymore” was an unexpected lucky strike extra. Does that make sense? </p>
<p>Likewise, with exercise, I found that by gutting through and pushing myself, I finally (finally!) got to the point where I actually liked and wanted to exercise, versus my previous 48 years of half heartedly going through the motions.</p>