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

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
Treat yourself and enjoy it, one bad weekend doesn't ruin a summer.
 
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.
 
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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
 
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.
 
I just eat whatever I'm craving and not stress about it. The difference is a couple of spoonfuls of ice cream and I'm full, vs not being able to stop until I finished the pint. If my kids want McD's I barely get through a double cheeseburger and eat a couple of fries and call it a day, instead of eating all the fries and the second burger that came with the deal (we get the deal that the second one is $1). I eat a handful of chips but don't finish the whole bag. And so on. I don't judge myself, I've spent years considering succumbing to cravings as a failure and I'm too old for that. GLP-1's let me fulfil a craving when that happens (once every week or two?) but then eat an amount that won't make me feel bad about later.
 
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How do you get over the terrible feeling when craving fast food after months without it?​


I don't feel terrible about it, at all.

Tomorrow makes 21 weeks in, I'm down 54lb... that's 2.6lb/week including starting TRT (water weight cycled) and creatine (2-4lb of water weight likely added). I still eat in general what I want, although now it is more purposeful and radically different in quantity... also if something doesn't taste actually good (Whattaburger comes to mind, had it for the first time), I stop eating it.


Gotta live and enjoy life. For me, Reta has thus far put me in a goldilocks position physically, mentally, and emotionally when it comes to food and my outlook on life.


Here are some pictures of the more delectable food I've had in the last 21 weeks... the pounds of lean turkey and chicken, 25-30lb of protein powder, simple sushi, etc are boring, who cares about that? 🤣

Rotel Sausage Cream Cheese Dip
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Delightful Birria Tacos
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Chicken, rice, beans, queeessooooo
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Prime NY Strip
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Bacon galore
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Cream Cheese Jalapeño poppers
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1778177234865.webp
1778177250306.webp

Almost forgot the pizza! I don't usually take a picture, this was my first or second time having Marcos in the same week, either in Orlando or Vegas.
1778177282542.webp
 
When I was doing a very high deficit diet, I drank bottles of bottles of diet soda. Not recommended because you go piss like 5 times a day
 
So I either have the fast food item and plan my entire day around that meal by eating lower cals, carbs and fats the rest of the day (but at Canes I would get naked tenders and then bathe in that sauce) or find a way to make a version at home that tastes as close as possible but still works for my diet. I've found a way to make "McNuggets" or a "McChicken" patty using canned chicken, shredded cheese and egg that is excellent.
 
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.
I still crave it but I like super dark chocolate--85-95% range. I found a sugar free one that is 92% that I LOVE, from Choczero. I buy the bejeesus out of that and try to limit myself to 2 squares per day.
 
What's canes? I haven't eaten at fast food place in over 20 years. seriously.
Congratulations! You are badass for that. I can count on one hand how many times I have fast food per year. Usually it's chikfila or pizza and when traveling.
 
I genuinely thought you were talking about sugar canes. I do crave sugar canes every now and then. Whatever I crave, I just let myself indulge because I won't be able to eat much or I'll feel sick later and never do it again.
 
One ingredient food only for the last 2 months, no skips or cheats. The smell keeps me from cheating with fast food. My daughter brought McD's in last week. It smelled RANK to me. Not even a temptation....
 
I guess this isn't a picture thread 🤣

All this negativity towards fast food reminded me of the variety of Chick-Fil-A and other sandwiches/wraps/etc that I regularly eat.


Not a temptation, just a way of life.
 

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