Weening off the bad food

I'm not a believer in eliminating everything forever.  I know it doesn't work for me because then I feel deprived and fail.

What does work for me is having a 'cheat' day.  Pick a day of the week - for me it is Friday or Saturday and that day I can have whatever I've been craving all week.  So if it's Tuesday and I REALLY want an oreo shake from Chick-fil-a  I tell myself, you CAN have it just not today, wait until Friday.  Honestly, half the time when Friday comes the urge/craving is gone and I don't eat the things I thought I would.  Oh and cheat day is NEVER an off day from working out. 

Sometimes it's a special occasion day.  For instance I turned 40 last week and I'll be damned if I wasn't going to celebrate but I work at celebrating that ONE day, not the whole week.  Having a start and stop time helps me too otherwise it gets blurry.  So I can have whatever I want on this day from noon until midnight.

The only thing that has worked for me is the “Eat Anything You Want Diet.” I started it when I weighted my self and found I was close to 190. I was also extremely broke and could not afford a lot for food; which made things easier.  I went from 188 to 160 in about 3 months.

I started out by eating 2 Whoppers a day (they were on sale for $1) and drinking tons of iced tea and lemon. I did that for about 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks my stomach had become small enough that I was able to eat anything I wanted as long as I stopped before I was stuffed. If I wanted junk food, brownies, ice cream I ate it.   It is my version of stomach surgery. It worked for over 5 years. It stopped working when I got a job that keep me in a truck most of the day. Boredom killed my ability to keep off weight.

Roger 

Not a joke.  The start of the diet was a 1500 calorie diet.  A Whopper is about 750 cals.   Ice tea 0 cals.  A whopper tends to stick with you for a while. That may not be good for training but for losing weight it was great.  Eating that diet for 3 week to a month my stomach shrank. I felt full eating less. 

The remainder of the diet was the only reason the weight stayed off. I know some people are able to stop eating sweats, meat or drinking beer. Not me! Why sacrifice when there is no need? Why feel bad about wanting to eat what others can? I ate anything I wanted but was able to avoid gaining weight. This was accomplished by keep the size of my portions down. I never left the table hungry. I never had a day of eating that I regretted later. I'm not saying eat only junk. I'm not saying eat the entire 1/2 Gallon of Blue Bell ice cream. If a person allows their stomach to shrink and they don't over do it they can eat anything they want.

Why wean yourself off the bad foods. Just eat less of everything.

In the US we eat super sized foods. When I was a kid the large fries was smaller than today’s kids fries. A bottle coke was 8 oz. and a fast food small is at least 0 oz.  We eat too much in this country. With a smaller stomach a person can eat less and enjoy everything.  

Once again this is not a Joke, it is my life.

Roger

Unhealthy? I don't know the complete nutritional values of a Whopper so I can't say either way. If you do I would be glad for you to inform me. I'm just a little curious how bad a whopper really is. I know it is full of fat. And that secret sauce?????   The first month was unhealthy due to the high fat content and lack of vitamins. I'll give you that a whopper may not been the best choice but it worked. The whopper plan was only for 3 to 4 weeks. If you look at the nutrients in a whopper you will probably find it is healthier than the average American diet, no fries.

The rest of the diet was OK. The only thing I did was eat less than I previously did. Never said I starved. Never said I lived on ice cream and candy.  

The basic idea behind the post was to point out that with holding things from your diet may not work. Eat everything you enjoy in moderation. Sorry if I did not get that across.  

 

I must say that I have never had a pretty woman express her concerned over my colons health. I can't recall anyone expressing concerned about my colons health. Is that a good or bad thing?    LOL

...Back the OP.

Good for you!! Like most have said..have a cheat day! Mine is friday so I can celebrate the end of another week, but I acutally only cheat on dinner, which is usually enough. Typically there is something that I've been craving allll week, like one week was a DQ Moolatte, and last week was a Chipotle burrito.

Also, I'll set goals and reward myself after I make it. Recently I had a mini pack of MM's and I promised myself I could have them once I was able to run a 5K.  They were the best MM's I've ever had!

It's great that you're alread in control of portions, because that can be just as hard, if not harder.  The best way to get off of the bad foods is to just by-pass that isle in the store and not even tempt yourself.  It may be a rough road sometimes,but you can do it!

Weaning is the the best way - not cold turkey.  When you cut out something completely from day one you still crave it and are more likely to cheat.   When I decided to finally get healthy I did baby steps at first (cutting down on the sugar in my coffee, changing from toast for breakfast to oatmeal, switching from FOTB to plain yogurt etc).   Over a period of several months I reduced my refined sugar, sodium, unhealthy fats and excess carb intake and increased my fruit and veggie comsumption.  It was all gradual and over time I found that I craved the bad foods less and less.  When I do decide to cheat I don't enjoy those foods like I used to so I am less likely to want them now.   So far I have lost over 60 pounds in 10 months and I am not on a diet - I just changed my lifestyle.  I don't count calories but I do read labels and for the first 4-5 months I wrote down what I ate to be able to see better what I was eating and where I could make changes.