I can never stay on a healthy diet!!!

[adeleg16]

I've been trying to eat healthy for the past two years. I'm very informed about it but I can't ever stick with it. I've never gotten past a week and a half. I always do perfectly the first week and a half then I start craving junk food like crazy and gorge myself. I've tried just having one cheat meal a week and that doesn't work because once I have a taste I just eat more. I've tried everything.. vegan.. vegetarian.. juice cleanses... paleo.. It's not the diet issue it's just sticking with it.

After trying for so long and never getting past a week and a half I think I'm never going to be able to do it. 😞 Getting really discouraged. I'm tired of going back and forth and I'm sick of quitting after a week and a half and filling my body with junk. Any tips or advice? Thank you!

[SunsetRunner]

As they say, it takes 21 days to form a new habit. That's why a lot of us give up and throw in the towel. I for one have probably lost 500 lbs. in my life by "starting over" on Monday. The important thing is that you just keep trying. It will happen. The single most important thing I found out myself is that by controlling carbs, I controlled my appetite. It was amazing to me that I could go from looking forward to my next day of calorie allowance to not really thinking about food at all. I am at that stage finally of eating to live, not living to eat.

[kaelarenee7]

Like everyone else is saying, it's about small changes. It's about changing your mindset when it comes to food. Cheat meals make certain foods "bad" foods, when food is food, neither good or bad. Just better or worse for certain things. Vegetables are better for nutrients than cookies, but cookies are good for when you just want a sweet treat. The key is to have the junk food in moderation while eating healthier foods the majority of the time. As others have mentioned, a food log is great for this.

[ScottHsv]

In my humble opinion, many of us simply have to practice abstinence from highly processed food. If you have ever heard of Dr. Doug Lisle, he explains why you and I and many other people struggle with staying on a healthy diet.  Please watch the video below, as he explains it much better than I ever could.

https://youtu.be/jX2btaDOBK8

Hope you find this as helpful as I did. Good luck on your journey. 

[SunsetRunner]

It's the same old lie that "a calorie is a calorie"Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S9+ Phone

[Dominique]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
It's the same old lie that "a calorie is a calorie"

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That’s not how I interpreted his message. As I understood it, his point was ultra-processed foods that are engineered to be super-tasty (and thus addictive) and are excessively high in calories are detrimental to our health. I think it’s easy to agree with this. The solution he subtly promotes (near the very end of his presentation) is to switch to a plant-based diet such as those advocated by McDougall (with whom he’s affiliated), PCMR and others. Sure, plant-based diets tend to be healthier in average, but they’re not the only way of eating that is conducive to good health. Like all other restrictive ways of eating, they are inherently harder to adhere to. But for someone who has no problem adhering to a plant-only diet and enjoys it, it’s a fine approach.

[ScottHsv]

Hey Dominique! Hope you are doing well. While I interpreted the message much like you, I respectfully disagree that he is promoting a plant based diet as the only solution, although he does come from a background of promoting plant-based diets (not really the point). The larger point to grasp is as follows: I think we would both agree that our ancestors which existed before the development of organized agriculture and animal husbandry probably never came across anything as hyper-palatable as pizza, coke, chips, or cookies (pick your favorite ultra processed food). We now know that the brain defends itself against this artificially excessive stimulation by down regulating dopamine receptors in the brain. The result of this is that our brains dull their own ability to be stimulated by food. You may have noticed this effect in your personal life if you have ever over-eaten a favorite food only to realize that the food isn't as enjoyable as it was when you first discovered it. Subsequently, when you return to a more ancestral (health promoting) diet of foods found in nature, like lean meats and vegetables; they then taste like garbage (because of the down regulation in the brain). The "trap" is that our ancestral biology (our instincts) tells us that when we find a tasty meal (one that is high in fat, salt and sugar) to eat more, but the results are detrimental to our health. This is because our modern artificial food environment includes many unhealthy but hyper-palatable processed food options.The solution that Dr. Lisle is promoting is a return to a diet that is no tastier than what out ancestors survived on, give our brains time time to heal, and then abstain from the artificially stimulating ultra-processed food. Once you reach the point where you have detoxed from the processed food, your ancestral, unprocessed foods will then actually become pleasurable again. I have become witness to this effect in my own life on multiple occasions. 

I hope this helps clarify the message and doesn't muddy the water. It takes a while for this concept to "click", but once it does it's an empowering message.

As always, good luck on your journey. 

[BLEmoving]

Started a BLE active group

[1Michelle]

Have you ever tried detoxing? My weakness is salty/crunchy. If you make a dip to go with said salty/crunchy that's my true heaven! Just like you I KNOW what i'm supposed to be eating but couldn't get over the wanting of the junk food. I've been overweight and struggling with pain for more years than I'd care to admit. Last month i learned about a company that offers a 30 Days to Healthy Living. I've almost completed my 30 days and i feel AMAZING!!! Detoxing has almost completely gotten rid of those carvings. Including my late night, just one more for the day, cravings. Even though it's not the focus of the program I've even lost weight. There's another group starting on the 15th! Message me if your interested in learning more.

[Dominique]

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@1Michelle wrote:

Last month i learned about a company that offers a 30 Days to Healthy Living. [...] There's another group starting on the 15th! Message me if your interested in learning more.

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Please check the Community Guidelines:

Please refrain from posting content that would constitute advertising, spam, or any other form of unauthorized solicitation.

[Klehman1]

I totally understand how you feel. I have the same issue with my eating. It wasn't until I was having REALLY BAD acid reflex issues that I was forced to eat better. Don't give up. I know it's hard but you can do this. Mind over matter. 

[BruceM]

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@adeleg16 wrote:

I've been trying to eat healthy for the past two years. I'm very informed about it but I can't ever stick with it. I've never gotten past a week and a half. I always do perfectly the first week and a half then I start craving junk food like crazy and gorge myself. I've tried just having one cheat meal a week and that doesn't work because once I have a taste I just eat more. I've tried everything.. vegan.. vegetarian.. juice cleanses... paleo.. It's not the diet issue it's just sticking with it.

After trying for so long and never getting past a week and a half I think I'm never going to be able to do it. 😞 Getting really discouraged. I'm tired of going back and forth and I'm sick of quitting after a week and a half and filling my body with junk. Any tips or advice? Thank you!

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Look at your diet as if you were starting to train for a marathon. At the beginning of your training you wouldn't try to run a 31/2 hour marathon. You would work up to it. Start slowly and as you're able increase your speed. Do your diet in the same way.

Don't try to give up everything, just stop eating what you consider to be the worst thing for you, perhaps doughnuts, as it was for me in 2002. That's mush easier than giving up everything that you love all at once. When you find that you're comfortable without that bad food add another - it usually took me about a year. And for my second year it was soda. For the third year it was McDonald's. the fourth year it was all fast foods. It took me ten years to hit my goal, but when I did there was no going back to fast food, donuts, or other bad foods. My lifestyle was completely changed. Now 17 years later, instead of 183 pounds as I was in 2002, I weighed  152 pounds this morning. I haven't had a doughnut since 2002 nor soda since 2004. I don't miss them.

I also increased my walking over these years and at 76 years old I average about ten miles/day. You can do it. Just do it slowly.

[BLEmoving]

Did you read Bright Line Eating? SusanPeirceThompson PHD?

Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPhone

[AlexAlex1]

You're not the only one, and because of my love for sweets, intermittent fasting is my choice. It works great for me, and I can eat almost whatever I want. I've tried usual diets before, but I couldn't do it alone. Then I tried with a group of friends, and we got a program from a nutritionist. It worked for a while because we emotionally supported and encouraged each other, but I gave up at one point. Well, healthy living and healthy food are not for me, but I can do at least intermittent fasting, and this is truly great.

[DigitalDJay]

@WendyB - "One thing I can suggest is get rid of the Cheat Meal Mentality."

I agree with you 100%. 

It's also good to go through your house and get rid of ALL of the garbage food. If kids are in the house (we have 3), I know this is impossible...

I would suggest learning about intermittent fasting and start out slow. You allow a window of time to eat what you want. A good link to get you started is here --> https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/16-8-intermittent-fasting#getting-started. After you get that down it kind of becomes a challenge to see how long you can go.

Then work on a meal prep "menu" and a day or two during the week to fill your fridge with things that are better for you.

Best of luck to you in your journey!

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for sharing those suggestions @AlexAlex1 @DigitalDJay! 

I've been doing intermittent fasting as well and I do see great results, but I always struggle with the cheat meal day 😅, thank you for all the ideas you've shared. 

[Kris111]

Make sure your balancing your meals with carbs/protein/fat ...

Fat is incredibly helpful to keep full.

Protein well you heard it to death about that i'm sure. 

Carbs is what relaxes your body...half of bad eating is from stress and the main culprit  stress is not enough carbs and thats why that will work. 

combined with willpower you should be good to go with that.  Also don't always deprive yourself of what you love. You can lose weight off junk food if thats all you ate in appropriate portions even. 

Coffee or tea with like a drop of creamer and sweetener if you need it always helps hold you between a meal to.

[ketofoodistcom]

Be active. If you insist on eating a lot, exercise a lot. Walk hills, walk a strenuous trail, walk somewhere longer. This balances out your habits. Another alternative is to find delicious, healthy foods. Another alternative is to use a keto food and recipe search engine to find healthy foods and places with low-carb foods.

[DavideFitbit]

Great suggestions @Kris111 @ketofoodistcom! It's always great to hear about different alternatives and to see that has worked out for other people 😁