Variety is the key to staying on top of things! You can’t eat the same foods day in and day out. Besides, it is probably better for you to switch up your foods in order to insure that you are getting the proper nutrients into your body.
A good midday snack are nuts. In particular almonds have some of the best nutritional properties. Make sure to get raw almonds - sorry, candy coated ones just do not cut it! As far as veggies go, I try to go organic whenever I can. Precut veggies work best for me because I can grab them on the go. A nice salad for dinner also does not hurt. Generally if you eat smaller meals more frequently you wont have a problem with hunger. Drinks like Crystal Lite and sugar free gum help me get through those sugar rages. But I’m sure most of us are like you and we have our cookies here and there.
I cheated today. I went to McDonald’s and took in more calories than some small African nations consume in a day. My problem is when I have to skip a meal (while dieting). I’m hungry to begin with, and no chicken & veggie meal is going to fill me up. I had to skip a meal because of work (God I hate it when petty things like work get in the way).
A good idea would be to keep beef jerkey in your pocket. Not to eat, but to take with you when you go to the park, so girls’ dogs inexplicably love you, and you can just pass it off as, “Animals always love me.”
How do I get through the day w/out “cheating”? Or last through the evening w/out falling apart at the sight of a cookie or any other lusious carb laden food? How do I remain somewhat lean?
Simple: I eat whatever I want. In my world, there is no such thing as a "cheat meal’; all food is fair game.
In other words: I eat what I want; what I like. And I eat plenty of FOOD. And if I want a cookie: I eat a cookie.
As long as 95% of your diet is good, old-fashioned food and you’re consistent with your training: you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
As for a midday snack: Beef Jerkey. Nuts. Steak. A hamburger. Hell, I’ve been known to eat a bowl of oatmeal as a snack.
Yesterday I found myself halfway through an “otis spunkmaster” humongoid blueberry muffin before I realized what the hell I was doing. I’m definitely one of those guys who loves to eat and will eat crap food if I’m not paying attention to what I’m doing. I hope this thread picks up because I could use some tips as well…
Your usual diet, which hopefully you stay on top of to not look like Subway Jared.
The diet you go on to get to a really low bf%.
Those two are very different for me. Staying at a happy bf% is not difficult for me, as cheating is not only allowed, but encouraged.
Dieting to get to a really low bf% is much more difficult for me. Typically, cheating is not a problem - it’s usually just getting enough calories, as I am a picky eater when it comes to anything green.
Hi, there, BodyIQ. So you want to know how to do a U-Turn, huh? (grin)
Get the bad news. Determine where you are and where you want to go. You need numbers; weight & BF%.
Put a plan in place. Pick the best of what you’ve done in the past & polish it up a bit. Decide on your dietary numbers. Meeting my numbers and eating every 2.5 to 3 hours feels like a full-time job. . .not to mention the cardio kick I’ve been on lately (45 minutes of FS cardio at 70% of MHR) and my HST workouts.
I like the 5-HTP recommendation to help with cravings and hunger. You could use up to 300 mg before every other meal (assuming 6); i.e., 300 mg x 3. Helps with mood and sleep, too.
Kick the P+F meals into high gear to minimize cravings and hunger
My tricks? Crystal Light, like DHolt said. Guar gum. 4 quarts of water per day. (The water thing was feeling like a FT job until I started drinking 2 quarts with each cardio session and 2 quarts with each weight-lifting session.)
Additional tricks? I just couldn’t do without my cheat afternoon. I lie in bed at night and plan them out for hours. I indulge in all the things I dream of and crave and are tempted by during the course of the week. Sometimes I induge to a point that I never want to eat the thing I was craving ever again. (grin)
Another trick? Flavor & taste. Things like Atkins BBQ sauce and Walden Farms 0-Carb, 0-Calorie dressings. Or maybe a teaspoon of hot salsa mixed with mayo (which is added to meet my fat requirements for a meal) over the top of a burger.
Survival essential, not trick? Taking my food with me when I go. I’m fanatical about this. I want to eat when I want to eat. And I want to eat WHAT I want to eat. I have NO control about one hour after a scheduled meal.
How do I get my veggies? That aspect of my diet has been suffering because I tend to eat P+F except for my Surge and the one whole-food P+C meal that follows Surge. That second meal I’m generally taking in starchy carbs (to boost my metabolism, and darn if THAT little trick isn’t working fabulously!) I have been treating green-veggie carbs almost as free carbs, though. I’ll munch on raw broccoli florets or green beans without measuring and weighing. So much fiber in 'em that they’re self limiting.
Personally, between the Hot Rox and extra 5-HTP and my optimized eating patterns and my cheat afternoons to look forward to, I don’t have cravings I can’t manage. I think cravings are much more of an issue at those ultra-low BF percentages, though. All of that a preface to the fact that I avoid protein bars like the plague! They’re great in an emergency, but people try to live off of them. I keep telling myself they’re nothing but a candy bar with protein. For myself, if I want to put on (or maintain) quality muscle, I’m convinced I need to eat quality protein.
Another reason protein bars are easy for me to avoid is I start looking at the carbs (in the good tasting ones) and it doesn’t fit into my numbers and my eating patterns.
That’s pretty well it, BodyIQ. But one last thing. Sounds like you need a motivator or something different in your life, something that excites you and pumps you up – a new goal, maybe? I don’t know your background, but maybe something REALLY different like rock climbing or learning some of the Olympic lifts. I’m sure others have better ideas along those lines.
I understand your point from a physiological and theoretical standpoint.
Fat should slow down gastric emptying.
Replacing carbs with fats helps to keep blood glucose and insulin levels stable, thus avoiding hormonal hunger.
Fat is more calorically dense than any other nutrient.
However, while I see those points, I disagree that eating more fat is the key here. Heck, how satiating is a tablespoon of fish oil? Who the heck only eats an ounce of nuts? I think you see my point.
I’m with TT in that I think it is VITAL that you try to eat every 2 hours! It can be a pain and often DOES feel like a full-time job, but it has got to be done. I tend to eat “cleanly” all the time, although I will admit that my first whole food P+C meal after training is the highlight of my day. Thats when I stuff my mouth with carbs and I put on my happy face for the rest of the day…haha. But, I rarely am EVER hungry because I make it a point to eat every 2 hours…3 at the most.
And I will also agree with Timbonator and Patricia in that increasing protein intake will work wonders in helping with satiety, not to mention fibrous green veggies
if you’re still craving sugary carbs, you body is addicted to them. if you’re trying to really clean up your diet and get rid of the junk, it takes some time but the sugar addiction will go away. drinking “sugarfree” drinks and eating “sugarfree” foods will only serve to prolong the misery. just cut the sweets and if you’re dying for something and you just can’t live any longer without something sweet, have ONE cookie. have ONE spoon of ice cream, have ONE tiny piece of candy. and enjoy it. and then go eat your veggies or a nice big chunk of cheese. and i’m not talking fat free either. you’ll be fine. once the addiction passes, you’ll feel like a free man.
it took me almost 5 or 6 months to cut the sugar craving, but I can’t bring myself to eat a krispy creme anymore.
baked/boiled potatoes can be helpful too if you’re dying for carbs. just keep the serving small and put lots of real butter, cheese, bacon, sour cream, etc. on them to keep the insulin response down. (not the fat free kind either!) they’re great with a meal. and 10000 times better than pasta or white rice.
BTW, chewing gum will cause you to be hungrier if you do it on an empty stomach because it will stimulate your digestive process. after meals, not as big of a deal. personally, i switched to toothpicks. no calories, not sweet tasting, no chemicals either.
secret hint… lol. my saving snack turned out to be coconut macaroons. Jennie’s brand is made only with honey and coconut. sweet enough to satisfy, but also fatty enough to help a bit with the hunger. if you can’t find them, you can order them online. PM me if you want more info.
Raw nuts are good. I love the Ostrich sticks (Ostrim) great on the road snack. I usually keep a couple of GROW loaded shakers stashed in strategic places and just buy a bottle of water and I am set. You can hard boil some eggs and keep them close by as well.
I think the hot Rox is helping me with cravings. I have been taking them for about a week and hardly any cravings at all (at least not for food).
A good deterrent to indulging in the cravings is to walk around naked. if you don’t like what you look like, then it’s hard to escape it. I don;t think my neighbors are too happy about it either but it’s good to get everybody involved ;
I like Patricia’s first comment on this. It seems to be the easiest to follow along with being the most successful over the long term. Cravings will always be there for us. We are trying to fight mother nature. We know what tastes good. It would make sense to satisfy it every once in awhile. To depry one will only set up an award winning binging session in the future. Not to mention the guilt following it.
I’m definitely down with the “don’t keep it in your house” trick. Since I moved in with Stella, I haven’t even been buying sugar free popsicles or anything like that, in an attempt to limit myself. Sometimes I find myself prowling around the kitchen though, muttering dark things about being stupid enough to not buy chocolate ;).
But it does help…if it’s not in the freezer or the pantry, I can’t do anything about it, since I’m fortunately too lazy to bother driving to get it.
And VEGGIES hehe…I take so many tupperware containers to work people think I’m going to a picnic. I dump about two bags of frozen vegetables into tupperware, sprinkle them with garlic pepper, and stick them in the fridge at work. When I’m ready for lunch, I just heat them up in the microwave and pair them with a protein shake or a turkey burger or something. Very easy and mindless, which works for me.
Supposedly glutamine can help with sugar cravings…there’s a chewable version by Met-RX that I like called glutamineFX. Comes in grape and orange, and it seems to work the times I’ve tried it; chew about 10 tablets and drink some water and wait. Of course, it could purely be that the tablets have some dextrose in them so it’s a little bit of sugar that’s helping get over the immediate craving…I haven’t tried it with pure glutamine capsules yet.
P.S. I love the fact that BodyIQ is complaining about diet, since last time I saw him he looked as lean as I would kill to be!! You men and your natural testosterone levels…bah.
Good thread! I too have the same problem with food cravings. It seems I can eat clean all day, but when I get home at night and start relaxing, all cravings break loose. I’ve asked my wife to shame me out of eating junk, but bless her heart she’s just too nice. Anyway, good suggestions everyone.
A question that I do have is does everyone who eats every two or three hours do so until they go to bed? I usually eat supper around 6:30 but then I don’t have any meals planned until morning. Planned being the keyword there. Maybe another small P+F meal before bed would be in order.
You men and your natural testosterone levels…bah.