Why?

[Bellerine]

I'm 100% LT so far and Im on day 11. I figure I've got about another 150 days to go. I dont feel hungry or tired and I love drinking the water. So its all good for me so far. Easy peasy really.

So I keep reading threads on here about people craving food and having snacks etc which scares me cos I dont want to do that (and btw you should put a spoilers alert on those threads cos it just makes it so much harder for the 100%ers like me).
But I have those cravings too. I might be full up on LT shakes but I still want to sit and smell food. Every evening I have a desperate desire to eat. So why is that? Why is it that even when I am full up on LT I crave the food I just made my kids for breakfast. Why is it that I am not satisfied by the fact that my body is satisfied. Is it normal to crave food even when you are full or is this the reason we are all here in the first place? Is this the "association with food" they say I have to break or is this just a human need to chow down?

Please advise.

Bellerine

 

[temmytango]

this is just the way our brains work isnt ot. years of gugging down food, there are so mant times we eat without being hungry; that is the way food addiction works . i believe its the food addiction that difficult to break. every foosd addict will do this, honestly when i see people eating at the stations, i hust feel like snatching the food. but as soon as this thot comes i just move away from there and if i cant i think about how nice i want to look in my size 16 clothes!!simple! that does it fore me

 

[Bellerine]

Thanks TT

So this is food addition? Or normal?

 

[Myckala]

I totally understand what your saying! The first time I really craved something was when my brother cooked tomato soup! stank the house out and I was sat there having drank my three shakes for the day (it was about 9pm) wishing I could have some, tomato soup isn't even really something I would choose to make given the option. I don't know whether it's an addiction, it seems such a harsh way to put it but I know I am the size I am because I eat to excess and the desire to eat things I know I shouldn't isn't going to be helped by the fact i'm limiting myself to shakes. I think one of the main reasons I started LT was because I knew i'd have to cut food out completely! allowing me to put life into perspective, what's the saying eat to live don't live to eat and I keep having to tell myself that everytime I get a craving. Don't really know whether this has helped you, I suppose I wanted to get this message out of my system as well. Just know your not alone I have cravings when I know LT has given me what I need and i'm sure many other people on here do too.

 

[Bellerine]

Thanks Myckala,

Im just going through a rough spot right now - my son has asked for a Tuc biscuit with cheese. Gees. What I wouldnt do for one. Or ten.
Terrible. And I've had two shakes already today. I've had two and a half litres of water. I am stuffed but am still craving. I would love to know if this is normal for everyone or just the seriously overweight. I have more than 100 lbs to lose. Many on here have less than 40 lbs to lose. Those people haven't got the food problems the heavier amongst us clearly have. So ... do heavier people feel the cravings more? Does it lessen over the weeks and months cos I am finding this really really hard today.

Bellerine

 

[abouttime]

no you are not alone...i have around 80lb to lose and after 2 weeks have 16 off. I do at times crave food and again its for weird things...in school last week one of the other teachers i sit with was making a ham sandwich and the ham really got me craving it, the others were eating croissants and chocoloate which i had no interest in but i had never seen a piece of ham that looked so good!! LOL

 

[Myckala]

Well as you can see bellerine I have half my weight to lose to reach my goal a whopping 120lb there is no way this is an easy road out but it will mean we can do the whole healthy eating thing after a bit easier. The way I look at it if I can live of shakes I sure as hell can avoid or at least limit fatty foods! I think the heavier you are the harder it must be, I mean no disrespect when I
Say that because I'm sure everyone struggles but the heavier you are, the bigger
Your stomachs likely to be at the start and in effect you have
More space to fill. I think we also have to appreciate that (well at least in my case) I ate large amounts of food, not meals but junk and did enough snacking in a week to last most a life time! This urge won't disappear and the more you fed that addiction before LT the harder it will be to overcome.
Today my near tipping point was going to THE BEST ice cream parlour in the world and asking for a bottle of water, sitting while my friends enjoyed there's and offered me some, in a split second we could crack but to be honest it scares me to think I could be kicked out of ketosis too much to even attempt having the odd nibble. As I was before the diet, food for me is all or nothing, for now I'll avoid it and when the results start to show I'll say to myself it was all worth it
stick it out we'll make it somehow aha

 

[danni01]

The minute ur told u can't av something, u want it!! Sometimes if I'm craving something I think to myself go on then av it if u really want it, then I don't want it any more becoz it becomes my choice x

 

[Jessie 888]

Hiya all. On holiday last week (when everybody was tucking in), I read a great book recommended by Cate called The Harcombe Diet. It explains why we get all those awful cravings and really makes sense. It's also comforting to know that it's not our fault!
It's going to be my maintenance plan after LT.

 

[bye-bigun!]

Hiya
personally i think its how us fatties are programmed, hence why we are here. I dont think slim people have the same issues, or if some do then they are strong enuf to fight the urge but the urge isnt as strong iyswim... if everyone were like it then we would all be on this board and not on a beach wearing a bikini without a second thought for food. Its not habit for me, I havw broken all associations before I started this diet having lost a great deal of weight already... for me its a mental state that I have in a nutshell. Now I know I cannot have ANY food of any kind, I am finding myself snacking on food, grazing in the fridge etc and I had conquered this before I began LT.. long before! As soon as somethin is not allowed its a subconcious thing to want it.. the inner voices and demons etc... they take over! I think its something we will all fight for the rest of our lives, and if we dont then weight gain is the result... Its like a chmical imbalance or something inherited due to whatever reasons being physical or mental... but you either have it or you dont. I am sure thin people dont wake up and lay there thinking what is for dinner, or what they can buy from Gregs when they go in to town... I do! I still thought about roast lamb as I woke up today and it still excites me.. but then depresses me knowing I cant have it officially! its a cruel cycle! lol! but before this diet i wouldnt have been excited, just would have made it, eaten it and job done! This diet has brought out a few negative sides for me that were long forgotten and are not welcome!! But I have no question that I will battle with my weight until the day I go in my box, whether it be on a diet or just having to be careful as to what i eat/choose.....!!

(and if you find that the chat of food is too much then a few use the 100% thread only as NO food talk is allowed in there, only the general forum here... hth)

xx

 

[chester]

I've been thinking - oh i could just have....yesterday was a struggle at the match no pie and pint. My husband and son were lovely and didn't have any either. But then today, i think oh i want this or that and can actually taste it. But i go well go and get it then, then i don't as my little sensible head comes out. I am only on day 6 and have lots of days left to go. Determined to make it and i think thats what will make you do it.