Diet Motivation Tips -- Help Stop The Cravings

My gosh, the cravings! Why all the food cravings?

Well, let's try to make some sense of it.

Are you skipping meals?

Sometimes it's because you skipped meals. You skipped breakfast, because "I'm just not hungry in the morning."

You have a salad for lunch. You are doing good (you think.)

And by dinner time you are so hungry you could eat a wolf. So you eat dinner. Have seconds. Settle down in front of the TV. And have some chips. And ice cream.

Diet motivation tip #1--Don't skip meals

Got to have that breakfast

This is an easy one. You can't lose weight if you don't eat breakfast.

And you say, "Well, my great-aunt Gladys never ate breakfast and she was always skinny."

But we're not talking about Gladys--we're talking about you. And you can't lose weight if you don't eat breakfast.

Diet motivation tip #2--Eat your breakfast

Pack your lunch

You're out and about. You're hungry. So you eat... Whatever is available. Snickers. Chips. Coke. Ughh!

You've got to make sure you have some good food available wherever you are. And then make sure you eat at the right time. That way you won't feel starved.

Diet motivation tip #3--Keep healthy food with you at all times

Junk food leads to more junk food

OK. Now, sometimes you get cravings because you have been eating too much refined sugar. This can happen a couple of hours after a junk food snack when your blood sugar drops.

The other thing that happens when you are eating too much junk food is that you will tend to get cravings for junk food the next day at the same time. If you have a big bowl of ice cream at bedtime one day, you are likely to have cravings for ice cream at the same time the next night.

If you are having that problem, where you get cravings for junk food everyday at the same time, you have to break the spell somehow. How? Go "cold turkey." You need two weeks to dry out. Swear off the sweets for 2 weeks. Like magic, the cravings will disappear.

What do you do instead of the junk food snack? You substitute a healthy snack instead.

Diet motivation tip #4--Take a break from junk food

You need more water--and exercise-and sleep

The other thing to do when the cravings hit is to drink a big glass of water. Many times when you think you are hungry you are really thirsty.

Diet motivation tip #5--Drink enough water

Another craver-beater is exercise. Getting some exercise or taking a walk will really help.

Diet motivation tip #6--Increase the exercise

Sometimes you get cravings at night if you are tired. Your body gets low on energy. If you are tired, go to bed instead of eating.

Diet motivation tip #7--Get enough sleep

"Can't I ever have a treat?"

On the other hand you might want some "fun food" just because you want some. That is OK too. Reward yourself once or twice each week.

It can be a piece of cake, or a couple slices of pizza or whatever sounds good to you. Just make sure you don't eat so much that you spoil all your hard work.

When you do have your fun food you should make sure you enjoy it. Don't feed bad about eating it or feel like it is wrong.

Some people call it "cheating" when they eat something that they know is not that healthy. I don't think that is the right way to look at it.

Cheating is something bad. It is something that you are not supposed to do. So when you are cheating you tend to feel bad about it. And you can end up feeling bad about yourself. And that's not OK.

Diet motivation tip #8--Don't call it cheating

Reward yourself

But you have a right, really, to eat what you want to eat. And you have a right to eat something that you consider fun or special once in a while. So if you decide to do it, and if you plan to do it, then it is really part of your program.

So don't call it cheating because that kind of takes the fun out of it. And it kind of says you are out of control when you are not. You are not cheating; you are just eating something that you decided to eat.

And did you know that some extra calories once in a while will boost your metabolism? It tells your body that you are not starving. So because you are not starving you don't have to store everything you eat. Your body can let go of some of the stored fat.

Diet motivation tip #9--Once in a while, have a treat

Follow these tips and you can make the cravings go away.

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