Stuck in a Keto craving rut!

#5

About me: I do not have a food addiction. I will not let food dominate (or be the center of) my life. There is a difference between discipline and willpower; I have a lot of the former and very little of the latter.

My approach: I never deny myself any food that I want. I do regulate the timing and the quantity. Perhaps that is why I rarely have true cravings. If I crave something, the first thing I do is eat a big meal that’s on plan. Most of time the craving goes away. If it persists, I force myself to wait 2-24 hours. By then, most of the time, the craving has passed. But if after all that, I still have a craving, then I fulfill it.

What I would do: I’d buy the cookies, thoroughly enjoy eating a few, then flush the rest down the toilet. With regard to holidays, I load my plate full of veggies and meat, than add 2-3 tablespoons of the off plan foods; the first few bites are the most enjoyable, the rest is gluttony :grin:

#6

My technique, if you will, in this sort of situation is to eat delicious keto food unrestricted. Lily’s chocolate, macadamia nuts, bacon, pepperoni, pork rinds, an entire pan of roasted veggies, whatever. I can almost guarantee that it’ll be impossible to crave cookies if you’re stuffed full of bacon and chocolate. Plus it’s an amazing feeling to let yourself indulge without breaking keto.

Oh, and if you don’t want to get out of bed, you have my blessing. :grin:

(Laurie) #7

When I first started keto this summer, at first I gave in to temptation quite often.

Then I graduated to just thinking about one (non-keto) food or another. I’d stop thinking those thoughts after 2 or 3 hours.

Now I don’t do either any more (give in or think about it). It’s a process. You can do it!

(Heather Meyer) #8

Well… i attempted to solve my Keto craving by making a low carb ginger molasses cookie recipe i found online. It had 3 tbsp blackstrap mollasses in it but according to the recipe didnt actually that much in one cookie because the recipe was to give you 38 cookies…

Well BAD NEWS!! I looked up the macros AFTER i made them and i DID NOT get 38 cookies…the recipe only gave me 22. So each cookie came out to 3 Net carbs. So i ate 3 cookies and have officially maxed my 20 net carbs… so i feel like a bit of an idiot and now im stuck woth these cookies in my house till i can give them away tommorow morning and it didnt seem to help my craving at all and now im having a bit of a panic hoping i didnt kick myself out of keto from the mollasses in the recipe…

Ugh :’( I think reality is im craving cause im stressed and i want to bury my stress in food and that coping mechanism typically turns to carbage. :frowning:

(Carl Keller) #9

Try some fat… nuts, an avocado, cheese or anything to get you over this hump. My kness got a little week when I saw all my buddies eating this divine looking platter full of nachos when we were watching the football game today. Fortunately I had some pork rinds in my truck and I ate a handful of those and I was fine.

These cravings are all in your mind. Just remember that eating Keto reawakens your taste buds. It makes eating vegetables and fat more tasty and even if you go back to carbs and sugars, they won’t taste the same as you remembered.

(Running from stupidity) #10

Even if you did, it’s hardly the end of the world! Just chill and move on. What’s the worst possible outcome from this? (Besides, you know, eating the rest of them in the next hour or so? :slight_smile:

(Terence Dean) #11

When you understand the reasons for why you get cravings, its a lot easier to deal with. You may find useful the following article by VIRTA: Now We Know Why You Can Lose Weight with Reduced Hunger and Cravings, especially the paragraph Hormones and Hunger.

#12

Heather, I’m with @juice here. We all came to keto from an unhealthy diet, and if we fall off, we can come back again.

I don’t want to downplay your struggle, but I don’t want you to get so stressed out you’re tossing and turning all night. If you absolutely have to, throw those cookies out the window, burn them them in the bathtub, or bury them in the backyard! Do what you’ve got to do to feel right about yourself tonight.

Or, you can eat a few more and give the rest away at work. Go to bed knowing tomorrow is a new day, and you can do better with the knowledge you’ve gained today.

That’s a lot of what the keto lifestyle means to me. Everyday I learn something new, and tomorrow I put that new found knowledge to work. Remember, you’re not in this for a day, a month, or even a year; this is a commitment for life, your life.

Whenever I’m feeling too tempted to eat something I don’t want, I’ll just take a picture of it and post it to the What did you NOT eat today thread.

We’ll be there cheering you on!

(Heather Meyer) #13

I think the big debate in my head is

Did 2 tsp of mollases kick me out of Keto even though my net carbs stayed at 20 for the day? If i kicked myself out… i mine as well enjoy my night but if i didnt and i cheat…then im stuck restarting…

I guess is rhe pain worth it?

#14

Maybe, maybe not.

I eat a pint of low-carb Rebel ice cream yesterday. Stayed well below my carb count, but got sick to my stomach anyway. Now I know I can’t do a whole pint. :weary:

(Running from stupidity) #15

That’s not really how it work - “Well, 21g carbs in this artificially set time span, might as well go and buy Woolies out of icecream and eat it before the clock ticks over!”

:slight_smile:

#16

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

(Danielle) #17

Completely agree! The number one best way to fight cravings is to have a full stomach! Eat as many zero carb things as you want until you’re full. Trust me, it works!!

(Heather Meyer) #18

Well I SURVIVED!!! I was soooo close to giving in… I was out the door…in my car and I passed the grocery store. I dont know what happend… I guess i kept thinking “Am i going to give in and cheat because i consumed 2 tsp of mollasses in those stupid cookies and throw keto out the window? NOOOOOO!!!”

So i grabbed a meat stick(aka smokie sausage), crammed it in my pie hole and did not go to the store or cheat.

As for them 29 molasses cookies…out the window they went! Still peeves me off that a person can call somthing Keto when they ae using an ingrident that has a GI index almost the same as HFCS… like what a liar liar pants on fire!!
So not Keto in my books… Maybe if the recipe actually made 38 cookies then maybe just maybe it could have been okayish.(i still question the use of mollases in keto cooking…especially since i see a tsp used in a lot of keto baking to get the brown sugar flavor)

In total… i added it up… i consumed 2 tsp of mollasses in 3 cookies which ended up at 8.6 net carbs from the mollasses itself plus the remaining carbs from the rest of the recipe…
So really… 10Net in one shot.

Not bad i guess… im still hoping and praying i didnt blow it…time for a run on the treadmill??

#19

YES! WAY TO GO, HEATHER! :+1:

(Nola) #20

((((Hugs))))) You know what helps me every time is tea. I spice it up with all sorts of flavor and I bet you could add some pumpkin pie spices in a cuppa and really take your mind off any cookies. It’d be warm and comforting and cozy, just like love in a cup.
Way better than those nasty cookies which are laced with sugar poison and make you feel icky.

You’re doing great! Proud of you :+1:t2:

(Running from stupidity) #21

:metal::metal::metal::metal::metal:

Yeah, you’ll get used to that. I’ll often look at ingredients and just ignore that person/site from then on because they’re stupid/liars. And if I AM going to make something, I’ll put it into Cronometer FIRST and see if my figures match with the supplied ones. Not, you know, that I distrust humans.

(CJ Young) #22

I think because the holidays are coming up, or it’s getting cold, or who knows but I’m 8 months in and I’ve been really interested in cookies lately. I just make sure I’ve got some keto approved chocolate or keto cookies on hand so I can say no thanks to delicious offerings.

Also, I’ve frozen pretty much every keto cookie I’ve made so far and all of them have held up to freezing/thawing very well. I like to stick them in the oven and get them warm sometimes as well. A couple of almond flour shortbreads with a whiskey tea :smiley:

(Heather Meyer) #23

Aww thanks!

(Heather Meyer) #24

Thank you! All the encouragent is so appreciated!