Craving carbs!

**FitnessPhotos** · January 25th, 2009, 04:46 PM

I always say I've never met a carb I didn't like (or could turn down). Bread (muffins, whatever), potatoes (french fries, baked, you name it), rice.

I know it sabotages my workouts, but when I want them, I don't care. Then I eat and I feel bad for it. If I deny myself, my meals seem empty and I just want to snack even more.

I don't know what to do about it....... help!

**lizzyb** · January 25th, 2009, 05:22 PM

What sort of carbs do you crave most often? Salty crunchy stuff or sweets....or basically just starchy stuff? Why I'm asking is that it's important to figure which ones influence you the most......some carb cravings are indicative of what's going on in the body, the body's way of getting back balance and others are psychological/emotional (comfort foods). ie) I am a sucker for any sort of birthday cake.....LOVE the stuff, and don't deny myself it either....simply a comfort pleasure...mind you I don't go out purposefully crashing birthday parties either just to get some, lol!! Sometimes when we crave salt our salts are out of balance or we tend to be dehydrated...body getting it's balance back, or you are stressed and like crunchy stuff......nonetheless all are important factors in order to be able to provide you with some good alternatives to whatever it is you are giving in to...

**pliny_2001** · January 25th, 2009, 05:53 PM

My diet advice isn't very nice, but generally falls into the "suck it up" category. I'm not carb- or sugar- crazy, my biggest problem is the general lethargy that hangs around when you start going low-carb, but before you adapt to it -- but I'll just suck it up til I'm through

Just tell yourself that no food tastes as good as better performance feels.

**gYmgIrL** · January 25th, 2009, 09:02 PM

If you can push through the carb cravings, day 3 is the hardest, and once you get passed that day you find that carbs arent as enticing anymore, but those first three days are killer.

hardgainer · January 26th, 2009, 12:22 PM

I'm the worst at answering these questions as I eat almost anything, in great moderation, which is probably why I'm not overweight. If I want it, I'll probably eat it. Like others have said though the cravings can/will pass, drink a bunch of water and try not to think about it. Hope this helps.

**Insex** · January 26th, 2009, 06:20 PM

I think that it's not entirely the foods that we crave which sabotage our fitness efforts, but also how much we allow ourselves to eat.

For example, let's say you love Oreo cookies. If you limit yourself to eat only two Oreo cookies per day, that won't sabotage your goals. However, if you were to eat an entire box of Oreos per day, then that would be sabotage.

If you give into your carb cravings again but manage to cut your intake by half, you'll sabotage your fitness efforts a lot less. Try to control your portions.

**FitnessPhotos** · January 26th, 2009, 08:17 PM

Day Three. Thats probably as long as I get before I cave.

What do I crave....? chips. french fries. bread (white). rice.

I'm not so much into candy, just little bits.

Maybe it's starches I crave?

**gYmgIrL** · January 26th, 2009, 08:27 PM

Yep me too! But once you get past evil day three you dont crave them anymore, and white bread starts to taste like fairy floss.

Just keep buys that day and go to bed early!

It might be the 'feeling of fullness' that those foods give you. Feels like an internal blanket! But once again, after you get past that you'll really get a lot out of how it feels like you have more energy because all of those things you listed get used up fast and drop you down pretty hard afterwards.

**lizzyb** · January 26th, 2009, 08:52 PM

Oh the starches.....sugar's evil twin sister, lol!! I know what you mean tho', being Irish in backgorund....I'm a real potatoe whore! Took me a L-O-N-G time to resist the temptation of potatoe chips, fries, and mashed potoes......now if I need a fry, I'll eat sweet potatoe fries baked in the oven sprinkled w/ cayenne....love these waay better than chip wagon fare 4sure! Potatoe chips....well, I'll eat 1 small handful if needed, but generally we don't keep those in the house.....I could crumble, lol! Bread.....i make my own, usually some 12grain variety made with no white flours whatsoever.....for a rare treat.

best snack item to have on hand is raw almonds......the crunch satisfies that need, the fats satisfy the hunger....perhaps you could increase your healthy fats (EFA's) w/o increasing your total caloric intake.....may help lessen the carb attacks there.

**wildstang** · January 27th, 2009, 10:47 AM

as lizzy mentioned, easiest to just keep what problem food out of the house and if it isnt there you cant eat it! otherwise if cant then just consume large quantitys of water along with the problem carbs and eat slow to let the full feeling take over.

**A1food4U** · January 27th, 2009, 11:30 AM

I have to agree with Lizzy here, I work around the evil's of carb over-load every day. The only way I manage to stay near my diet plans are with a raw nut snack mid morning and mid afternoon. The crunch seems to work, and I eat them one at a time crunch them around and savor them a bit. Strange I know, but if your tossing them in by the handful it's as bad as a bag of chips.

A quick question: how long since you have had a blood test to measure sugar and insulin levels. Perhaps the craving for the starchy sugars is your body telling you something. I'm not an alarmist but that was one of the reasons they checked on a family member who turned out to have Glycemic problems.....

**lizzyb** · January 27th, 2009, 12:15 PM

Good point A1!! I wanted to rep ya, but I've already elsewhere......next time, lol!!

Chexxxy · January 27th, 2009, 12:29 PM

I’m just starting to exercise again and now I’m passed my teens ive realised I have to watch what I eat as well.

I haven’t snacked for 2 days and I can feel my stomach right now craving it.

For 2 days ive eaten cereal, banana, melon, ham sandwiches and then stew/pasta.

That’s it. It’s hard! You can eat some carbs though I’m hoping? Or I will just collapse!

**FitnessPhotos** · January 27th, 2009, 09:18 PM

Last check, within the past year says I am okay. I try the water thing and it helps until the third day and damn if that isnt the kicker.

Today is Day One (I cheated last night). Went to gym for an hour of cardio as a penalty. Lets see how I do tomorrow.

**Lil-King** · January 31st, 2009, 10:02 AM

You could try moderation, and eatting slow like wildstang said. I had to do this with dark chocolates! I was getting hooked on sampling fine dark chocolates everyday... well a little to often. I leered off of doing that and havent bothered grabing any in weeks!

I know cravings suck! maybe once it hits you have a little, than keep yourself busy playing with a cardio machine.

There are Carb craving control capsules out there too. I donno how they work.

**BlackMagicPanther** · January 31st, 2009, 02:47 PM

The thing about carbs, is that they are not the monster in the closet. They are the thing gives us the most energy. The trick is burning them off. I have gotten myself to the point where I do my carbs in the morning (cereal) and then I'm in the gym less than an hour later to burn them off and get my metabolism pumping. The rest of the day, my body could pretty much care less about carbs, unless I hit it with bad carbs from processed stuff, and the consumption simply will not stop. My trick lately has been hitting the taste buds with some of the vegetables that are decent carb carriers primarily carrots. That coupled with water usually stops the desire for anything else but mouthwash (bad carrot aftertaste).

Interestingly enough, I just stopped doing cereal for dinner, which I would do two or three times a week. Since Sunday, when I made the change, I have dropped a little more than 3% body fat. Carbs without burning them off are bad. Carbs and then burning them all and a little more, is very good.