arghh! Can't stop wanting my snacks!

[lickthelid]

I agree JVBP that it sounds like early days and we all know that as great as SW is it can take some adjusting to in terms of upping superfree intake and recognising our natural satiety limits. Upping fluid helps too as we know. At the end of the day it won't suit everyone and if OP is genuinely hungry for those types of food then its a case of give them up or give the plan up really as you can't expect this way of eating, or ANY way of eating to condone over indulgence
on those things we know to be the causes of weight gain in the first place. I sound all preachy and I don't mean to, at all but its a simple formula. Calories in exceeding calories out = weight gain. SW assists greatly in getting the most nutritional bang for your buck in that respect but if its something else that you aim for then SW just won't fit the bill.

 

[Browsie]

I'm sure a lot of what you say is right Anna - I'm fighting myself a lot of the time. I'm sure a jacket potato with no butter would fill me up - but I certainly wouldn't like it or get any enjoyment from it, I've thrown away too many half eaten jacket spuds because I'm just not enjoying them. And I suppose if I just kept eating veggies until I was stuffed that would work - but I don't want to! No enjoyment and satisfaction from food equals a very miserable and irritable me. The SW plan obviously works for a lot of people I'm not denying that, but I like my food to be exactly what it's supposed to be - if it should have cream then that's what I want - not yoghurt or creme fraiche. Mashed potatoes have to have butter. Stir fry's have to be cooked in wok oil, not that spray stuff which has ruined some very well-loved and carefully seasoned frying pans. I think I'm almost daring SW not to work on me! Still, onwards and upwards, I'm not giving up on myself yet.

You can't lose weight and eat what you have always eaten, if your could you wouldn't need to do SW in the first place. Every diet means changing the way you eat, cutting out the things that made you put weight on in the first place. If you are not willing to give things up like butter on your jacket and cream in sauces then you either syn them and live with the fact that this is how you are using your syns or don't lose the weight. You can't have it both ways.

I agree with the above posts that if you are hungery after your lunch then it just wasn't big enough, there is such a vast amount of food that you can eat for free on SW that you should never be hungry. The fact that you say a jacket spud wouldn't fill you up without lashings of butter on is frankly because you don't like it that way not because it isn't filling. Find a filling that you don't have to have butter with. I find that if I have butter on a jacket with HEXA of cheese and beans I can't taste it anyway so its just a waste of syns. Sorry if I sound harsh but its just seems that you want the miracle of losing weight without actually giving up any of the food you love.

 

[sophance]

Are you drinking enough, you could be just thirsty? Drink a pint of water then distract yourself with something?

I love a good cup of Yorkshire tea but I've started drinking fruit teas, as a replacement hot drink through the day because I was worried I was going over my milk so I limit myself to 3 cups a day, morning, lunch & late evening.

 

[Hippopotamum]

You just have to slightly adapt how you eat now, change it to suit the plan and you. So your jacket potato is dry and bland, try scooping out the middle, mashing it with a bit of Philadelphia light with garlic and herbs (80g HE B on a green day) and maybe some chopped veg, squash it back into the potato and serve it with beans and loads of salad, etc.

I don't believe in having enormous portions, we still need to make sensible choices and portion control is part of that, but I'd make your evening meals a little bigger and maybe a bit stodgier, pasta dishes such as bolognaise, roast dinners, cottage pie with veg, tomato based hot spicy curries with rice, etc. I don't think a piece of fish and veg or a stir fry would satisfy me all evening, I need to eat more 'normal' food.

It sounds like you aren't being satisfied by what you're having, as opposed to still being hungry, so maybe try to use spices, herbs, soy sauce, garlic, onions, etc, to give it flavour that interests you, it doesn't have to be soaked in oil or smothered in butter to be tasty you just need to be a wee bit more inventive with your cooking.

Alternatively, adapt your syns and allow yourself to use some syns each day on butter/oil instead of chocolate or biscuits or maybe a smaller amount of both?

I know it sounds awful, but we'd all like to continue eating as we were before, but we can't do that and lose weight, so we have to adapt. I know I won't lose weight eating 2-3 bars of chocolate and a multi-pack of crisps and they simply aren't good for me, but I still have a little of both, most days, which helps to keep me on track.

I suppose we have to weigh up what we want more, to eat what we want as we were, or to change the way we eat and lose weight. x

 

[lardylady]

Who's got that signature on here- something like 'Losing weight is hard. Being fat is hard. Choose your hard!"

 

[nearlymeagain]

I agree with the replies to this thread...... If you are in the early stages of this plan then just try to stick to it as much as you can...... I also struggled in the beginning, but once I began to see my shape changing and the lovely compliments started coming I found that suddenly sticking to sw wasn't such a chore, it really was an incentive! Also personally I find if I do have a bad day and eat junk food it can take days for the cravings to stop.... Almost like the more I have the more I crave, please stick to it and power through because when you drop a dress size or notice how much more energy have you'll see how insignificant that missed knob of butter on your potato really is
Xxxxx
Good luck xxxxx

 

[ladybird23]

Thank you very much for all your replies they've been SO helpful. I'm on Week 5 by the way, so yes I'm not far into it yet. I've really tried for the last few days to think about what I'm eating and why. It does seem that I crave fat in my diet - particularly butter, cheese and cream. I've been fiddling about and adapting recipes a bit - I've found that if I add a very tiny amount of gorgonzola (less than 25 grams) to a particular pasta dish I make. or in a salad it gives me the "hit" I need. I'd like to have more of course, but its doing the trick. Now managed to get a light garlic and herb cheese spread so that's been a godsend. I've adapted a cream & mushroom sauce by substituting Elmlea cream, I don't like it as cream on its own but its fine in a sauce. Yet to be able to crack having spread on potatoes or bread, but at least I've changed from butter to light spread. Didn't like it at first but stuck with it and I'm getting used to it. We spoke about Frylight oil at our meeting this week and it seems I'm definitely not the only one having problems with it. Lots of people told me to try the Philip Berrio spray as it seems to work better - unfortunately they don't stock it in my local supermarket but its on my list for the next time I do a big shop. My other problem is definitely boredom - I gave up my career 8 years ago to look after my elderly Dad after my Mum passed away and I do miss working - I do some voluntary work and when I'm doing that I don't think about food so much. Its no coincidence of course that my Mum died just over 8 years ago and guess what - since that time I've put on just over 8 stone. A stone for every year. I went to talk to my GP about trying to lose weight about 2 years ago and when I said I'd put on a stone a year since Mum passed away, he pretty much laughed in my face and asked me if I really thought putting on weight had something to do with my Mum dying. Well, yes actually I do think that but obviously he thought I was a nutcase. Even with the awful week I had last week I still managed to shift half a pound so I'm hoping for my first half a stone to have disappeared by this week's meeting.

 

[nearlymeagain]

How awful of your go to behave that way. I think you are completely right that the two are linked together, but welldone on doing something about it thanks for the great tips also! Xx

 

[mo53]

Hello ladybird. clearly your current way of life, which started 8 years ago, is connected wth your weight gain. Your Gp clearly didnt see/understand what you were saying. The ideas you have come up with are excellent. Funnily enough I have just shopped before lunch and bought a light cheese garlic and herb spread which I tried on a cheese snack a jack and I really enjoyed it!! Have you tried doing jacket potatoes with sweet potato rather than ordinary? Have you tried using quark on jacket potrato? Just a couple of ideas. I hope you continue to post as your solutions do help the rest of us. Thank you and good luck.

 

[UncleJohnBoy]

I swear by the Fry Light. Especially now you can get the Garlic and BBQ ones.
Obviously this is my opinion. But I think they are so useful.

 

[Hippopotamum]

Ladybird, it's great to see you coming up with alternatives, well done on losing the half a pound too. There is obviously a link, not just between your weight gain and your mum passing, but also because of the lifestyle change, maybe it would be worth asking again at your GP, maybe suggesting talking therapy?

I agree with the Fry-Light thing too, I'm not keen, and you have to have something that suits you don't you? If I make the SW chips, I don't use any oil at all, just boil them, shake them up, sprinkle with salt and bake them, not as nice as fried chips, but then for being completely syn free, they'll do, lol.

Good luck for that half stone award this week. x

 

[mo53]

Hello ladybird. Ive just made a thick sweet potato and butternut squash soup to which I added 0% fat Greek yoghurt which was delicious. Do you think it might work in jacket potatoes?

 

[ladybird23]

Thanks again everyone - you're all very motivational! Just made another wonderful discovery - for anyone who has a halogen oven (which is my very best kitchen friend - wouldn't be without it) You can get an "air fry" attachment and I used it for the first time last night. Two squirts of spray oil or about a tspn of ordinary oil and it cooks like an Actifry - my potatoes were wonderfully crispy and soft & squidgy inside. And all for about £12.

 

[Jeanne Von Buttonpopper]

Thanks again everyone - you're all very motivational! Just made another wonderful discovery - for anyone who has a halogen oven (which is my very best kitchen friend - wouldn't be without it) You can get an "air fry" attachment and I used it for the first time last night. Two squirts of spray oil or about a tspn of ordinary oil and it cooks like an Actifry - my potatoes were wonderfully crispy and soft & squidgy inside. And all for about £12.

There you go, now you're getting into it! You see it does take a while, but before you know it you are discovering a whole new way of eating and finding some new favourites to replace the old ones. I can never replace my thick white toast with lashings of butter, I don't even try to, but while I would still dearly love to eat it, my brain is now 'wired' into the SW way and I don't stress over what I can't have if I want to succeed in losing any weight. So I guess what I'm trying to say is sometimes, there are no like-for-like substitutes on SW (however, sometimes there are some good ones!!), it's a tough lesson but one we all face on this plan and once you've learned to let go and move on, there's a whole new way of eating out there just waiting to be explored, just like the potatoes you made. Good luck on your SW journey, keep posting, keep asking and keep eating!!

 

[MoonbeamMama]

...went to talk to my GP about trying to lose weight about 2 years ago and when I said I'd put on a stone a year since Mum passed away, he pretty much laughed in my face and asked me if I really thought putting on weight had something to do with my Mum dying.

I'd it possible to switch to a different GP? He sounds horrible! ...or at least totally and completely lacking in any sort of bedside manner.
Sadly, he also sounds like he'd fit right in at the surgery we go to!

Well done Ladybird for sticking it out and finding new things to munch on... I struggle with wanting snacks and yummy stuff too, bigtime!

 

[MrsTinaV]

I saw someone else say this on page 2 but what fluid do you drink, as dehydration can make you feel hungry?

it takes time to adjust and break bad habits, but it doesn't matter how long it takes you as you'll get there. It's your journey remember.