Ask most people what’s holding them back on their journey to lose weight and keep it off, and usually you’ll get one of two reasons. Either they have no time to work out or cravings mess up their healthy eating plan time and time again. But since diet is more important than exercise for weight loss, the later is bigger problem. Luckily, we know how to stop food cravings with one simple sentence.
First things first: food is food, and it’s neither good nor bad. There’s only more calorically dense food and less calorically dense food. Since you’re creating a calorie deficit in order to lose weight, you’re going to learn more heavily on those less calorically dense foods when you’re trying to slim down. Let me be clear: that doesn’t mean that more calorically dense foods are bad or that they don’t fit into your diet. Keep in mind that not just PopTarts and candy are calorically dense; avocado also falls into this category. All this means is that you probably need to be strategic about which ones you work in.
How to stop food cravings
Knowing this, and really believing it, is sometimes enough to ease cravings. But if you want to learn how to stop food cravings, it’s only half the battle. Taking the time to work in some of your favorite calorically dense foods each week will put a stop to most of your cravings. After all, there are foods that feed your soul and make you feel happy. Any diet that denies you all of those foods should only serve a soft-term purpose, like prepping for a bikini or bodybuilding competition. That’s no way to live long-term.
So what about those random cravings that hit you out of nowhere? How can you stop those food cravings? I’ve found that one simple sentence helps me banish them completely. Whenever you have a random food craving, tell yourself: You can have that when you’re actually hungry.
Food cravings rarely show up when you’re actually experiencing physical hunger. They pop in unannounced when you’re stressed or sad or, yep, even bored. By repeating this sentence to yourself, you’re reminding yourself that there’s room in your diet for anything you could possibly want (in moderation, of course). You’re also teaching yourself not to eat when you’re not hungry. Not once in practicing this for two years have I ever come back to the food I thought I wanted so badly.