controlling eating impulses

[spade_of_aces]

Hey guys,
I'm 6' 170#s and looking for advice on controlling eating impulses. My abs are always slightly visible, but seeing as its summer I'd really like to get em ripped in the next month or so, which should be totally doable. Anyways, my average diet is clean and well-balanced; eggs, lean meats, fibrous veggies and fruits, whole grain breads, nuts, all the standard good stuff. And most of the time i make some great progress toward seeing my abs.

Then nights like tonight, for no reason at all, I binge like crazy. I know the stuff I'm eating is shit and that its a (major) step away from my goals, yet I can't stop eating all this crap. I probably ate 1500 calories of sugar and carbs in the past 2 hours. This will happen ever 5 days or so, keeping my abs in a sort of diet limbo: always somewhat visible but never really defined.

So what do you guys do to resist that slice of pie, that late night bag of cheetos, those delicious strawberry pop tarts at all hours of the night? Any tips for a guy like me?

[sdnightfly]

It's carb craving. Depending on who you talk to, it's not just psychological, your body is begging for it.

If you are going to eat carbs, do it after a workout because your body is going to be processing it faster. Avoid snacking after 6PM, or just get a bunch of small vegetables to snack on with a low to no fat dip, and a couple of sticks of peel and eat cheese.

Don't buy the big bag of snacks, just get the vending machine size and stop at one bag. Don't let a bag of chips kick your ass. You also want to see how much willpower you have, so on those days you're craving, find something to divert your mind from thinking about it.

And when it comes to abs, you'd have to have a decent trainer and the time to get your abs the way you want them to be. It's going to be a lot of aerobics. You can't say it'll happen in a month. It might take months, it might be next year for all you know.

[Vapor]

You may be suited to a lower carbohydrate diet that will level out your insulin and stop the cravings.

[spade_of_aces]

See, I just got back from college for the summer and I went shopping for food with my parents. I picked out literally all healthy and clean stuff, things to work toward my eventual goal. Then as we check out, I see my dad bought a large chocolate creme pie, knowing full well I'm the only one who even likes chocolate pie in our house. I asked him to put it back but he insisted. All the crap food in my house is my parent's shopping at work, and they just wont stop buying the stuff, and it tempts my ridiculously weak will.

And when it comes to abs, you'd have to have a decent trainer and the time to get your abs the way you want them to be. It's going to be a lot of aerobics. You can't say it'll happen in a month. It might take months, it might be next year for all you know.

I see this statement as a challenge to my manhood I've been there occasionally before, where my abs get pretty damn defined until I go binge it away over a party weekend or something. I'll bet that if I can control my diet for 28 days, no binges, I'll have pretty defined abs. I'll take some "before" pics tomorrow morning and follow up in about a month. Online accountability, here we go!

Thanks vapor for the carb info, I'll give it a shot for the next month to see how it goes. Should my diet be primarily protein, or should a decent amount of calories come from fats from eggs, nuts, cheese etc? any rough macronutrient percentages?

[TheStroke]

You don't really need to go out and pay trainers to get good abs and good results.

As far as diet is concerned, what usually helps me is actually WRITING DOWN a diet. Whenever I feel a craving, I make sure to grab something healthy. Keeping busy always helps with cravings.

As far as exercises are concerned, I suggest implementing a weightlifting routine, if you haven't already, and running 3-4x a week. Ab workouts work wonders as well. I personally do all of the above plus I do some HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) twice a week, which burns fat considerably.

Don't forget to rest at least 1-2 days a week. Hope I helped.

[playdate]

I feel ya on the cravings, when I was on my low calorie diet ( about 1,800 calories a day) the final week I had horrible cravings for food, and ice cream ! Heres what I do, I would eat clean for 5 days, I wouldn't go above 100g carbs a day, the rest from protein and healthy fat ( PB, Nuts, eggs etc). Shooting from around 2000 calories on average. Now on that 5th day I would eat one meal of whatever I wanted. Key word ONE meal, not an entire day of meals. This helped control my cravings, and made my body feel like it wasn't dying.

The key for me to getting ripped, was def doing cardio everyday, even if I lifted that day. So I'd lift 4 days a week, and do cardio 7. Id wake up to 30-45mins of cardio ( I'm a mtn biker so easy) . Then at night id hit the weights. Now with this agressive of a plan I got the results I wanted, but only did this for two weeks. Any longer I would fear that I would very easily start to eat away at my muscle mass.

Good luck with your goal, and remember some people just can't stay ripped for long periods of time ( I know I can't I get far to weak and my strength starts to die)


-playdate

[iceflamemaster]

im not sure about what you are going for, but what playdate says is good advice.

I know that to drop some obnoxious fat i just ate heathy and slowly cut my portions over about 1 month, so that by the end...the junk food had gradually dissapeared. Its like, if u supersize at McDonalds. then start by not supersizing, then dont get a combo, then get a grilled chicked sub, then a salad, then just eat your salad at home

[Amorphous]

I lost probably 10-12% bodyfat by adhering to an extremely strict diet 6x/week and having sunday as a cheat day where I could eat whatever I wanted. As I got leaner I couldn't eat as much on my cheat day because I'd get full more easily. It really helps your discipline and your mind to know you only have to stick it out for 6 days at a time.

The only reason to EVER eat strictly 7 days per week is pre-contest and if you are really dieting for a contest you won't be asking for info here.

Read Dr.Mercola's site about metabolic typing (please don't get angry Vapor) and if you really wanna control this then doing the Atkins Induction phase can help you break carb addiction and will help you see your abs pretty quickly when coupled with a good cardio program.

[The Legend]

just man up and stop acting like a girl....

If in doubt, eat a steak

[monkeyboy1]

sugar free jelly is always a winner mate when I'm craving. Fuck all calories and tastes quite sweet