Falling off the wagon already! Help? page

[CiKi90]

It seems like I just cannot escape the need for carbs/sugar. I try to do all the tricks-- a spoonful of coconut oil, a handful of nuts, a big glass of water, even a banana if I'm really having a hard time. But at night, I hear the bread and sweets just calling for me! Today I had a "20%" day, and am letting myself eat whatever I want, just for today. I have eaten bread, jelly, and sugary cereal, and I feel like hell. Maybe this little lapse in my journey to go totally Primal will help remind me just exactly why I decided to take this route in the first place.

Anyway, I guess I am just looking for support in jumping back on the wagon. I really wanna do this for myself and my health, but am not sure what's missing in my diet/life that is giving me such horrible cravings. I know I just started out, and I really appreciate everyone's support and advice, which is why I keep posting so much, I guess.

For anyone who wants to help even further, yesterday I had:
Breakfast: 1 cup pumpkin purée with vanilla whey protein isolate, almond butter, shredded coconut flakes, and slivered almonds with carrots and celery sticks to dip.

After breakfast I went to the gym and did a sprinting/uphill hiking exercise program for 3.5 miles

Lunch: 1/2 can BPA free tuna in water with 1.5 oz avocado, carrot, and tomato slices wrapped in nori. Fage 0% Greek yogurt with coconut oil and blueberries mixed in

Dinner: the other 1/2 tin of tuna with avocado, mayonnaise, carrot and olives wrapped in nori again. Green beans roasted in olive oil on the side.

After dinner I had a smoothie with chocolate protein powder, half a banana, kale, chia seeds, and unsweetened coconut milk.

In the middle of the night, I woke up starving. I went downstairs and ate 2(!) small bananas with nut butter and coconut flakes.

What gives?!

[cantare]

You're starving yourself, is what gives. A cup of pumpkin puree? HALF a can of tuna (in WATER no less)? Fat-free yogurt??? Please. Eat some goddamn food already.

[CiKi90]

Well the only reason I ate fat free yogurt was because I couldn't find the total or the 2%. So I subbed the fat that should be there with coconut oil. But maybe you're right. My eating habits are really skewed anyway and just needed some reassurance, i guess.

[Stratford_Man]

You're starving yourself, is what gives. A cup of pumpkin puree? HALF a can of tuna (in WATER no less)? Fat-free yogurt??? Please. Eat some goddamn food already.

Gotta agree with this. I've been eating well for the last month and my sweet cravings died within a week of going cold turkey off of grains and potatoes. I get less than 15% of my total calories from carbs now. 55-60% fat.

[cantare]

Ha, it was the halved can of tuna that really set me off :-D It just sounds like you're trying to do it all at once--carb withdrawal, caloric restriction, and maybe even some low-fat CW creeping back in, all while killing yourself in the gym...so of course you wake up starving. A standard and humane path to LC would be filling up on high-fat foods until adapted (carb flu gone), and then letting ketosis-induced appetite suppression lead naturally to lower total intake.

[lemontwisst]

Breakfast: 1 cup pumpkin purée with vanilla whey protein isolate, almond butter, shredded coconut flakes, and slivered almonds with carrots and celery sticks to dip.

Lunch: 1/2 can BPA free tuna in water with 1.5 oz avocado, carrot, and tomato slices wrapped in nori. Fage 0% Greek yogurt with coconut oil and blueberries mixed in

Dinner: the other 1/2 tin of tuna with avocado, mayonnaise, carrot and olives wrapped in nori again. Green beans roasted in olive oil on the side.

After dinner I had a smoothie with chocolate protein powder, half a banana, kale, chia seeds, and unsweetened coconut milk.

Where's the meat? The fat? No wonder you're hungry!

For me, I had to cut out sweet anything (including fruit) for the first couple of weeks to really get over my sugar cravings to the point where they didn't rule my life. Instead of your protein powder (any added sugar lurking in there?), eat actual protein. Sip herbal tea if you need something sweet-ish after dinner.

What really kicked the cravings (and all-day snacking) to the curb for me was having a big ass, protein loaded breakfast. It's usually 3 eggs plus 1/4c. whites scrambled in 1T coconut oil with green onions, 4oz meat (last night's leftovers, sausage, whatever) and half an avocado (1.5oz...wth?) along with a cup of 1/2 caf coffee with 3T coconut cream stirred in. This keeps me going for hours (6 or 7hrs, no problem) and the sweets cravings are dead and gone.

Seriously, eat some more. And eat real freaking food. And then tell yourself you're going to own this, quit making excuses, quit giving yourself '20% days' and get it done. You know you'll feel a thousand times better for it.

[Wulf]

That doesn't look like much food, overall. Where's the beef? Add in way more meat, and fat, in my opinion. 1.5 oz avocado is nothing; eat the whole darn thing. One half can of tuna is far too little protein per meal, I think, especially to get full. Your dinner, for instance, is also very low in calories overall and still not nearly enough fat or protein, which is why you aren't satisfied and then have to follow up with a smoothie and starvation snack... if you don't get enough of the good stuff you will be tempted to eat sugars. Especially with that workout, you then need to pig out (on good things - meat and vegetables), such as Mark's BIG ass salad - the bigger, the better, and with nothing "sweet" in it. It could also be that eating anything even remotely sweet is causing carb cravings for you.

Personally I try to avoid fruits entirely because of the carbs (banana is 24 grams net carbs each), and also they are relatively expensive, and I'm poor. Plus, a little bit of sugar can lead to an entire derailment of willpower, and that includes fruits. Increase the amount of vegetables, for instance when I have a salad I eat the entire 10-12oz bag (listed as 3 or 4 servings) at once. For a meal I cook up at least a pound of meat per meal (a lot of the weight of fresh meat is water, which will cook off, so it ends up being less than a pound, it seems like a lot but isn't), such as pork, which I can get in my area for $2/lb. Check out Mark's recent Carnitas recipe - super delicious and can use a cheap cut of pork (and can cook in a crockpot over the day and just broil the final step right before dinner).

I'm not saying I'm innocent here by any means... I am definitely NOT perfectly Paleo, I'm just trying to avoid the more obvious things, and I fail a lot. For instance at work we have the EVIL candy jar in my co-workers office, and my perfectly skinny boss brings really unhealthy and tempting things in to work constantly. So most days I do have some of the candy... but I make a point to eat my pound of meat first when I get to work, and try to get the salad in soon also. And/or the late-night snack is the big ass salad. I think the trick is also to greatly increase protein and fat intake; the one day I ate an entire rotisserie chicken, I lost weight. Coming from CW it can be hard to getting used to eating so much fat, but fat is satisfying, and prevents binges on carbs.

[Narcolepticjenn]

To recycle advice I got from this forum: Keep yourself full with your favorite delicious, fat-laden primal foods. Pay absolutely no attention to calories in the process. Eat an entire avocado + bacon + scrambled eggs -- you will be full! If you do eat something non-primal, make it a one-meal thing, not a one-day thing or a one-week thing. Yes, I've had a little pasta and a few adult beverages so far, but if I gave myself an entire 20% day I'd be totally off the wagon.

[MissJecka]

You're starving yourself, is what gives. A cup of pumpkin puree? HALF a can of tuna (in WATER no less)? Fat-free yogurt??? Please. Eat some goddamn food already.

^This

You're eating far too little, especially for someone who works out.

[Wulf]

if I gave myself an entire 20% day I'd be totally off the wagon.

agree, if I cheat, it's just a little bit or one meal, not an entire day of food.

the big ass salad: 2 Minute Salad | Mark's Daily Apple

sample menu: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/prima...#axzz2K4Xl69Bw

look at the size of the steak he pictures. it seems like a lot, but eat it all.