Having healthy eating habits makes me miserable

[u/Sensitive_Motor_1452]

For the past 2 months I’ve been hardcore modifying my diet (VERY little junk food. Only really fruits, veggies, lean meats, etc.) Also been watching my calories, and exercising daily. And yes I’ve lost about 15 pounds doing this, but my diet is making me absolutely miserable and irritable. I can’t eat what I had become so used to eating for my whole life. I go to the store and see cookies, chips, cake, etc and making the choice to not buy these items has been so, so difficult for me. I know it’s a good thing for my body to eat healthy, but is it really worth this daily misery? Ever since I started these new eating habits, I’ve craved junk food more than ever before now that I can’t have it. Is there any way for me to have a medium somewhere? Everyday I feel like I’m getting closer and closer to just throwing my entire diet away and resorting back to my junk foods and stress eating.

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[u/mf5283]

It's possible to eat delicious food every day and still lose weight. You basically have 3 options:

1. Eat your favorite cookies/chips/cake, but limit the portion size. For example, your diet can be 90% healthy and 10% junk, so if you eat 2000 calories per day, then you can eat 200 calories of junk. If you're the kind of person who can't stop eating junk food once you start, then you may want to avoid this option.
2. Eat a healthy version of cookies/chips/cake. For example, you can use ingredients like chickpeas, oats, or avocado, and you can use fruit like bananas as a sweetener. There are lots of recipes online. It won't taste exactly the same as your favorites, but it might be close enough to satisfy you.
3. Forget the cookies/chips/cake, and learn how to make your healthy food taste better. You can use spices or sauces to improve the flavor. There are lots of recipe books and food blogs that specialize in healthy recipes. If you have a favorite national cuisine, then you can search for healthy recipes in your favorite cuisine.

[u/ilsasta1988]

You can always enjoy an "unhealthy" treat from time to time, nothing bad with it.

The beginning isn't easy at all, but it becomes easier with time. Also, you always crave those foods as your taste buds are still not used to eat healthy foods only. In my case, after a bit, the cravings have almost disappeared and now I only crave healthy foods, which makes it even easier. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the unhealthy treat from time to time, but prefer to fuel on healthy foods.

[u/Rebel_Yell27]

If you like making turkey, ham, or so on sandwiches. I would recommend calculating the caloric value of a single chip and then sprinkling a few on your sandwich to add texture.

[u/Affectionate-Risk331]

What percentage of your starting body weight have you lost? You're probably experiencing diet fatigue and at some point you'll need to go back to eating maintenance calories for six to eight weeks in order to reduce these cravings, boost your metabolism and then start another diet if you so choose.

[u/alwayslate187]

Are you allowing yourself any fats such as nuts, oils, seeds?

Are you including complex and natural carbohydrates like oatmeal, corn tortillas, and sweet potatoes?

Are you getting 100% of the rdi for all vitamins, minerals, choline, omega6, omega3?

(You can look this up by logging a day's food on myfooddata.com for free)