Diet and Weight Loss Losing Weight

Coping with Cravings While Losing Weight

Summary & Participants

Knowing how to cope with cravings can help you stay on the weight loss wagon.

Medically Reviewed On: August 11, 2008

Webcast Transcript

KRYSTIN: The littlest things that trigger it, changes in job, changes in environment, family. I find myself just craving things, and trying not to do it, and then you just go back and you do it again later, or when people aren't looking.

ANNOUNCER: Like many people trying to lose weight, Krystin struggles with cravings.

KRYSTIN: I'd have to say like pizza is the number one. Pizza with anything and everything on it.

ANNOUNCER: Cravings are a common problem.

JANA KLAUER, MD, METABOLISM EXPERT: What you do during the time of the craving makes a big difference. A craving doesn't last very long. It lasts, on average, eight to fourteen minutes. That's all, and then it's gone.

ANNOUNCER: Weight loss specialist doctor Jana Klauer recommends drinking water during a craving.

JANA KLAUER, MD, METABOLISM EXPERT: The reason for that is often our thirst mechanism is not as precise as it could be. The signal for thirst is misinterpreted as the signal for hunger. So drink some water to get that out of the way, and then have a protein snack. So a piece of cheese, a piece of low-fat cheese, or perhaps a yogurt would be a good snack.

ANNOUNCER: She also says to steer clear of too much processed food.

JANA KLAUER, MD, METABOLISM EXPERT: Ask yourself the question before you eat something what benefit does it have for my body. If within 15 seconds you cannot think of any benefit, it doesn't have one. And go on to something that does.

ANNOUNCER: A diary of what you eat can also help keep you on track.

JANA KLAUER, MD, METABOLISM EXPERT: It enables you to see what you really are consuming in the course of a day, or in the course of a week. And another thing is it can stop you. If you think you're going to have to write it down as something that, you know, you shouldn't be eating you might not write it down.

ANNOUNCER: But if you slip up, don’t be too hard on yourself.

JANA KLAUER, MD, METABOLISM EXPERT: You know, everybody has a day that's kind of off that you get right back at it. You go right back to the path of health.

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily.