I wish I got to this stage where people lose their cravings. While I'm at home I can control my diet pretty well, but as soon as there's junk food in front of me I look like a pig. And I've lost like 30 pounds, to put it into perspective.

I don't think the cravings go away exactly; you just layer a mild (defensive?) eating disorder on top. For example, when I eat valueless empty carbs, the waves of depression & the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach prevent me from even tasting it or enjoying it. Winning...?

It's a strange, thin line to walk. Trans fats are unhealthy in any quantity, so I refuse to eat them. But they are still (secretly) all over the place, so in practice it looks a lot like an eating disorder.

It's easy to take it too far, but "just because you're paranoid, does not mean they're not out to get you."

I'd count that as the cravings stopping. I feel just as shitty afterwards when I eat junk food, both psychologically and physiologically, yet I can't resist to it when it's readily available.

As a data point: under carb restriction and fasting, I won't think about food at all until I happen to eat some threshold number of carbs, or I get actual hunger (shaking, weakness, headache --- usually around 20 hours in). Once I cross that carb threshold, I'll be snacky until I go to sleep.

People have different metabolic situations, but if you haven't tried fasting+restriction, it's pretty interesting.

> Once I cross that carb threshold, I'll be snacky until I go to sleep.

This is where I struggled with OMAD. It's easy to not eat up to the first meal. But not snacking after dinner takes some real heart.

The solution, of course, is to never eat.

(More seriously: if I'm careful about macros with, like, a late lunch, I'm usually good for the rest of the day. If I make an omelette at 3-4PM, I'm probably not eating another meal that day.)

Hmm, yeah, I guess I should really measure my after-dinner spurts to really gauge it. When I went hardcore and used https://www.carbmanager.com/ (I'm pretty new to this) I was surprised by the average carb/etc intake, both lows and highs.

I'm a strong believer in being able to eat enough to become satiated without overdoing the negative macros. So it's mostly a matter of finding the right stuff to eat in those moments.

I got to the point where I lost my cravings; it took less than a week for them to come back when I reintroduced them in small amounts though.

When I was trying to slowly increase my calories again, coming off of low-calorie keto, I definitely wanted coke and cake.

I'm happy for you, but I didn't get that benefit you got.

Oh yeah, I wasn't really expecting it to be a general rule. I just built up "carbs = evil" so much in my head I developed a physical distaste for it, but I doubt most other people would.

I had the opposite outcome, several months of keto left me avoiding meat and cheese for a long time.

My keto diet was chocolate protein shakes, protein bars, and powdered soups. New Direction it's called. 3 meals, 2 snacks a day. 128 oz of water a day.

It worked great as a way to lose weight. And for people who need to lose weight to prepare for surgery, I still think it's a neat program.

But I was just not equipped to survive returning to normal foods. And stress.

Wait til someone you love develops anorexia or a similar eating disorder (they may already have and you may not know it), and then you will think of "psychological revulsion to X food" in an entirely different light.

Be careful. You'd be amazed at what harm the brain can do to the body.