How to Stop Holiday Cravings Without Losing Progress

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Instead of banning your favorite desserts, your favorite treats, allow yourself to have a couple pieces of candy around this holiday season, and plan for them in moderation. I love going out with friends sometimes on weekends, and I love knowing what this restaurant offers in terms of desserts. So if I love having that, I'm going to allow myself to have it. I'm going to allow myself to include it in my plan so I don't feel like I'm breaking the rules. And you guys can do the same exact thing.

What's going on, you guys? Welcome to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott. Welcome to today's episode, episode number 202, the second episode of season three.

Today, my friends, I want to talk about a topic that everybody deals with, especially around this time of year, and that is cravings. I hope this podcast helps you if you are dealing with cravings right now, especially with Halloween only a couple days away. Maybe you have Halloween candy in the house, or you're having to go buy Halloween candy. Maybe you have kids and they're bringing home candy. Candy is just lingering in your space, and sometimes you just want to put your hand into the candy bucket and take out your favorite piece of chocolate. Or maybe you're starting to go get pumpkins and you're at the orchards and they have candy apples.

Maybe I am just putting the thoughts into your brain right now. We're talking about candy. Either way, we all deal with cravings, and they can be one of the biggest hurdles in staying consistent with your program, with your nutrition, with reaching your goals. So in this episode, I want to break down what cravings are, why they happen, and most importantly, give you some tangible takeaways on how to handle them in a way that aligns with where you're at in your journey and with your goals.

And most importantly, without feeling restricted or guilty. I have told you guys tens, a hundred times in these episodes, on social media, and in the WarriorBabe community: you all know that I love my Dove chocolate. I've got Dove chocolate in my cabinet right now. At the end of every day, there are two or four pieces. It's about allowing yourself to not feel guilty in those moments, to say, hey, I can have this.

Once your mind allows it and you accept it, it doesn't feel restricted and you don't feel guilty actually having the piece of candy. So that's what I'm hoping you get out of this episode today. First, understanding what cravings are, if you don't know exactly what they are, and why they happen. Then, most importantly, how you can handle them, especially when you're craving something in the moment. How can you bring awareness to the fact that you're craving this and do something about it?

Whether that's allowing yourself to have it, or giving yourself some time and space and doing certain things I'm going to share with you today.

So first, let's talk about what cravings are and why they happen. First and foremost, cravings are intense feelings or intense desires to eat a specific type of food. They're different from hunger because they're about wanting a very specific food, like chocolate. Have you ever had a craving where you're like, oh, I really want something salty, or I want chips, or I want ice cream?

That's different from just wanting food in general. Hunger is, oh, I'm hungry, I need to have a meal right now. A craving is, I want chips, I want ice cream, I want a piece of pizza, I want chocolate. Cravings sometimes come out of nowhere, and sometimes they can really get in the way of the best intentions you have for yourself in the day, especially at the end of the day. Have you ever noticed you have a specific desire for a certain type of food like chips or ice cream or chocolate?

You just had an amazing day. You went to the gym. You ate well. You stayed hydrated. But then all of a sudden, at the end of the day, you have these cravings. And it can derail the incredible day you set out on with the intentions you woke up with. At the end of the day, it's like, bam, you have this craving.

So why do they happen? One of the biggest reasons, from what I've seen working with hundreds of people, is emotional triggers: being bored, being stressed, or even being happy.

Maybe you had a big promotion at work, so you're like, I'm going to celebrate. That emotional trigger leads to going out for pizza or a glass of wine, and it has a ripple effect. Or, like I just talked about, maybe you set out for an intentional day and you successfully did that. But now you're at home, and the stress of the kids running around, or a conversation with your partner, or the stress of the day is getting to you.

That is an emotional trigger. Think about how many times you've been in those emotional feelings. Think about how many times you've reached for a snack because you were stressed out or because you wanted to celebrate. Think about the times that's happened. Emotional triggers are one of the most common triggers for cravings.

Another reason is that sometimes cravings come up because your body is missing specific nutrients. For example, if you're craving chocolate, it could be linked to low magnesium levels. Or if you have intense salt cravings, it might indicate that your body needs more electrolytes. It's not always the case, but it's something to be aware of. The one I've noticed the most when working with women is that cravings come on at the end of the day because you didn't give your body enough of what it needed throughout the day.

Specifically, enough of one macronutrient, and that's protein. If you're not meeting your intake of protein, which helps you stay fuller longer and helps regulate your blood sugar, you'll notice that at the end of the day you're feeling hungrier and hungrier. Then these cravings creep in, because you didn't give your body what it specifically needed in terms of protein.

Another one is habitual patterns linked to routines. Maybe you always snack at 3 p.m., or you crave something sweet after dinner because that's what you're used to doing. Your brain forms these patterns, and over time they become habits that can be really hard to break. How many of you go out to dinner and you're like, oh, I have to have dessert? I'm sometimes guilty of that.

Whenever I go out and enjoy dinner with friends, I'm like, we have to look at the dessert menu because I want something sweet. If you don't know, I came from the biggest sweet tooth, and I still have it. I just know how to control it a little bit more. And I also allow myself, like I said, with the Dove chocolate or if I'm out with friends, to accept that I'm going to indulge in this. I'm going to talk about that in a little bit. So maybe after you have dinner, you're about to sit down and watch TV with your family.

In that moment, you typically have something sweet. So you form this pattern, this behavior, this habit. You're so used to doing it, and that can be really hard to break.

Another way cravings happen is through restrictive dieting. Second to emotional triggers, one of the biggest causes of cravings is over-restricting yourself. When you cut out entire food groups or you're severely limiting your calorie intake for the day, your body is going to crave what's off limits.

It's like me telling you not to think about a pink elephant right now. What are you thinking about? A pink elephant. If you're cutting out specific food groups or telling your body that you can't have specific things, your body is going to crave what it cannot have and what's off limits.

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Think about that, because those are the ways cravings are brought on and why they happen. Maybe you found yourself in those specific situations, circumstances, emotions or feelings. Now I want to help you be aware of them the next time you're in them, because now you understand. Maybe when you go to snack at 3 p.m.,

you'll remember me talking about this. I'm in your brain and you're aware of this conversation we're having, so hopefully in that moment you can stop in your tracks. I'm going to give you some tangible takeaways of what you can do in that moment in a little bit. Or if you're stressed and bored at the end of the night, hopefully you remember this conversation and can bring awareness to the situation. Because guys, the majority of our day is spent in our subconscious brain. Like 95% of our actions in a day come from the subconscious mind.

5% of them are conscious. The subconscious is what you programmed from the day before, the week before, the month before, from the habits you created 10 years ago. So it's really hard to snap yourself out of it and bring awareness into a moment when you're in a pattern of stress, or a pattern of 'after 3 p.m. I eat this or have this sweet' because it's just what you're used to doing. It's hard to break that pattern. But I want you to take from this conversation the idea of bringing awareness to those situations, because that's how you're going to be able to handle them.

To continue this conversation, I want to give you some practical strategies you can start using today to manage cravings. You already know why they're happening. Now I want to talk about how you can handle them.

One is making sure you are giving your body what it needs throughout the day. If you're constantly battling cravings, it might be a sign that your meals aren't well balanced.

Like I said earlier, if you're not getting a good mix of protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates in every meal throughout the day, that's when you're going to notice you're battling cravings at the end of the day. Protein is what helps keep you full. Fats too. I didn't speak to this earlier, but fats keep you feeling satiated, and complex carbs give you sustained energy. When your blood sugar levels are stable, you're less likely to have intense cravings.

The way to make your blood sugar stable is getting the right balance of protein, fats and carbs, and not eliminating any of them. Keep them in the right balance of what you specifically need to hit target-wise for your intake for the day. Those three macronutrients are so important. Earlier I talked about protein, but the three of them together are really important to balance everything out internally.

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Another thing, which I think people do a lot, and I actually just put this up on social media a couple weeks ago: a way to handle cravings is to not label foods good or bad. When you label foods good or bad, it creates an all-or-nothing mentality.

That's going to lead you to feeling guilty. When you do eat something you perceive as bad, it's going to trigger you to have more cravings. So instead, I want you to view foods as neutral. There's room for foods like chocolate in your day. There's room for all types of foods when you have a balanced approach. When you stop demonizing certain foods, they lose power over you.

If you view foods as neutral, chocolate's neutral, a piece of pizza's neutral, protein like chicken is neutral, then you're not labeling them. There's room for all of what I just said if you allow yourself a balanced approach.

That brings me to the next way you can handle cravings, which I mentioned earlier: plan for your indulgences. Depriving yourself completely will backfire.

Instead of banning your favorite desserts, your favorite treats, allow yourself to have a couple pieces of candy around this holiday season, and plan for them in moderation. I love going out with friends sometimes on weekends, or even weekdays, and I love knowing what this restaurant offers in terms of desserts. So if I love having that, I'm going to allow myself to have it. I'm going to allow myself to include it in my plan so I don't feel like I'm breaking the rules.

And you guys can do the same exact thing. When you plan for these indulgences, you can actually enjoy them without feeling like you failed, or you've given up, or you lost control. Again, there's room for all types of foods in a balanced, well-approached, good mindset. I don't even want to call it a diet, because diet has such a pull on a lot of people. Just look at everything as neutral, and then allow yourself to plan for these indulgences.

But this is where you have to catch yourself. Maybe this is a whole other topic of discussion for a whole other podcast, but it's the mindset that comes after having an indulgence. You have to be kind to yourself and give yourself grace. Know that you planned for this, and don't allow yourself to feel like you've lost control or failed. It's a mindset thing. You can't go in the next day and be like, oh, I've got to work out hard, I've got to go run a marathon or run five miles because I had this for dinner last night.

That's not being successful. If you're planning for these indulgences but still beating yourself up afterwards, you're still acting as if you lost control. Again, I think this is a whole topic for another conversation. But if you do it the right way, you feel at ease with it. You feel like you actually have control over the situation and that you didn't lose your power over it. So those are a couple of ways you can handle cravings.

Now you know why they happen, and you know how to handle them. But let's talk about the moment itself. Say you're a 3 p.m.-er and you're so used to having something sweet at that time, or you have dinner and you're so used to having something sweet afterwards. You want to learn how to control the craving in the moment, so you're in control rather than the craving being in control. Here are two things you can do. Number one, give yourself the 10-minute rule.

When you have a craving, say it's 3 p.m., wait 10 minutes before acting on it. During those 10 minutes, distract yourself with something else. Go take a walk. Walking is also a non-food way of coping with your emotions. Get outside, journal, call a friend, take a walk, do something that's going to distract you from the craving. Drink a glass of water, which is my second thing for you to do in the moment. Or just finish something you're doing at work,

if you find yourself still at work at 3 p.m. Often those cravings pass if you give yourself time to think and pause before reacting. So I call that the 10-minute rule. Just give yourself 10 minutes. You have a craving? Cool. Your awareness is on the craving. You see it, you hear it, you feel it, you smell it, you sense it. Okay. 10 minutes. Pull out your phone, set a stopwatch, give yourself 10 minutes. Go distract yourself. Go do something.

Most likely it's going to pass. That's awesome. You're going to forget you had that craving at 3 p.m.

The second thing you can do is drink water. Sometimes we confuse thirst with hunger or cravings, since it's the same control center in our brain. So when a craving hits, go drink a glass of water and see if it subsides. If you're still craving something after a few minutes, then you can make a more informed decision about whether you want or need to indulge, or whether you should.

So those are a few strategies I can offer you for when you're in the moment. You recognize it, you're bringing awareness to the craving. You're feeling some type of way, whether it's your 3 p.m. thing or the thing after dinner. Maybe you're stressed, you're bored, and your emotions are triggering it. Or you're recognizing why it's happening, which I talked about earlier: the emotional trigger,

being in a habitual pattern, or restrictive dieting. And if you're restrictive dieting, you're not eating enough, so on top of the restriction, your body's not getting enough of the nutrients it needs, so these cravings are happening. So in the moment, do those two things: the 10-minute rule and drink water first.

All in all, with everything I'm sharing here, the goal is not to eliminate cravings entirely. That's entirely unrealistic. Instead, it's about building a healthier relationship with food and learning to manage cravings in a way that supports you and your goals. Cravings are a 100% normal part of life and a normal part of the journey you're on. I still have cravings today. But it's about handling them in a way where you're not feeling guilty or feeling like you're out of control. It's a balanced approach. Again, things are neutral. If you have a craving, and the craving doesn't go away, and you allow yourself to have a piece of candy in the next couple of days or weeks,

or maybe that's already been you because of the holidays, it's about the mindset behind it. It's like, okay, cool, I'm having a piece of chocolate. All right, whatever. It's not going to fuck me up. And then you get back to it. It's a normal part of it. So this is what I would recommend: if you can approach cravings with more curiosity instead of judgment, you can start to understand them better and make decisions that are aligned with your journey without feeling deprived.

Remember, a craving doesn't define you, and indulging once in a while isn't going to derail your progress. You control the cravings. Don't let the cravings control you. I know that's easier said than done, especially at certain points, wherever you're at in your journey. But I can promise you, if you can work through what we talked about today, and especially the mindset aspect of it, you will recognize that you are more in control of it than you're allowing the food to be in control of you.

So to sum it all up, cravings are an absolutely normal part of the journey you are on. They're not something you should fear or feel guilty about. They're simply a signal from your body and or your mind. By understanding why these cravings are happening, being curious about them, bringing awareness to them, and using the strategies we talked about here, you can stay on track with where you want to go and where you are going with your fitness journey and your nutrition journey, without feeling like you're constantly fighting against yourself.

Welcome cravings. Honor cravings. Bring awareness to cravings. Be curious about the cravings. Why am I having this craving? What is happening in my external reality that is bringing me to have this craving? Cool. I have awareness of it. I'm curious about it. I don't have any judgment about it. I'm just super curious about it. Then you're going to act better and be more aligned with taking the next steps, and you're responding instead of reacting in the moment. The more you do that, the more you rewire these habits, these thoughts and these feelings to be more supportive of you in your journey.

All right, guys, I hope this was helpful. I know the holidays are coming up. I saved this one specifically to air right before Halloween. And this can carry on through the Thanksgiving holiday and the Christmas holiday. This is a time of year when food is the loudest. It's in our space the most. Our social occasions are in our space the most. Our family interactions, the Halloween candy, the desserts coming with Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's here. So I just want to give you this information, this understanding and this awareness of cravings, and I'm hoping it's going to help you in the next couple of months. Truly.

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