How to have treats without giving in to sugar addiction?

forkofpower
forkofpower Posts: 171 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For a week or two, I'll not eat any cakes, ice cream, cookies, chocolates, etc., and I'll be fine. I'll have almonds or yogurts or bags of chips for dessert, and resist cravings pretty well.

Then, I think I can give myself an indulgence, so I have a cookie -- which inevitably leads to a 2000+ calorie binge. I really, really don't want to cut out cakes and things for tor the rest of my life. That would be miserable. But it seems like eating sweets triggers my need to eat ALL the sweets. For people with the same problem, what do you do?

Replies

  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I make it a very rare thing, for special occasions. I just don't make cakes, cookies, candy and the rest a part of my daily life. Or weekly life. Or monthly life.

    Fruit is sweet and yummy, too. And it's good for you. You can feed your sweet tooth without empty calories! :)
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    I make room in my allotment daily, for some kind of treat. Having to never go without, makes me not miss anything, therefore there is no need for a "binge".
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Well, I overcame this problem by not putting restrictions on food. I.e. NOT making eating chocolate, cakes, cookies, etc on very rare occasions or only x times a week/month. This basically falls in line with "cheating" mentality to me, and I also do not endorse or utilize this method.

    If it fits into my macros and calories for the day, and I can reach my protein minimum while eating cake and cookies, then cool. I just ate some skittles and a mars bar today, and I do not feel the need or urge to eat the other chocolate bars I have in my kitchen or the rest of the candy I bought 2 weeks ago. I've actually barely touched that candy because I just haven't been craving it, but I've eaten other things instead that fit into my cravings for the day.

    To me, no calorie is a bad calorie. All food has macros, my body needs every macro, my body needs calories... so I eat what I want and what helps me reach my goals. Restrictions are just silly and not conducive to long-term lifestyle changes, unless you want to only eat cookies once a month even when you've reached goal weight and are maintaining. most people wind up restricting while dieting, then don't restrict while in maintenance.. but then put weight back on. Your dieting methods need to basically be your lifestyle, the only thing that changes about it will be how much you eat. Not what you eat.
  • crisb2
    crisb2 Posts: 329 Member
    Try other sorts of treats. I like 70-80% dark chocolate. And since it's got such a powerful flavor I usually only have one square. Or homemade whipped cream, it's so rich I really don't feel like eating more than one or two spoonfuls. Or look for skinny recipes of your favorites: http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=skinny+dessert&term_meta[]=dessert|typed Just make sure to stay within your calories/macros. (Yes, pinterest is my solution to everything food related)
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    edited October 2014
    forkofpower wrote: »
    For a week or two, I'll not eat any cakes, ice cream, cookies, chocolates, etc., and I'll be fine. I'll have almonds or yogurts or bags of chips for dessert, and resist cravings pretty well.

    Then, I think I can give myself an indulgence, so I have a cookie -- which inevitably leads to a 2000+ calorie binge. I really, really don't want to cut out cakes and things for tor the rest of my life. That would be miserable. But it seems like eating sweets triggers my need to eat ALL the sweets. For people with the same problem, what do you do?
    I know where you are coming from because I used to do the same thing. It was so bad that I could not have chips, cookies, cakes, deserts, anything that I really like in the house or I'd eat it all pretty quickly.

    What helped me to kick the over-indulgence habit was to allow myself to have something on the gone-from-the-house list every day. I portioned that something out, weighed it, logged it, and then put the package away. The first time it was difficult, but with each time it got easier.

    I started by allowing myself to buy my frozen deserts, then when I felt I'd mastered that, it was nuts, chips, etc. etc. Now, everything is allowed in my house, because it always my choice whether or not to eat it.

    It took awhile for me to understand that just because something was in the house didn't ,mean I needed to eat all of it, or even any of it. I stopped categorizing food as good or bad and just decided that, for me, all foods are good except for those I am intolerant to (soy and lactose) or simply don't like (liver. I HATE liver! :sweat_smile:

    Now, I feel pretty confident in being able to eat whatever foods I like in moderation.


Categories