MY DAMN SWEET TOOTH!

NadNight

I have always had a sweet tooth. Chocolate, sweets, cakes, biscuits....anything sugar laden. Once I start, I struggle to stop. Especially in the cold, dark weather I just want to snuggle down with my favourite comfort foods and eat.

My weight at the moment isn't a problem, my body image is good. I've been looking to gain weight in muscle as I'm underweight and at first I tried to do this the 'healthy' way with more nuts and stuff but people advised me to use some of the 'unhealthy' stuff to get my calories up. They didn't say to go crazy but just treat yourself to a slice of cake after dinner kinda thing.

However this is causing a few problems in that because I don't look at myself and think I need to lose weight, I struggle to stop. I think overeating this one time isn't going to make me drastically overweight! You know if you've ever said you're on a diet and some irritating person says 'one slice of cake won't hurt!'...that's like me talking to me! Only I know if I routinely eat like this then I will start to gain a lot of weight. Whilst gaining a small of amount of weight is the goal, I don't really want to be gaining a lot of extra fat! Today alone I've managed to eat my way through half a pack of ginger nut biscuits, a quarter of a pack of rich teas, a cake bar, a giant gingerbread christmas tree covered in chocolate and a 200g bag of sweets. It's a vicious cycle of eating this delicious thing, so obviously wanting more but then ending up feeling queasy and thinking 'I'm not eating sweets again for a while!' but then 20 minutes later you crash and crave it again.

The best way I've found to help ease the sweet cravings is fruit. Grapes and peaches especially. Sure they still contain a lot of sugar but at least they're natural and contain vitamins and minerals! However today I spent £3 on 1 kg grapes. You know how much a packet of biscuits costs? 40p. No wonder this country favours processed, high fat, salt and sugar foods!

The simple answer, I suppose, is don't buy those things! But then it makes me feel like I'm denying myself things that I love. Self restraint is my issue here, I'm severely lacking it!

I don't really know where I'm going with this, I just needed a rant. I'm trying to shake myself out of my sugar trance, I know I'll regret it if I carry on like this.

quiksylver296

You have two options - moderation or abstinence. It doesn't look like moderation works for you.

NadNight

quiksylver296 wrote: »

You have two options - moderation or abstinence. It doesn't look like moderation works for you.

Moderation definitely does not

sardelsa

Yea I agree with the above.. moderation may not be for you. At least not for now until you can learn to stop at a desired serving.

Maybe limit sweets to when you are out (at an event, family, dinner etc) and only something truly amazing and worth every bite.. then you may not feel as deprived as you aren't cutting it out completely but only if it doesn't cause you to carry on with more the next few days. It will be trial and error and take some learning to figure out what your triggers are. Good luck!

MichelleWithMoxie

You’re singing my song girl. Lol.

Ruatine

What @quiksylver296 said. Even after losing 80 lbs I still have problems moderating some things. However, there are things I can now have in the house without eating the entire package. You know what I did? I practiced moderation. I've found that moderation is a skill I can grow. The things that I knew were trigger foods for me, I kept out of the house, and then I would periodically buy them and practice moderately eating them. At first I failed spectacularly. Then, over time, after practicing many times, I found that "Wow, I can actually buy a bag of Doritos and not sit on the couch mindlessly eating them while I binge watch Doctor Who." Ice cream is still a work in progress. I am happy to say that there is a carton of cookies and cream in my freezer right now that has been there over a month. But I also know that it's not my favorite flavor.

First discover what triggers you to overeat (types of food, time of day, mood, energy level, etc.), and then you can work on controlling it. There is no shame in not buying something for a while. It doesn't have to be, "I'm never eating this again." It can be, "I'm going to wait and eat this next month to celebrate X." All or nothing mindsets are rarely sustainable, and abstinence doesn't have to mean never eating something. It can mean only eating that thing in specific places or circumstances.