Beating one food craving only to have another one become worse

RadishEater

I used to crave cheese, chocolate, peanut butter, and chai tea lattes. I always felt like I needed to eat them every day. When I joined myfitnesspal, I made the switch from chai tea lattes everyday to chai tea pretty easily by having the treat of a chai tea lattes on Sundays. Cheese was next and over 6 months, I transitioned from persistently planning it into my daily diet (in the healthier form cottage, feta, goat cheese) to viewing it more as something I don't need to eat but it tastes good atop a sweet potato or greek salad, so I have it if it fits with my recipe.

Since the holidays, I've been slid into my maintenance weight area but I feel I have struggled more with managing not going back for more helpings of peanut butter and chocolate. I eat oatmeal and peanut butter for breakfast when I reach work everyday, but I got so annoyed with myself dipping back into the peanut butter jar throughout the day that I took the jar back home and portion out a serving into a small container and bring it to work everyday, which works! Except ever since I started doing that my night cravings for chocolate have dramatically intensified!!!

Although I plan to eat a portion of chocolate into myfitnesspal everyday, the amount never seems like enough. I worked hard to lose the 30lb college/post college weight, but the thought of 6 months to have a craving possibly subside seems too daunting. It could be that I thought once it maintenance life would be easier, but it doesn't feel that way.

I most definitely find cravings intensify with pms/period weeks but that is half a month every month. Also stress makes cravings worse and I definitely find myself more stressed nowadays as I push myself to start trying to find an end of my PhD. Exercise is what I use to help manage stress, however I already exercise every day alternating from very low intensity of short walks/horse riding to high intensity of spinning/ circuit-weight classes. Additionally I found incorporating morning stretches/planks has been helpful reducing some stress but not all.

Yesterday, I gave into cravings and ate lots of amazingly tasty dark chocolate, today I had some but I don't want to let cravings win. Tomorrow idk if I will have enough will power left.

I realize this is a long-winded post, but I would love to hear struggles, success stories about food cravings especially about chocolate.

jgnatca

Read Habit by Duhigg. You may need a reward for a day well spent. Either replace with a non food reward or come up with a low cal chocolate treat. How about a hot cocoa sweetened with Stevia or Splenda?

KeepOnMovjng

I'm totally in the same boat as you and the craving for cake or chocolate has got worse. I've tried to have chocolate rather than the cake option if able to and with so much mention of cutting out .... for a month, I decided to try that with chocolate from first of this month. Which so far seems to help. I think it might just be the idea of a new challenge that's winning with it but just hoping I can handle it til the end of the month and that it will break the cycle of wanting chocolate so much.

DebLaBounty

I discovered Mini Ritter Sport chocolate. The entire package is about 60 calories and I savor it most evenings. If I find I want a second one, I remember I have some freakin' discipline to draw on and just stop! I know a lot of people here on this forum eat something called Halo Top ice cream. I understand that you can eat a whole pint for hardly any calories. To be honest, I tried it and didn't much care for it but others swear it's the best thing that ever happened to them.

Diastole

Hot chocolate works well for me! Depending on your requirements/preferences you can mess with the recipe as well. I only have half a tablespoon of cocoa mix (already contains sugar), a tablespoon of soya protein powder, one third of the mug is semi-skimmed milk and top up (stir stir stir!) with hot water. Sometimes I add coffee granules. I have the halfway through the day for a treat/pick-me-up.

baroquepop

I’m inspired and impressed with all your changes! Really well done!! You’re doing great and you’ll find your way to fine tune having chocolate in a good way for you, too. Would making prepackaged servings help you. Have you enjoyed the chocolate with all your attention and not at all guilting yourself and experiencing the pleasure of it.

I struggle with craving and am focused on just that and what feels not increasing craving and gives smooth energy. I think I have to eat lower glycemic basically or zoned meals always.

I recently read that sometimes cravings at the end of the day could be related to a boost in serotonin that sugar can cause. So they actually recommend to reduce some of the charge associated with sweets - by having a little sweetener earlier at breakfast, because your serotonin is higher in the morning so there’s less a raise felt from having sweets. So then the association lessens. It’s supposed to help reduce that strong irresistible craving. I wonder if chocolate maybe with the added caffeine in it is especially that way. I’m so easily addicted to caffeine items. It’s a way to think about needing energy anyway. You’ve done so well! Good luck!

Flyingfingers51

I sometimes feel that I should just wean myself off sweets. The more sugar I eat the more I want and crave. I usually buy dark chocolate and try to treat myself to just one small block in the evening with a cup of coffee or occasional glass of red wine. But then I have a hard time skipping a sugar fix the next evening. Sometimes I have sugar-free chocolate pudding, sugar-free jello, fresh fruit, or sugar-free apple cider or hot chocolate. But I think the substitutes just continue the addiction!

rach3116

Omg, during my masters I ate so much chocolate- I always had to have it in the freezer.

Agator82

Our family had some challenge with this a couple years ago. The answer for us was to buy more expensive chocolates. Sometimes we buy individually wrapped squares other times we get big bars and only have one or two squares. The result, we have a huge variety of chocolates in the house which lasts for weeks.

Hershey bars are difficult to keep in the house and so we try to keep them out.

Only challenge now, keeping the kiddos of the stash.

Maryanne_V

I suffer from binge eating disorder, so I understand cravings. I especially understand the guilt associated with giving into cravings.

In his book Overcoming Binge Eating, Standmore recommends the following does and don'ts to recover your self-control (shortened):
• Do establish a regular sleep routine
• Do learn to take walks (daily strolls have meditative aspects and have been shown to have profound effect on mood and outlook. Those who walk regularly report reduced stress and better sleep, and subsequently, better resistance to food triggers.)
• Do keep a diary (acknowledge your trials and successes, as well as note personal discoveries during your journey)
• Do not compensate for bad eating habits

I know you said you walked, but I wasn't sure if you walked every day. I also had not idea of your sleep hygiene. Diaries are pretty normal for anyone seeing a counselor, but it helps you see inward and can help you see trends. And no matter how you do one day, you should never punish yourself the next day.

If you are interested, one book that really helped me understand my cravings and bingeing was Hansen's Brain Over Binge. It's both a personal account and an informative scientific perspective on anorexia as a teenager and a bulemic as an adult.

Tedo201

Maryanne_V wrote: »

I suffer from binge eating disorder, so I understand cravings. I especially understand the guilt associated with giving into cravings.

In his book Overcoming Binge Eating, Standmore recommends the following does and don'ts to recover your self-control (shortened):
• Do establish a regular sleep routine
• Do learn to take walks (daily strolls have meditative aspects and have been shown to have profound effect on mood and outlook. Those who walk regularly report reduced stress and better sleep, and subsequently, better resistance to food triggers.)
• Do keep a diary (acknowledge your trials and successes, as well as note personal discoveries during your journey)
• Do not compensate for bad eating habits

I know you said you walked, but I wasn't sure if you walked every day. I also had not idea of your sleep hygiene. Diaries are pretty normal for anyone seeing a counselor, but it helps you see inward and can help you see trends. And no matter how you do one day, you should never punish yourself the next day.

If you are interested, one book that really helped me understand my cravings and bingeing was Hansen's Brain Over Binge. It's both a personal account and an informative scientific perspective on anorexia as a teenager and a bulemic as an adult.

This is really good advice, I found these same strategies helped me substantially in my own experience.