Sweet Tooth Diet?

Inds13

I am very active, but I have a major sweet tooth! I feel that I have to have some form of sweets at least once a day. I try to keep it to a minimum by eating the Skinny Cow candy or a 100 calorie granola bar. Of course I eat my regular meals as well. When I work out, I use a heart rate monitor and I usually burn between 500 and 800 calories (usually an hour of cardio a day). I have been using MFP for about 3 weeks and I usually have leftover calories at the end of the week in addition to my already reduced caloric intake to lose 1.5 pounds a week, yet I'm not losing 1.5 pounds a week. I even gained a half pound last week! My nutrition goals usually aren't off by that much either. So if I'm exercising hard, still having a calorie deficit, and staying close to nutrition goals, is my dessert habit really affecting my weight loss?

I've heard about the man on the Twinkie diet and the man who lost weight on a McDonald's diet and this made me truly believe that it's really all about the calories. I'm not saying I want to eat junk all day, but I'm really confused as to how I can be so close to my goals and not see better results just because of a little chocolate everyday.

What do you do about your sweet tooth? Any suggestions are appreciated!