Sweets: occasional treat, or total ban?

FitCoachJen

I can't buy sweets (cookies, cakes, candy) from the store because I'll devour them in one sitting. The food manufacturers design them to be the ideal blend of tastes and texture and I don't like that, so I don't buy them. Ever. 3 Oreos are 160 calories (that's 10-30 minutes of cardio depending on intensity) and one TABLESPOON of sugar (14g). Would you sit and eat an entire spoon of sugar?

I'll eat dessert if it's a celebration. It's not about depravity, it's about finding a balance for me.

If I'm really having a craving, I'll make something myself with healthy substitutions AND no chemicals. Apple turnovers with wheat flour and half the butter, or strawberry shortcake with real (non-hydrogenated) cream and wheat pound cake with apple sauce instead of fat.

So, total ban on buying fake food. Occasional treat if I feel like baking or if it's a celebration.

xxjacqueline

I have the same problem. I've found it helps me to drink water afterward, to get the taste of whatever sweet treat I'm eating out of my mouth. So after I eat something sweet I drink a full glass of water. It generally helps.

Barneystinson

I've tried and tried again with the moderation thing, and I have to keep stuff out of the house. Even with the best intentions, if I know the ice cream (even low sugar stuff) is sitting in my freezer, I'll go eat half the container. I can't even keep the no sugar candies and treats around or I'll eat the entire bag.

Oh, and here's a fun fact: Sugar alcohols consumed in excess may cause loose stools. Eat a triple portion of Russel Stover sugar free pecan turtles and uh, chances are you'll be running to the bathroom and FAST.

I'm one of those people that cannot stop once they start eating sugar. I REALLY have to stay away from it. I even get the same effect from eating too much fruit Puts me on this sugar high and all I want are sweets afterward. Ugh, it sucks. But the longer I stay away from the stuff, easier it is to stay within my goals.

Merodie

Sugar is my nemesis!!!! Skittles is even part of my e-mail adderss so I feel ya. For me, I did a whole two week 100% ban on sugar and it was H***. Headaches, cravings, the whole works but after that two weeks ... not so bad. Now, my solution is to not deprive myself because then I feel cheated. So, fiber one bars are my candy bar :happy: I do not buy stuff to have around the house. I make myself leave and spend too much money on something small just for me. I eat it slow and savor every bite. Goofy I know, but it is what works for me. Eastewr time I even ate a handful of skittles (I made sure I shared the rest IMMEDIATELY)

I am now to the point where it is a genuine treat. So I guess my suggestion would be to ONLY buy single serving if you have it at home. ( I still can't) , make it a pain to get to it . It will get better. oh and figure how much extra exercise you would have to do to burn it off EEK! that can be a deterrant too!!

Good luck!!! You can do it! Merodie

Zeromilediet

Occasional ...

I used to LOVE desserts, but a long time ago made a committment to only eat primo treats and not something in a bag from the grocery store. So I used to make decadent brownies, frosted cakes, homemade cookies & ice cream, mousses, etc. only buy & bake with the finest ingredients--my beloved stand mixer really got a workout :-) Now I've cut sugar out of my diet and allow only a treat of the occasional square of dark chocolate and sometimes a quarter cup serving of decadent ice cream; my worst sugar weakness is sugar in my espresso from time to time.

Not as hard as I thought it would be, but if any of these had to be given up, the hardest would be that square of chocolate :-)

Troll

Just don't bring it home. I've been lving healthy for almost 2 years now, and if there is ice cream to be had i will have it.

Once you get to a stage that you realize (seriously, we all know...but until knowing makes a difference) that it can screw up your goals, you just have to account for it. If i eat a pint of ice cream (which i do, and i apologize for nothing) I log my calories, etc and i do better afterwards. I also add ANOTHER hour of working out.

I finally found a balance where a Drumstik is not the be-all-end-all of my goals.

dls06

If I do it is usually at a function. I will not bring them into the house. If I do have a Birthday party or anything at home I send the sweets home with guest or trash them. IF not I will eat them til there gone.

dls06

dp

Teeladog

So....just reading this topic made me seriously crave the unopened Hershey bar that was in my pantry (leftover from s'mores on a camping trip). The more I read, the worse the craving became. So, clearly, I am one of those people that can't have the stuff in the house. I just went and split the bar with the kids so now it is all gone and I only ate 1/3 of it. And, my daughter just told me how nice I am :-).

Teeladog

Oh...and funny story related to this...my sister growing up LOVED little debbie swiss rolls. My mom found that she would buy them for my sister and then end up eating a bunch of them herself. So, she tried putting them into the freezer figuring that if she had to wait for them to thaw then she would be less likely to eat them. That is when she discovered that they are excellent frozen.

ReinasWrath

I know what you mean, only i'm less of a sweets girl and more of a burger king (or any fast food ) girl I know that cutting these kinds of things out is important but does that mean I'll never know my love the whopper ever again? The best advice I ever got was don't completely ban your favorite foods or else you will be more likely to snap one day and binge BUT moderation is important so I'd say buy your treats in smaller amounts and only once in a while. That way if you do eat it all only a pint or so is a lot less detrimental than a whole tub of it
Good luck!!

katz22

Packets of biscuits especially cookies are my enemy. Its so easy to sit and munch without thinking, so I try not to buy them very often. But I am finding the logging of food on mfp is really helping me, there isn't any way of overlooking how much food I've consumed when it's all written down.
Still I can't totally ban everything, or my mind just wants to rebel and eat the 'forbidden' foods even more!

annrum

I like mini-meringues as a sweet treat... the trick is limiting to just 1 or 2, rather than the entire tub, so I tend to put them somewhere I actually have to get up and reach to get at - the extra effort is additional consideration. My other treat is marzipan - I have a cooking block that I'll cut 25g from for a very sweet treat occasionally.

On the whole though, I try and avoid bringing sweets into the house. I know I will comfort eat if it's been a rough day, so easier not to have the temptation.

ladybg81

EVERYDAY! My DH and I discovered skinny cow at the beginning of this process and eat one every night. They also just came out with skinny cow candy too. I am not giving up my sweets; I just traded them in for something lower in calories.

concordancia

I have something sweet more often than not, but some days a Power Crunch bar does me good (they are like coated sugar wafers, for goodness' sake!). For me, having something regularly helps me not obsess over it when it is right there in front of me. On the other hand, planning it in gives me some control. I was really slipping by the end of vacation, taking full sized servings instead of half servings and the like.

LButterfly201

I LOVE sweet things. Chocolate, biscuits, ice cream = YUM If I'm going shopping, i try very very hard to avoid it altogether. But i also think, if you deprive yourself, you're more likely to just give up on the diet altogether. SO why not go for slightly healthier versions. So instead of the ice cream you bought, go for skinny cow, or something you can't go back for, lIke an ice cream cone. If you have to open another one, i find myself less likely to dip back into that specific treat.

Try frozen grapes. You can go back to those as many times as you like

Biscuits, cakes, chocolate they all do 'less calorie' versions. OK no they aren't brilliant for you, but if we are being realistic, who wants to have no treats whatsoever & they are better for you than the full on calorie ones.

Have Fun

lloydrt

Medical professionals and diet experts all agree that people who are the most successful on a diet plan and life style change are individuals that adhere to their weight loss program 100% of the time......

sorry, but for me, the only reason why I was sucessful was that I didn't allow it in the house


yes it sucks...............I agree, but for me, I had to make the choice I did , and that was not to have it in the house.....

whats more important to you., Weight loss, or a continued life of obesity and unhappiness....

its hard, it sucks and you think you can not do it, but if you dont have it in the house, you wont fail.............Good luck, Lloyd

murphysraven

I allow myself 1 treat a week. Its my incentive/reward for staying on track with my diet. I make sure its something really worth it too, not just the first sweet thing in sight. Usually I pick saturday as my default "treat day" unless I know that a birthday or event is coming up what I'll want to have a sweet at. Moderation is the key.

jezirus

I think it depends on the person. For me, I've tried tons of diets before, and I have always ended up going off them and going right back to being addicted to sweets. This time I broke the addiction. I went cold turkey -- NO added sugars. I no longer crave sweets. I'm not sure if I will have them again, we'll see. But for now, I'm enjoying the journey to getting healthy and reaching my goals! I LIKE not craving sweets. It feels empowering! Good luck!

volfan22

I have taught myself that there are "sometimes" foods (and that can be anything from sweets to lasagna). Moderation is key - I keep sugar free popsicles in the freezer at all times (and in this heat they really take off the edge). They are 15 calories - so have 2, why not? The other thing I think I read - if you are going to over-indulge and you know it - add some time to the cardio workout. Make the calories a total wash and you haven't lost/gained anything.

withchaco

I'm not into sweets much. My problem is FRENCH FRIES!! When I'm presented with really good fries (which is hard to come by -- usually they're kinda gross), it's hard to stop. Oh, and my one exception to not liking sweets: cheesecakes.

I plan out my indulgence. 300 calories is too little! 500+ will feel more like a real treat. If I'm going to splurge on calories, I plan 2-3 days ahead of time. I reduce my fat intake as well as daily calorie net for a couple of days (not TOO much, just 100-300 calories), either by doing more exercise or eating less, or both. The day after splurge, I do the reduced fat intake/ calorie net again. And I'm good to go.

Occasionally, maybe once in every 5 weeks or so, I end up eating more without exercising more. If this happens, I just move on and try to get more exercise done the next day. Unless I have miraculously consumed, like, 3000+ calories above my BMR, I know I haven't done any real damage.

"I screwed up! I can't do this anymore!" is infinitely more dangerous than the occasional splurges... Just keep at it, and don't let any mistakes push you off track!!!

CraftyGirl4

I work for a dessert company. We're all on sugar overload here. I don't totally ban the sweet stuff, but I avoid it when I can. When I feel like I just have to have something, I have little bites of a couple of my favorite things. I don't keep very much sweet stuff at home because I tend to want to snack like no other when it's there.