Fitting as many sweets in as you can...

ParisArkw

Every time I have a fallback and then restart on my dedication to weight loss, I start out eating healthfully. Lots of fruits & veggies, good amount of protein, and a little something sweet to top it off.

But as time goes on and when I work out and sometimes end up with up to 500 extra calories to eat, I find myself using those seemingly freebee calories to have more sweets. Then, I get into this downward spiral of trying to fit in as many sweets as I can. My eating habits very gradually, day by day, begin to revolve around eating really healthy & low-calorie SO that I can eat a lot of sweets. And this has NOT been working for me.

Every time this pattern takes place, it ends up reaching a point of me giving in and splurging on the sweets that I continuously feel I am holding myself back from (EVEN when I allow myself a little treat every day, when I follow my ideal lifestyle diet.)

However, what's at the top of my mind and makes me feel guilty about this is:

1. I feel better, physically & mentally, when I limit my intake of sweets.
2. Sugar is bad for me and I should not have as much of it as I do.

And yet, I can't seem to find my personal motivation to help control this.

Can anyone offer me any advice? Some form of direction I can take to move forward from this? Somehow I can not find satisfaction in that little and limited amount of sweets. It makes me angry that I love sweet foods and have to limit it, it also makes me angry that I feel as though the food is controlling me. That I can't be "free" of the desire for sugary foods. =\

ronnio_ron

This is quite a common occurrence, although the liking material changes for me its spicy snacks and for some others its cola, McD's or fry-ups etc....

the most important point being although you have calories at the end of the day to consume, you will have to still watch what you eat and for other departments like fat/carbs etc....

You seem to know the good and bad side of what you do, so thats a very positive move, what you need now is some motivation to curb ur sugar intake (its not all bad), by either adding other items like fruits or change ur focus to sumthng else...

good luck...

Pebble321

Hmmm, tricky. I can relate to this - most of my meals are healthy, but I know that the thing that will impair my health in the long term is sweet snacks. Like you, I know that in moderation they are OK, but my ability to stick with "moderation" varies a great deal.

I'm loving a book by Gilian Riley - "Eating Less" which talks about addictive eating and why we eat/overeat addictively and has some good strategies to work on. Check it out and see what you think.

kcoftx

Give yourself a max. For example, I allow myself to have a Nutella toast (if I want one) and two bite size pieces of candy per day (or basically a single serving) OR one regular sized dessert per day. I also switched to dark chocolate for most of my bite size candies at home. This is not my favorite and has helped reduce my craving. I also like Nutella but I'm not a bread eater (in spite of I introducing it with other things for breakfast). I chose that because it is more filling than a candy bar. I'm already dropping from a bag a day habit to eliminating chocolate 1/3 of my days for the past 2 months without even realizing it. (I have not allowed myself to go over my max in the last 2 months. The one bag a day was prior and an estimate). The cravings seem to have slowed down substantially. I was actually kind of shocked I wasn't eating everyday anymore even though I told myself I could.

This max will be different for different people. It may be that your max is weekly or biweekly. Some have to cut it out altogether. I know if I cut it down that drastically I would want to binge.

Another tactic is to put it in an out of the way place. We used to have a chocolate club at work. I had to walk down this long hall when I could find the time if I absolutely wanted it. It did not stay in the room with me. If you live in a large enough home, it could be on a floor you don't frequent. Even in a small home, it could be at the top of the closet that requires a stool to get it. Basically make it inconvenient and out of sight enough that you have to make a more concious decision rather than a mindless one. Then if you want it, drink water, wait at least 30 min (I suggest an hour) and if it is still on your mind, get it. Most of the time you will have found something else to do.

Another thing I suggest is making a list of foods you can eat when you need a calorie boost so you don't automatically grab junk food just because you know it is high calorie.

ParisArkw

Thank you all for your replies, and thank you kcoftx for the suggestions. I will definitely give these tactics a try.

TheChangingMan

Why not try monitoring your nutrients rather than calories?

TamTams1980

I have found not eating sweet things at all helps me.. I love lollies and havnt eaten them for at least 3 weeks and I cannot even remember how good they are so I do not want them.. Having one or 2 would just make me WANT the whole pack and I probably WOULD eat the whole pack hahah.. but thats what works for me it might not work for others p.s I snack on raw green beans! sounds yucky to some but as long as I am eating something im fine, I dont feel like im missing out

Tammy

Woooolywool

Well, I used to have a HUGE SWEET TOOTH way back before I lost so much weight, eating several big sharing sized bags of chocolates/sweets a day. And I still do have a sweet tooth. But, I first looked at not having anything...and that only eventually led to binging. By limiting my intake of the sugary foods, I became aware of how long I could actually manage without them. And I thought to replace the sweets with natural sugars, such as from fruit, or honey etc. And that worked for me the most. Especially milk, which has some natural sugar. So I was allowing myself healthy, nutritious sweet foods that helped to keep me satisfied.
Only eat what you plan to eat, like if you know you'll be out for the day, try to make a packed lunch, and don't bring extra money for any additional unhealthy foods that don't really offer you nutritional benefits. Incorporate a jam sandwich, honey on toast, grab a banana instead of a chocolate bar, and spread the healthy eating throughout the day, evenly so that you're not wanting to splurge out so much at the end of the day.
I allow myself the weekends as treat days...in moderation. Like a frozen yoghurt.

It really does help not to have the unhealthy foods in the house, it takes your mind off them. So, if you REALLY do still want those foods, you can go out for a jog, or a walk to a shop and get the one thing, jogging back to the house, and eating it back in the house so you won't be tempted to go back for more.

The less sugary foods you eat, the less the cravings I think.

psiren28

I have a huge sweet tooth, particularly for chocolate. I used to eat it every day and get terrible cravings.
Now instead of having chocolate I have some chocolate cereal as a snack most days. OK it's not the healthiest of alternatives but it is better than a bar of chocolate, I get some calcium and vitamins with it and it's more filling so it's only like 180 cals compared to 500ish for the chocolate (yes, I'd eat a whole 100g bar in one go :embarassed: ). I only have actual chocolate about once a week now. I'm sort of weaning myself off it with the cereal, eventually I'll cut the sweet cereal too but it helps as a 'halfway house' sort of thing.

colorlessgreen

Why not try monitoring your nutrients rather than calories?

This. You can edit which nutrients show up on your food diary; I've added sugar and iron to mine (I get too much of one and not enough of the other). I still come in WAY over my recommended amount -- around 70 g on a "good" day, and 130 g on a bad day -- but I'm working on it. It really adds up when you eat fruit, so I try to cut myself a break if that's where most of my sugar has come from. In fact, this post has inspired me to set a new goal for myself: to always keep my sugar under 100 g a day. I'm also going to look back over my food diary from my "good" days and see what I ate, so I can look for patterns of things that may have helped keep my blood sugar more stable, satisfied my carb requirements, or something else...

I still have days when I eat a few chocolaty/sugary things, but I try to make them at least a LITTLE healthy, like you with your chocolate cereal. I've been eating more of these lately, so as I was packing my lunch today, I told myself I wasn't going to have any of the "kind-of" cheats today.

My favorites: chocolate teddy grahams (130 cal & 8 g of sugar, per serving), Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Granola Thins (80 cal and 6 g of sugar, per serving), Skinny Cow Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches (140 cal and 15 g of sugar, per serving), Mint Dark Chocolate Blue Diamond Oven-Roasted almonds (160 cal and 4 g of sugar, per serving), and Erin Baker's mini breakfast cookies (100 cal and 5, 6, or 7 g of sugar, per serving, depending on what flavor -- peanut butter, chocolate, or oatmeal raisin, respectively).

Some of the other more healthy snacks I have when I'm craving sweets are: a banana with peanut butter (tastes amazing! it's greater than the sum of its parts!), tea or coffee with some Splenda, berries/melon/frozen grapes, plain Greek yogurt (I eat the 2% kind; it's so smooth and worth the extra calories over the 0% fat kind, to me!) with fresh fruit and a tsp of agave nectar.

Anyone feel free to friend me, and we can keep an eye on each other's diaries!
-Miranda

ParisArkw

That's a really good idea, going to add the sugar column to my diary right now.

ParisArkw

Hahaha, I added a sugar column and an iron one and sugar is def. the only one I've already surpassed today. 8\