Need advice to help with sugar and alcohol cravings

dcummings80

I have been on MFP for a couple weeks now and seeing modest results (about 2.5 pounds lost so far), but my biggest roadblock is my sugar cravings and alcohol cravings. The sugar is hard b/c I have friends at work that keep candy jars at their desk, but once I get a couple pieces it just starts the craving roller coaster where I crash and want more sugar and it ends up wrecking my calories for the day. Also I am not a heavy drinker or anything, but I like good craft beer and probably 4 days a week I have 1 beer (one weeknight and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). But the nights I do I don't work out, tend to eat more, and the calories in the good beers are wreckers (some as high as 300+!) I don't want to just change to drinking rum and diet coke or something like that b/c I don't like to think that I need to drink. I guess I'm just looking for advice on how to manage stress and cravings in a different way than reaching for sugar and alcohol. Thanks for any advice you can provide!

alyssahaws

I've fallen into eating out of stress in the past---one thing that has helped me is trying to resolve those stress in my life. If my house is disorganized and cluttered I stress out that I don't have time to fit in exersice and clean up on top of all my other responsibilities. When I feel overwhelmed that leads to me over eating and not eating clean. So I try to come up with a long term solution that will fix the problem that is stressing me out. With my house I know have a daily chore chart for my kids---this allows me to not feel overwhelmed because I know I don't have to do it on my own. Find thoses stress in you life and find solutions Also try putting some sugar free candy at your desk or sugar free gum.

dcummings80

Thank you for the great advice!

nxd10

My stick thin sister gained 100 pounds in one year from eating candy on the desk of a co-worker. BEWARE!

Both sugar and loving beer can be caused by insulin issues. And the more you eat carbs the more you want them. It's a trap!

I'd start by dropping down on both - particularly the candy. Eat something else if you can't go cold turkey. I find things like raw cashews have enough fat and protein that they keep my satisfied. Water helps. And I have a constant pot of green tea next to me at work.

Eat well and be happy at all your meals. Work particularly hard at lowering your carbs - particular high glycemic foods. My colleagues sumamrizes this as avoiding eating anythng white: white rice, white flour, sugar, bread, potatoes. All of them make your insulin spike, which suppressed fat burning and causes you to store fat. Then two hours later you want more sugar.

Good luck!

lilpoindexter

I take carrots and an apple to work, and i try to snack on those during the day. The candy jar is right near my desk, and it took many, many, many attempts before i could avoid the candy jar. For the better part of 2012 I have been able to avoid it. You have to really be strong.
I used to drink a 12 pack of beer a week (stella artois, heineken, peroni, etc) , by myself, plus however many beers I drank during social events, and however many sodas i wanted a week. At some point, I just got really disgusted with myself, my huge bloated belly and my pants that got tighter and tighter every week. i was so disgusted, I just cut out all beer and soda cold turkey. I probably lost 5 lbs that week ( I'm 5' 11"), and the following week. The change was so sudden and drastic, that I really had no desire to go back to drinking beer or soda.
I ride a bike for 30+ miles one day a week...that burns something like 2000-3000 calories...If you have to have a couple of brews a week, perhaps you could go crazy on the cardio one day, to offset it?

dcummings80

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and great tips! Much appreciated!!!