Appetite Suppressants for severe cravings

shakybabe
shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
HELP!! I have severe cravings for chocolate and carbs. I've had 3 periods in 2 months and only 1 week of NO cravings.

I'm trying to keep caloreis down by reducing cals in main meals or not eating lunch or breakfast if I had to have chocolate. I've tried using chocolate slim fast so I can still satisfy my cravings and stick to a diet plan but it doesn't always work.

I was trying Puriance for women which had reduced my cravings greatly but when I try and go back to the site google can't find the server so I don't know if the site has been removed.

Are there any other appetite suppressants that would kill my choc cravings so I can stick to an healthy diet please? It's impossible to lose weight when spending 3 weeks out of every 4 craving choc, carbs and alcohol instead of only 1 week a month!

I'm on new exercise routine including weights which is new to me so it should be working but is doing nothing, after 3 days of losing loads of water (coming off from monthly cycle) I'm still at 9st 6/7. Although I guessed I might have put extra water on form the weights and new routine I thought I'd be back down to 9st 4 by now or even at my goal 9st 3, but this friggin early menopause is really stuffing up my weight loss!

Could I have triggered if from a year of dieting?

Having an under active thyroid and mobility problems is not helping as I'm either constantly exhausted and restricted with what I can physically do. Think my last option would be one of those VLCD liquid diets but not gonna be able to stick to it unless I can get the chocolate cravings under control first!!

Replies

  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
    *bump*
  • arcticfox04
    arcticfox04 Posts: 1,011 Member
    Have a square or 2 of 60%+ Dark chocolate or Pumpkin.
  • scruffykaz
    scruffykaz Posts: 317 Member
    I'm far from an expert but that really doesn't seem healthy to me. Your diary isn't open so I can't really comment on what you are eating or how many calories you are consuming.

    I subscribe to the "everything in moderation" theory. If you look at my diary, you will see that I still eat junk food, chocolate etc but if I didn't I'd never stick to this. How much do you moderate your food intake when you've eaten chocolate?

    I satisfy cravings by having a bit of what I fancy sometimes (but not all the time) and just moderating it compared to what I used to eat.

    For me, this is a change towards how I'm going to live for the rest of my life, it's a lifestyle change and I can't face the though of never eating the foods I enjoy.
  • Weighinginwithmy02
    Weighinginwithmy02 Posts: 369 Member
    I would discuss this with your doctor and maybe enlist the help of a dietician and/or personal trainer. You have some things that are stumbling blocks (irregular periods, underactive thyroid, mobility problems) and I believe professionals could help you find a plan that works for you.

    in the end, everybody has cravings but it doesn't mean you have to give into them. Try finding other alternatives that work for you. You've mentioned slim fast but there are many other chocolate alternatives out there, especially in the protien powder sections. Or find a way to work some chocolate into your diet. If you are burning enough calories per day you can have a sweet snack. Find ways to occupy your mind when you are having a craving until you can get past it and forget about it.
  • Restybaby2012
    Restybaby2012 Posts: 568 Member
    Shaky............laugh if ya want but I have found that PICKLES will stop any craving...especially a sweet toothed one. If you're eaten something sweet, the urge will be there to continue with the sweet BUT if you eat a goooooood pickle it stops that pathway and seems to kill the cravings. At least it works for me. I cant remember the last time I had any sort of craving.. BUT I eat tons of pickles / cucumbers in vinegar.
    Please, why not give it a try
  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
    I don't mind having chocolate in my diet, when I only had the periods once a month my diet was working great! I managed to eat healthy 3 weeks of the month and just treat myself that week when I had the cravings.

    I've gone onto gluten free too so buy gluten free brownies as my treat instead of regular ones as I find wheat caused me loads of water retention so eliminated that from my diet.

    I don't usually like more 300cals max for breakfast or lunch so if a bar of choc is nearly 200 then that is my breakfast or lunch.

    My main meals is 600 max but preferably 400-500 and I go on exercise pedals for an hour which burns about 660 if I think I might have had too many calories that day so I'm left with about 1000-1200 which is what MFP set me at.

    The cravings are severe at moment daily and for most of the day!

    I wonder if its cos I barely eat carbs I rarely have potatoes, rice or pasta in my diet or even bread sometimes I allow gluten free bread 1-2 times a week when I was doing well with my diet. Recently as I was losing nothing extra each month I'm down to fruit, carrots sticks or a slimfast for breakfast and lunch and small portion of lean white meat or fish with half a plate of side salad (load of lettuce, one small tomato, bit of raw onion and some grated carrot) sometimes I reduce calories further in main meal by replacing meat with Quorn.

    If I manage to burn 1,000 cals in exercise I might allow extra carbs like butternut squash with salad or sweet potato chips (1small sweet potato cut into chips and baked in the oven, no additional fat) or a gluten free fishfinger sandwich for lunch (2 slices of lowest cal gluten free bread and 3 fishfingers with a gluten free coating, lettuce and tomato in sandwich too and tiny bit of mayo).

    Drinks I allow a cup of tea first thing, lunch and bed time and water rest of the day.

    I've been looking up online and it mentions a shortage of serotonin causes carb cravings as the serotonin levels going up are a result of having eaten carbs or something so I've bought some serotonin capsules to higher my levels without having to eat carbs to get levels higher so hopefully that should work? (if levels are high enough brain won't trigger the cravings to make more?)

    I suspect I'm starting peri-menopause even highering my Thyroid meds all week hasn't resulted in big drop whereas when my friends was too high she dropped 10lbs (I admit I was hoping for same result!) she's only on 125mcg I've been taking 400mcg plus T3 plus some capsules that encourage body to convert more T4 into T3 to raise metabolism so can't understand why it hasn't worked??? ... must be cos of hormones and menopause?? I'm 43.
  • tumteetum
    tumteetum Posts: 53 Member
    L-glutamine helps my carb and sweet cravings massively. I started taking it as a suppliment for my condition but it's great to curb cravings (and help with weight loss) and it also helps with muscle and tissue repair.

    I had to start with a very low dose and slowly increase - if you have too much too quickly it can upset your tummy. I started with 250mg twice a day, worked up to four times a day and slowly increased my dose over about 6-8 weeks.

    I now take 2.5g four times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and bed). I started with tablets from i-herb but once I moved onto gram doses I buy from muscleform in the UK as they're cheap and already get my d-ribose from them.

    Here's an article about l-glutamine as a craving suppressant
    http://www.ultimatefatburner.com/l-glutamine-review.html

    Also with hormonal cravings I find a large dose of Evening Primrose really does help. I take 1000mg normally but with bad cravings and mood swings will take double that. It often does help a lot. I resisted for years rolling my eyes when people said Evening Primrose oil for hormonal moments but it really has helped me.

    I did look at other herbal appetite supressants but worried that many work by altering other hormonal levels which seemed tricky ground to me.

    Can't comment on the other stuff I'm afraid :/
  • AnninStPaul
    AnninStPaul Posts: 1,372 Member
    Everything in moderation. Budget your calories for a square of chocolate every day. Take your time and enjoy it.
  • sierrajade2012
    sierrajade2012 Posts: 50
    I take this supplement called PgX daily. it helps regulate your blood sugar and reduce cravings. I find it works REALLY REALLY well as long as you consistntly take it as directed
  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
    Thanks I'll check out the L-glutamine and PgX.

    I do like some dark chocolate but its hard to get around here from local shops. I used to love those Fry's chocolate cream bars with orange inside and Asda did a nice one at xmas with brandy in middle (not very slimming i know.. lol) but they are only dark chocolate I've ever had.

    Any plain dark choc bars that aren't too bitter? If the cravings are sweet I'm not gonna want dark bitter chocolate?

    Only pickles I've ever had are pickled onions I've never had pickled gherkins in my life! I'm not even sure what a gherkin is!

    I've ordered the Serotonin now so I might as well give that a try. I found it mentioned in an article about why women crave chocolate every month! I'll see if I can find it again tomorrow (It's 10pm here and I'm off to bed)
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    Coffee and water, best ever. True story.

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