Keep chocolate and lose weight possible?

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stphnstevey
stphnstevey Posts: 68
in Food and Nutrition
I have a freind (it's not me!) that was able to stay skinny despite eating 3-5 bars of chocolate a day. She had a fairly active job and was under 30yrs old. Within the last couple of years she changed jobs to a less active one and is starting to approach 30. They have put on about 2 stone in weight and wanted to go back to how she was.

She has tried cutting down on the chocolate, but it's like a drug to her. She's very picky with food, so it's hard to find an alternative. She eats very little fruit and veg, so can't really find a fruit alternative.

We've started working out together about once every other day for about 30mins, but I fear the 200 calories we burn won't make a dent in the 200 calories per bar, 3-5 times a day. I think we'd have to work out for about 2.5hrs/day to make up for the calorie load and we simply don't have the time

I'm at a loss at how to help her? Any ideas?

Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    High cocoa solids chocolate (85%, 90%) may satisfy the addiction with less calories ? ALDI do a pack of 5 * 25g bars for a quid.
  • GrAlVt
    GrAlVt Posts: 42
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    I don't know if blended drinks are her thing, but here's a nutrition/recovery shake I've been having almost daily for the past 3 months.

    1/2 cup nonfat greek yogurt
    ~4 grams chia seeds
    2 cups spinach
    1 cup broccoli
    1 banana
    1 carrot
    2 ice cubes
    1/2 cup (soy) milk
    1 scoop protein powder (whey seems to work best)
    2 tbsp of peanut butter

    Even though the peanut butter only takes up 2 tbsp, the other ingredients have very little taste of their own, so it tastes more like peanut butter than anything else. I think if you friend substituted chocolate instead, they would have a very chocolate tasting, dessert like beverage. All in all, it comes out to around 20-24 oz for the above recipe and has the consistency of a milkshake, so I think it would be a good alternative. If she does it right, it'll taste like chocolate and get in the actual whole foods she's missing.
  • madmish00
    madmish00 Posts: 35
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    Definitely dark chocolate - minimum 70%

    A couple of squares of dark chocolate keep me satisfied a lot longer than a full bar of any milk chocolate.

    And it has healthy flavanoids as a bonus!
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    Get her to track on here. She COULD carry on eating all her chocolate, but she'll soon see it won't leave much wiggle room for proper meals, and she'll see how it's affecting her macros.

    Forget the dark chocolate - if that's not what she likes, it won't satisfy her.

    A good strategy to ensure she gets all the nutrition she needs before tucking in could be to only eat chocolate out of exercise calories.
  • LittleMissDover
    LittleMissDover Posts: 820 Member
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    Hot chocolate? Options hot chocolate is 39 cals for a mug and works for me if I don't want to use tons of calories on a treat.
  • anskaggs
    anskaggs Posts: 9
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    I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I make my own 100 calorie packs (105 in reality) and one of the options is adding some dark chocolate. So when I am feeling sweets, I have a cup and a half of popcorn and a tablespoon of dark (or semi-sweet, depending on what I have) chocolate chips. It's not a lot of chocolate, but there's so much popcorn it makes it feel like you're eating more than you are. Might be an option.
  • Yunnieh
    Yunnieh Posts: 89 Member
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    chocolate muesli/weight watchers hot chocolate should do it.
  • MouseFood
    MouseFood Posts: 169 Member
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    I think she should talk to a doctor about it ... It might be depression related? I only say that because I know my chocolate/sugar addiction is.

    Aside from that, you CAN lose weight and eat chocolate, but I wouldn't recommend 2-3 bars a day. I wouldn't recommend 2-3 bars a week. :O
  • Natashaa1991
    Natashaa1991 Posts: 866 Member
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    yeah of course it is. it's not about the particular food, it's the overall amount of food that you are consuming. that's why i get pissed off when somebody says "eggs (or whatever) are fattening". you can't get fat if you eat ANYTHING in normal amounts.
  • ChunkieNuts
    ChunkieNuts Posts: 135 Member
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    Agree with above; get her to log her food and at least cut down to 1 bar per day...
    once shes managed to cut down to one bar a day she could try a low cal choc cereal bar or something not as bad...
    i have a light options hot chocolate to satisfy my cravings..
    hope u find the help u need :-)
  • Love_flowers
    Love_flowers Posts: 365 Member
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    I eat chocholate nearly every single day. I have lost more than 18lbs :)

    it IS possible, doable and enjoyable ;)
  • Joannie30
    Joannie30 Posts: 415 Member
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    I still eat chocolate whenever i like (which, admittedly isn't THAT often really) because i can usually take or leave it. My fiance on the other hand is the biggest choc-a-holic i know!!!!

    I think it's important not to create a "block" on certain foods, just because a person is trying to lose weight. In my opinion, it just leads to cravings and an eventual binge. Just a little bit of whatever you want i believe is not bad for a person or their weight loss efforts.

    Jx
  • docktorfokse
    docktorfokse Posts: 473 Member
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    Chocolate didn't make her gain weight, eating too much made her gain weight. Cocoa butter, as a saturated fat, is a high calorie food, so when she was losing weight I can only assume she was also eating little and you say she exercised a lot. Of course, that's not to say fat makes you fat, but you can't out-exercise a poorly-controlled diet.
  • mariagabriella
    mariagabriella Posts: 267 Member
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    I think I ate chocolate every day this week and lost 700g (that's the biggest lost I've had since I started out). Definitely possible. Of course it fitted well in my macros, it was dark chocolate and I had about 10g a day some days more.

    Get her to track and eat dark chocolate.
  • VAMommyAgain
    VAMommyAgain Posts: 400 Member
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    Chocolate Covered Katie has great healthy, chocolatey recipes! However, that said, she still can't eat them up to 5x a day. Part of her process is going to be to have to buck up and cut the chocolate.
  • lucylousmummy
    lucylousmummy Posts: 348 Member
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    if she makes good food choices, and works out there is no reason why she cant still eat one or two bars a day
  • stphnstevey
    stphnstevey Posts: 68
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    Thanks for all your advice - I think chocolate is a form of addition in a way - the sugar boost must do something phycological - maybe a boost of sugar to the brain. But she doesn't want to and has not been able to in the past, cut down the chocolate.

    We've started doing exercise about 20mins 3x week - but thats only about 200 calories burnt off a time

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