How to go about fixing my chocolate cravings?

awww :flowerforyou: You poor thing!!!! basically your addicted to it.. mostly mental too.. cuz your relating it to 'a hard/bad day'.. so its like your "wine or a drink"!!! do you ever try DARK chocolate? DARK is lot healthier for you.. usually less sugar and makes you crave LESS way LESS vs milk chocolate...
i love me some chocolate too (im kind picky tho, LOL) hmm maybe you should get some fun size candys keep one in ur purse or something?? for now. DONT try to limit yourself completely by all means!!!! lol.. you want your experience on MFP to be successful and NOT depriving.. cuz deprivation doesnt work long term for wt loss..
:flowerforyou:

Yep, I love my 70% dark chocolate. The calories aren't that bad, and it satisfies that urge. Otherwise, sometimes I'll substitute a Zone Bar (chocolate mint) for a meal when I really, really want chocolate. If I'm having some at meal time, I don't have to satisfy the urge later as a snack. I try not to overdo that - I want to eat real food most of the time.

I have big chocolate cravings, too! I like this recipe at CCK for a healthy, quick chocolate fix: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/11/06/one-minute-chocolate-cake/

Also, I've been doing chocolate milk with almond milk and mocha powder! Low cal, low fat and if you make it SUPER hot, it takes awhile to drink---meaning I feel like I'm REALLY indulging. Yum!

bump! ive done this too and yumo.. unsweetned almond milk and like ONE tbsp of the guiradelli hot cocoa mix and half tbsp of baking cocoa (and lil stevia) heat it up and YUMO hot cocoa and way lower cal/carb too..

Could be a bit of a chocolate addiction or just poor habits... Try eating protein instead like like cottage cheese, Greek yogurt (by the way chobani campions has a chocolate chip Greek yogurt that's really good.) or low fat string cheese.

But, the biggest thing I am going to tell you is to play mental games with yourself. Instead of reacting impulsively to your craving, STOP yourself and then convince yourself that there IS something even better than the chocolate you're craving and then eat an apple with peanut butter or a Greek yogurt ANYTHING but chocolate. Immediately after you've eaten that item, remove yourself from the kitchen... Pick up the phone, go for a walk, take a shower... Anything to get away from eating anything else for atleast 20 minutes. After 20 minutes the cravings should subside and you are effectively REtraining your brain... That is the only way to stop the cravings and urges... To not feed them... I liken it to driving the same route to work every day... You don't have to think about it or know the names of the streets, you just do it... BUT, if there were a major detour to work, you'd have to LEARN a new route... You'd have to stop and THINK about how to get there... It would likely take you longer to get to work... But, in a few days you'd been more comfortable with the new route and within about 30 days it would become habitual and you'd get so you wouldn't have to think about it anymore. In fact, if your "old" route became an option again, you may choose to not return to that option!

I used to have a horrible ice cream "addiction" that I realized was really just a bad eating habit. I practiced how to have one serving, SUCCESSFULLY... I practiced how to have a healthy relationship with food.... Check out my blogs..here is a link to one, about a candy bar!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/DawnEH612/view/the-candy-bar-phenomena-252332

Last night, I polished off a jar of Duncan Hines chocolate frosting. So, it's no guess that I am also a self-proclaimed chocoaholic. Sometimes I find the best thing is to add it in incrementally. So if you ate a small serving of dark chocolate everyday, it would be better than going into a chocolate rage (what happened to me the other night). But try not to beat yourself up over it! It's all about the learning process.

I was a chocolate addict too. My doctor put me on a body detox. It first detoxed the liver. Since useing that I havent craved any sweets, I may accationally think I might have one, but fear they will get in my system again so I dont want to start that up again. Its been almost a month.

Silk Almond Dark Chocolate Milk and Zico Chocolate Coconut Water both have been helping me survive my chocolate cravings personally.

I never expected so much support so quickly! I want to thank each and every one of you so, so much for your ideas and support. :flowerforyou: I don't mind dark chocolate, I'll definitely eat it if there's no milk chocolate in the house, but I really love milk chocolate, and MINT chocolate, so much. I've tried eating yogurt, honey and banana when I'm craving chocolate, but it really just doesn't solve those cravings! :ohwell: I feel like I'm never satisfied unless I've actually had a something solid, and chocolate, as a hot chocolate doesn't do it for me either. Do you guys think my addiction is something that will fade out as I'm only having a small amount of chocolate per day, where as I would usually binge on a bag of chocolates or a few bars? Much love xxx

Honestly, you mention above you FEEL like you're never satisfied... So I don't think your addiction is lessening. I work with drug addicts and alcoholics... It is a true disease. They cannot just have one drink, one line, one blunt, one pill... Whatever... If you truly think you have a chocolate addiction you may eat only one piece but you will still obsess and crave for more and more and more... Alcoholics Anonymous says this to alcoholics about alcohol... "Once you start controlling your drinking, you've already lost control."

I used to think that is how I was with my sweets, ice cream, etc. but now I know it was truly just poor habits, poor eating choices, poor impulse control. I truly did practice how to eat. I retrained my brains neuro-pathways... It isn't easy to do, at first, but it is possible and the longer you do it the easier and easier it gets!

That's why I suggest trying to convince yourself you WANT something else, as soon as the craving hits for chocolate... Tell yourself that there is something better... Then think about that other item... Start saying all the positive things about that food choice. If its watermelon, remind yourself how sweet and juicy it is and how cool it tastes. If its an apple tell yourself how you cant wait to bite into the crispy and crunchy sweetness of fall apples... If its yogurt think about how creamy and smooth and sweet and tangy it is and how it glides so easy down your mouth.

so much of this is mental.... You must play mind games... It WILL work, I conquered about 95% of my lifetime battle with food issues by playing games and coming up with tricks to help me overcome my mental obstacles... I feel free from the burden of food the majority of my life now... It's such a relief.

I definitely haven't figured out the secret to banishing the chocolate cravings for good but I saw somewhere the other day a food pamphlet explaining that when you're craving ____ your body actually needs ____ nutrients so eat _____ instead.

For chocolate, it suggests eating almonds. I tried it and it really did work. Granted, it doesn't always, but if even half your chocolate cravings can be satiated by almonds, you're doing ok!
The other thing I've switched to is Soleil dark chocolate yoghurt (not sure if they have it in the US) - I save that for when the almonds just don't work and suck up the 123 calories happily - it's so rich it deals with the cravings and at least you're getting some protein and calcium, too.

I will say though, everything DawnEH612 has said is spot on: you need to figure out if this really is an addiction or if it's just a bad eating habit you need to break. In the past month I've broken several bad habits, doing exactly what she suggests and I now don't eat pizza, drink soft drink or add sugar to anything. It's HARD at first, but if you stick to it, it becomes natural and the things you substitute end up tasting really good!

try mindfulness therapy for eating

I didn't know they actually had mindfulness therapy but I came upon mindfulness on my own on my journey...it's a great gift and THE BEST tool you can have!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/DawnEH612/view/mindfulness-the-greatest-gift-i-gave-myself-426862

i just don't deny myself cravings. i just eat in smaller portions and then move on. shoot... if you told me i had to give up something tasty... i wouldn't know what to do with myself.

Nothing in my eating is off limits, and I agree, nothing should be.. I have retrained myself to be able to eat the things I love in moderation and without obsessing! That's they key... I never used to be able to do that before... I just kept eating until it was all gone. What I have done, though, is found healthier things I enjoy, equally to my old nemesis, and enjoy even more than my old favorites.... its a result of retraining my brain... And it feels great and I never have to feel like "OMG, someone told me I have to give something tasty up and now I don't know what to do with myself..." I never panic about that anymore... Never.... It's very freeing!

I crave chocolate constantly I will have a chocolate pudding or a square of chocolate to ease the cravings if not I will find I am a raging lunatic.