My name is Stephanie… and I am a Sweets-Aholic!!!

I wish I could help....but I'm also a Sweets-aholic. So I'm joining your club lol best think I do is pack my lunch so I don't eat out and eat a pre-planned dinner and then go workout or just go straight to bed....over time it does get easier because the cravings aren't so intense. But the first week will be hard. :-/

Just because you're trying to loose weight and get healthy it doesn't mean you have to cut out sweets. What I'd recommend doing is spend a little time online, just go to google and type in "low calorie" or "low fat" or "low sugar" in front of your favourite treats and I guarantee you'll find some great recipes. Also, try checking out your local health food store or organic section of your supermarket. They're lots of healthy options that are still satisfying for your taste buds. For example a few weeks ago I switched from skim milk to vanilla almond milk, it tastes really good, is low in calories, and still has a good amount of calcium. It's all about little changes, in stead of having ice cream have some greek yogurt (I'm quite partial to oikos key lime), it's still got the creamy taste and texture of ice cream but it's a lot lighter on fat and sugar.

The most important thing, which I'm sure you already know, is portion size. That was my biggest struggle, getting myself to just eat 1 cookie instead having 4. It's a lot of effort to exercise self control when it comes to food we like but if you want it enough you'll get through this tough bit and fell better for it.

Hope that helps and good luck.

P.S. if you're having a sugar craving why not try some sugar free gum instead, still sweet and will take your mind off snacking.

Pre-log your diary and schedule yourself to have one item after you have dinner or whatever meal you'd prefer. Pre-log the rest of your food as well, so if you /want/ more you'll know that it won't fit within your plan and eat one of the other snacks/items that you planned instead.

It works.

ETA: Oh, and my name's also Stephanie and I can relate.

I can so relate to this as I have a bit of (okay a very large) sweet tooth. I love to have a sweet after a meal, I think of it as a palate cleanser. And with the recent insurgence of Halloween candy into our house (even thought we gave out fruit and vedgetable juice my daughter has a huge back of candy from trick-or-treating) I found my cravings becoming stronger. But you know what has saved my bacon, dried prunes (not sweetened with sugar). They are just the perfect amount of sweet and just the right size for just 1 bite. I bought a huge bag from Costco a few months and I have 1-2 day and they have managed to curb my cravings.

Aldi's sells some really good protein bars. I like the caramel nut ones and my wife likes the cookie dough. They only have around 190 calories each. I need something sweet after my 8pm workout and it's great if you refrigerate it.

I'm a Sweets-aholic too, more specifically, a Choc-aholic.

The numerous times before that I've tried to lose weight and get healthy, I cut out most, if not all, of the sweets from my diet. I tried eating fruit instead because everyone said that it was a great substitute. But, like you, I still wanted sweets. I always say that when I have a craving for brownies, for example, nothing else is going to satisfy that craving. I've even tried that, substituting something less bad for me (like low fat pound cake with strawberries) for something I'm craving (like a sundae). It never worked.

So this time, I let myself have something sweet everyday. I don't have anything sweet at breakfast (unless you count certain types of cereal), I have three squares of Dove dark chocolate with lunch, and then something for dessert after dinner, usually some type of ice cream. It keeps my sweet tooth at bay, but I'm still losing weight. So I say, have some sweets, just don't overdo it.
(and FYI - York ice cream snacks are satisfying and only 180 calories and if you're having a chocolate craving, I recommend Milky Way ice cream bars, also at 180 calories each)

Also, I found this recipe to be quite good for a desert. My boyfriend even likes them!

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/09/06/no-flour-black-bean-brownies/

Great idea, Stephanie! Makes sense!

Have you tried gum? There are some pretty good ones out there that help me when I want something sugary. I don't remember who makes it but they have a mint chocolate chip one that helps when the chocolate monster rears it's ugly head!

I can relate....I used to eat upwards of 1/2 pound of candy every day. And I mean *every* day. We're not talking youthful indiscretion here. This was earlier this year. I know I'll never be "cured"--I can only manage it by actively choosing to eat differently. My food diary is open--as you can see, I eat 2, sometimes 3 sweet things every day. To me, fruit is not a dessert. Neither is yogurt.

Here's what has worked for me: I have put cheap, regular candy (the kind that comes in economy-sized bags) on my no-fly list until after I make my goal. It's my trigger food, and it's easier for me to just not start and not have it in the house. Here's what I have instead:

1. Sweets with high fiber. Fiber One chewy granola bars have 9 grams of fiber and are delicious. The fiber slows down the sugar absorption into the bloodstream so I don't get the usual spike and crash. Plus, it helps you feel full for a couple of hours. Vitamuffins and Vitabrownies (I order the mixes and bake them myself, it's much less expensive) also have a lot of fiber, are delicious, and have only 100 calories each. With these treats, you don't want to eat more than one or two in a day or the GI distress will come back to bite you. Built-in disincentive to binge! :embarassed:

2. Premium dark chocolate. The expensive, creamy kind. So intense, one row of squares (or less) is plenty. Plus, it's $4-5 a bar, another disincentive to binge. I can't afford a $300/month chocolate budget!

3. Palate cleanser after a meal: I have discovered flavored tea. Republic of Tea makes a chocolate series--I *love* the Coconut Cocoa one! 3 calories. That plus one row of Green & Black's 70% Dark Chocolate really feels like a treat.

I've been doing this for 11 weeks now and lose consistently every week. Good luck!

Where can we find how much exercise works of what foods?

I tried to cut it all out completely and it was a big failure :sad:

I fell hard last week (Halloween treats in the house calling my names ...Let's say I heard them )

So I logged everything , saw how crazy it was ....Now I will allow myself 1 a day and see how this will work :drinker:

I need to tame that cookie monster :bigsmile: