A Sugar free life?

I'd go cold turkey.

One thing that I do sometimes is get a mini-chocolate square from a local shop. They're only 25 cents each, so I could stock up and have them in my desk.. But I know myself and I know I will eat it. Buying them single makes me eat them single! I also try to limit what's in my cupboards.. There's nights when I'm grateful there's no junk around because I know hands down I would have eaten it all!

As far as logging goes, you can always just quick add the calories only. You don't have to say what it is, but if you're calorie counting then you should at the very least log that you had those calories so you're being realistic.

One thing I ask myself too when it comes to junk.. Is does it taste as good as reaching your goal will feel?

Hope this helps.

Cold turkey is hard but gets you through it quicker.. Is the massive sweet tooth first thing though because you are hungry - what about having a much bigger breakfast? as a rule we turn to sugar when we have not had enough food (or emotional eating which is another matter) and also habit. If you feel you need to cut it out completely to ditch the habit then do but you have to plan quite carefully what you will replace it with

good luck

I relate.

I've tried to switch to all 'sourced' sugars. For example, sugar in an apple is ok. Added sugar in a store-bought pasta sauce, not so ok. (That one's a challenge. Difficult to find pasta sauce without added sugar.)

The sugar macro on MFP won't differentiate between these two, so it's up to me to be conscientious. It starts when I shop; I have to read labels, and I have to buy only the foods which are best for me.

Good luck!

Hey folks!
I get massive sweet tooth in the morning, some days I'm able to move on and be okay with it or have something small like a fiber one chocolate chip granola bar and there are those others where oops I just ate a whole pint of ice cream. Then I feel like I just ruined my whole day. But I don't log it because I'm embarrassed. I don't want to be embrassed by my food log.
I've been told to cut it out slowly, limits, I've been doing that okay. But I'm thinking about just going cold turkey. Any thoughts or suggestions?

If you can quit cold turkey great but then again, why do that to yourself. Try fruit and protein in the morning. Protein helps keep you full and fruit helps with the sweet craving. I mix the fruit in with yogurt or oatmeal. This has worked pretty well for me but I still allow myself a coupe of squares of dark chocolate a few nights a week and ice cream right after a hard workout. The key there is moderation and not beating yourself up.

Im awful if I have it I dont seem to have an off button. I find it very difficult just to eat a cube of chocolate if there is a whole bar there or just one biscuit instead of 5. I also get embarrassed and dont like it when people see me eating junk so im more likely to eat quickly and dont actually enjoy it as I feel so guilty.

Im trying cold turkey with sugary treats, its been 2 weeks, had a little blip here and there with some chocolate raisons and some jaffa cakes but otherwise kept in control. Its a killer though, im having bad cravings today and I know I could demolish a whole bar of chocolate so really trying hard today and distracting myself with fruit as it gives me something to pick at.

I cut processed sugars cold turkey and was amazaed how fast the cravings went away. Completely gone in less than 2 weeks. I also cut out bananas - highest sugar content of fruit and red apples - higher sugar content than Granny Smiths.

Protein!! I promise if you increase your protein intake, your cravings will diminish I'm a sugar feen and i have a high protein diet and i don't crave it anymore!! Except you know sometimes the TOM

I would suggest that you are having 'cravings' for one of 2 reasons or a combination of the 2..the first one is that you are not eating enough, the second is because you may be having too much sugar. Based on the limited information in your profile...

You are 27
your calories are 1350
you are SUPER ACTIVE AT WORK "50-60 hours a week and I am always traveling around Massachusetts. My life is crazy"
You don't have much to lose <35 lbs..

SO.. I'm going to go with #1. 1350 is WAY low.

Read here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/510406-tdee-is-everything
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/477666-eating-for-future-you-method

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

So change your Goals to be less aggressive. If you are constantly hungry, you're doing it wrong.

Hi,

I totally empathise with you on this!!

There are so many contradcitory messages out there.

What happens if you go cold turkey? Some people say that you will probably have headaches, cravings etc. for about a week but then because your body gets used to it, you will no longer need / want sugary foods. Other people say that by cutting it out of your life entirely you will crave it more and eventually cave and have a big fat binge!!

So what do you do?

I have tried both.

I found that for me cutting it out entirely just made me think about it all the more, I went 6 months avoiding sugary foods (so it wasn't only a week and then I was fine - I was never fine)!! I eventually caved and would have the biggest binges e.g. a 400g Galaxy Cookie bar and a full box of choc chip cookies - now this is a lot worse than if when I fancied something sweet I had something sweet surely.

So then I tried the having something sweet when I fancied it and in moderation option, and I found that again I was probably eating more of it (not a binge but still more often during the week) than I wanted to.

THEN - I developed my own individual way - I allow myself a snack bar in the evening after my dinner it is a EAT NATURAL cranberry, coconut and nuts bar with a thin layer of dark chocolate. The cranberries are a dried fruit and so I get natural sugars from that. The coconut offers a nice sweet taste and the dark chocolate (which is better than any other kind of chocolate and does have health benefits) also gives me that little bit of chocolate. At only 162kcal per bar I ensure my I allow this to fit in my 1410kcal daily calorie goal!!

Other sweet things like gooey caramel cheesecake, chocolate fudge cakes etc etc. I will not and don't want to eat on a regular basis however, I do allow myself 1 cheat meal per week (I do prefer savoury foods so I prefer to save my cheat meal for things like a Chinese, or a nice cheesy homemade lasagne, or a bit of garlic bread with my dinner instead of sweet stuff - and note it is a cheat MEAL not cheat DAY) so if I do sometimes plan a nice dessert into my week ONCE after my dinner - but like I say that isn't often because I prefer to cheat with savoury things.

The point is I think it is all down to the individual and what suits you, your preferences and circumstances!!

MFP really helps though because no matter what you eat you can keep track of it all day throughout the day and really you shouldn't fail if you are making the better options.

Good luck :-)

If you're not logging the food you eat, you're only cheating yourself. You need to hold yourself accountable for the choices you make or you will never be able to change your habits. Start logging EVERYTHING.