I am addicted to chocolate and can't stop.

13

Replies

  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    Buy smaller serving size portions of chocolate each time you want them? Living close to a grocery store can be challenging, but if you have to leave your house, walk to the grocery, go inside, buy 1 piece of chocolate, walk home, and eat it every time you want chocolate it might make you take the time to think about it. I don't think I'd want the grocery store clerks to wonder why I was coming in four times a day to buy 1 piece of chocolate.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    I wonder if the problem is actually vanilla. It is one of the things which is slipped into food and is considered to be "good" as a flavouring. It is high in salicylate and it can be addictive, from experience. I am salicylat sensitive and it is a real pain.

    all the best
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,009 Member
    A lot of good ideas have been shared here; I hope you find at least one that works for you. I would not recommend eliminating all chocolate because it sounds like it may lead to a binge for you. I would recommend not having any chocolate in your house in order in minimize the possibility of a binge. I would suggest allowing you to go once a day to a store to purchase one piece of candy, which you allow, calorie-wise, into your daily amount. I would also recommend eating it when you are home; if you are out driving, you may just stop at another store and get more candy! You may wish to not have any food with just a little chocolate (like drizzled on a granola bar) because that may trigger a chocolate binge, as well. Just some thoughts...
  • Straitlover1965
    Straitlover1965 Posts: 39 Member
    The only chocolate I allow myself to have is homemade chocolate milk (skim milk w/ a little bit of Hershey's syrup) or low cal hot chocolate (from a puch). Any other chocolate I eat sends me into a big tailspin, and I will eat and eat until I'm sick. I cna't have the milk or cocoa too often or it will do the same, so I limit it to 2-3 times a week max.

    Sure I could have chocolate in the house and try to limit it (BTDT), but why make myself suffer needlessly? I know it's not exactly the same, but you don't tell a smoker trying to quit to leave a pack of smokes lying around. Best to just not be around it. I'm expending enough energy trying to lsose weight, so I don't have any extra to spare. Someday I will be able to work on being around chocolate and not eating it.
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,009 Member
    P.S. Chocolate truly is a wonderful thing.
  • Wol5894
    Wol5894 Posts: 127 Member
    Lots of good advice here, so I won't add to any confusion but I thought I would tell you a little story to make you smile and maybe understand how I, as a former chocaholic, now can't stand the stuff, except in VERY small amounts and then only really good quality, high percentage types (never less than 70%).

    How did it happen?

    I was sent on a 6-week training placement in a CHOCOLATE factory!

    Now, you say, that would be heaven and indeed it was for the first week or so. The smell of chocolate and the sight of it going through all the machinery in various forms, melted, as chocolate box chocolates, as solid bars, even as Easter eggs.

    However, by the 2nd week, the sense of heaven was beginning to wear off and whilst I still liked chocolate, I wasn't so bothered by it. Why? Because you can't get away from the all pervading smell of the stuff and it clings to your clothes and your hair. Now that is fine for a short time but it was beginning to get rather sickening.

    By the end of the 3rd week, I was really starting to dread going into the placement. I could smell the chocolate factory from 3 or 4 miles away because the prevailing wind was coming towards me as I travelled there. When I got there, the warmth and clinging smells literally wrapped around me and there was no escape. Lunchtimes became hellish because I might want a really nice meal but everything smelled and tasted of chocolate (ever tried a nice crisp salad with chicken and the whole thing tastes like it has been sprayed with a fine mist of chocolate all over? It's not nice, believe me!).

    The last straw came in my 5th week, when I was monitoring one of the workforce - their duties that day took them to the place where those small cream eggs were made (quite a few explode, believe me, when they are injected with the sweet creme) and then later they were on a production line where a certain bar that is full of bubbles was being made. Well, the sight of gas being pumped through liquid chocolate and then being piped onto the conveyor belt was just too much. My eyes looked at this and compared it with someone with diarrhoea and yet my nose was smelling chocolate. I HAD to leave what I was doing and go and throw up in the toilets!

    I DID make it through the whole 6 weeks but the last week was one helluva a struggle. And it took me ages to get the smell of chocolate out of my hair and clothes. But the one good thing was that I no longer craved chocolate! I suppose that it was Aversion Therapy in a fairly extreme form.

    Actually, just writing about it has brought back the memories and made me feel kinda sick....
  • UserConfirmed
    UserConfirmed Posts: 16
    You can consume chocolate by inhaling which avoids the calories.
  • laserturkey
    laserturkey Posts: 1,680 Member
    If buying just a small amount to have at home isn't an option, try having NONE of it at home but then going out to enjoy a treat like a single scoop of ice cream at an ice cream shop when you have room in your calories. The bother of having to go to the shop plus the higher cost might help you learn to pace yourself. You just have to muster the self-discipline not to order a triple-scoop when you go.
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    Hi everyone,

    I've been doing all right. 36 lbs down since Nov 2012. Not as fast as I'd like, but hey...a loss is a loss!

    But my problem is this: Everyone pretty much agrees that we shouldn't cut what we love the most out of our diet completely, or we'll fail. I agree. But it seems with chocolate, I absolutely cannot control myself if I've purchased it. I will eat ALL of whatever it is I've bought. Even dark chocolate. I can't seem to limit myself to "one square a day" or "one 100-cal fudgescicle" a day.

    But if I deny myself chocolate, it will inevitably start to invade my thoughts and I will obsess about it until I have my sweet fix...and that fix isn't just one piece of chocolate...it's one of the large candy bars (for example, an organic chocolate bar the size of a king sized Symphony) or nearly an entire box of the aforementioned fudgesicles.

    I don't know how to stop. Because I know people will ask here is my info: 5'2", currently 210.4 lb, I originally had my cals set to 1380 but just upped them to 1580 because I couldn't stick with 1380. That is a 1 lb a week weight loss. For the past week I've struggled and eaten around my maintenance calories. I do not feel like opening my diary to the public and having you scrutinize my food choices at this time; I only want the question answered about beating a specific food addiction.

    There's two sides to this so bear with me.

    side 1: physical addiction
    side 2: psychological addiction.

    Let's go for side 2 first because it's quicker. I'm telling you how I've done it, so maybe it's not a good fit for you, take it or leave it. :)

    Psychological addiction. Explore it. Do you feel like you are 'missing out?' I used to. One day I realised, however, that I'm not missing out. I can have it at the end of the diet/ tomorrow. Whatever. I'm not missing anything that I can't handle missing.

    I also will eat all chocolate until it is gone, except for cooking chocolate. I was going through a phase of breaking it into 2 squares and refrigerating it broken - allowing myself one. this quickly deteriorated. :D

    So now I have evolved to this point: if I'm gagging for some chocolate, I'll go down to the shop and buy a freddo frog. I don't wait till I'm nuts about it. I make sure I'm not hungry ever, enough to trigger my brain's survival 'get chocolate' reflex. But if needs must, I'll have a smackerel of something. A small smidge of something. And I really enjoy it. :) Sante bars are good, freddo frogs if you get them where you live, a small handful of chocolate caramels from the pick and mix at the supermarket. Whatever floats my boat on the day. :D

    Physical addiction: yes. i get this. I therefore try to last as many days without chocolate as i can. If i have not had chocolate for over a week, I find I can look at it without eating it. its power over me wanes... but give me one taste? it's all on! and it can take me 2 weeks and 2 kilos to escape its evil clutches.


    You'll see clearly a complete hypocrisy in what I'm saying. On the one hand I say little and when you want it: on the other I say 'get away from it and don't touch till the addiction's gone.' I sort of amalgamate them into

    "when you're gasping for a choccy fix, first eat something. Something with peanut butter or cheese in it. if you're still gagging for some choc go buy some small thing. But don't let yourself go into the shop hungry or you will make baaaaaad choices."

    You can savour that sante bar for an hour and get the same delight out of it as a whole family bar gutsed in one frantic sitting. But you won't wake up the next morning wishing you hadn't done it. :)

    I love it. Mostly, because you said "smackerel". But the rest too. :flowerforyou:
  • MeRoHa
    MeRoHa Posts: 95 Member
    I am also a die hard chocoholic. My strategy for the past few months has been to have those small after dinner chocolate covered mint patties. They are a limited amount of calories and somehow the mint combined with the chocolate seems to be more satisfying.
  • stellar8869
    stellar8869 Posts: 1 Member
    I have the same problem as you I have lost about the same as well at 33lbs total. When I first started watching what I ate I completely cut out all chocolate and the weight came off quicker and I didn't crave it nearly as much. Now that I am eating it again I fluctuate down 4 lbs up 5 down 2 up 1. It sucks!!! Honestly my problem is people know I love chocolate so they get me it for me like for instance my birthday I was put on a sugar high!!! Or my mom will make me brownies if I come for dinner. Then I feel obligated to eat it. This process sucks then causes me to crave sugar throughout the day. The only thing I can suggest is to go cold turkey. Maybe not let it in the house at all. If you can do it I guarantee you wont crave it as much. But you have to be consistent cause well I have not been and now I am stuck at the same weight.
  • SEvansHB
    SEvansHB Posts: 17 Member
    I think if it's really hindering your weight loss, then you should look at it as a true addiction. Alcoholics do not drink alcohol, at all. Perhaps you need to cut chocolate, 100%. Have you tried Quest proteins bars? You get them at GNC, they are the lowest in carbs and sugar and I love them. They make a chocolate fudge brownie one that is amazing.
  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
    Try buying a smaller bar. You'll still get your chocolate fix but won't be in danger of eating too much of it.

    Definitely don't keep a chocolate supply in the house!

    ^This

    That way when you get home you can eat all of what you have, but you won't have that much.

    However, if it's a true addiction . . .

    When I quit smoking, I told myself "I can have a cigarette if I want to," but I stopped buying cigarettes. The first two weeks of quitting, I had dreams of smoking, and I would wake up startled by how real it seemed. My last cigarette was over 10 years ago. I bummed one off a friend while at a bar in New York. I did not enjoy it because I was no longer addicted to the nicotine. However, if I really wanted one, I guess I could have one. I just don't want one.

    If you are addicted to chocolate SO badly that you can't have just one, you have to (metaphorically) 'smoke the whole pack', stop buying it.

    I'm not saying NEVER have chocolate again. But if you're THAT helpless and you think it's undermining your progress, stop buying it. If you're at a restaurant, and you're having a meal, and you get a chocolate dessert there, at the restaurant, fine. But don't let yourself take chocolate home if you literally can't stop at one serving.

    And if you think you're truly addicted, it's not just a trigger food that makes you overeat in general, maybe get some counseling to see what's really going on with you mentally/emotionally. Addiction is a disease.
  • tennyllia4
    tennyllia4 Posts: 36
    OOooo what a topic....This is also my addiction. I buy single pieces ONLY and don't have any in the house for SAFETY reasons...lol I also try to eat healthier chocolate like dark chocolate covered almonds ect...Good Luck : )
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
    Here's a crazy idea -- eat as much chocolate as you want.

    Chocolate has power over you because you restrict it. What if you just ate it whenever you wanted, as much as you wanted? Sure, you might gain a little bit at first if it puts you over your maintenance calories (and that's a big if), but after a little while, I guarantee you won't have uncontrollable cravings anymore. You can lose any incidental weight gain again (again, this isn't necessarily even going to happen), but you will have gained something really important and will be able to move past this.

    Eat it mindfully. Don't eat it in front of the TV. Concentrate on the taste, look at it, smell it.
    Eat until you are satisfied. Remember, you can always have more when you want it later. No need to stuff yourself until you feel sick or can't eat another bite.
    Don't feel guilty! There is nothing wrong with giving your body what it wants. In time, when you really realize you can have whatever you want and nothing is "bad", your body will want what makes it feel good, and that will be what's good for you. Trust yourself.
  • AllyCatXandi
    AllyCatXandi Posts: 329 Member
    How did it happen?

    I was sent on a 6-week training placement in a CHOCOLATE factory!

    This actually is what happened to my grandma! Not that she was trying to quit chocolate or anything, but when she started working at a chocolate factory she and the other employees were told they could eat AS MUCH AS THEY WANTED. Heaven for a lifelong chocoholic, right?

    So for the first day or two she ate EVERYTHING. Then got really sick from having done so.

    And after that, didn't want any of it :laugh:
  • lynalinda
    lynalinda Posts: 37 Member
    I'm personally like that too, i can't control my chocolate consumption, if there's a huge box, i'll eat it all in one or too sittings. So now my trick is to pick a day in the week where i can have chocolate, but a normal size portion. What i mean by that is that i'm going to buy like a small size cream and cookie hershey's bar ( the 220 cal one) and eat it all, it will satisfy my craving, and i will not be frustrated because i got the chance to eat all the tablet in one go and i'll be done, until next week where i might pick another candy but in a smaller size. etc
  • gymchick3101
    gymchick3101 Posts: 2
    I share your addiction. A friend of mine suggested that, for a week or so, I consume a majority of my daily calories in chocolate. Sounds crazy right? Bear with me. We've all had that certain food that we used to eat as kids where we ate SO MUCH of it that we became sick of it. This happened with me with cottage cheese. I ate it so much that for years just the thought of it made me sick. Theoretically, this could also work with chocolate.
    Sounds crazy, but it may be worth a try?
  • michellewelch2010
    michellewelch2010 Posts: 147 Member
    I remembered reading that our cravings mean something... That we are deficient in a vitamin or mineral. For chocolate it's magnesium. I just googled it and pasted it below. Maybe try adding magnesium rich foods to your diet? And switch to dark chocolate, or I like to make homemade chocolate frozen yogurt with Truvia.

    Chocolate.
    If you crave chocolate, it doesn’t mean your body has a chocolate deficiency, although I think most people would prefer that. Chocolate is high in magnesium. Cravings for it often indicate that your body is deficient in magnesium, which is a common deficiency. If you’re going to eat chocolate, choose organic cocoa and mix it into a healthy smoothie, or eat a small amount of dark chocolate. Because that is unlikely enough to deal with a magnesium deficiency, it’s also important to eat other foods high in magnesium, such as nuts, seeds, fish, and leafy greens.

    Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/what-your-cravings-mean.html#ixzz2um5tx8mp
  • ticribbs
    ticribbs Posts: 120 Member
    Could you incorporate it more into your day? That's what I do. Most mornings I have a chocolate Ensure banana shake for breakfast, chocolate Quaker rice crisps as a snack and cocoa covered almonds as a snack. I also get protein bars that are pretty much all chocolate, South Beach has a good dark chocolate one. That pretty much sets me for chocolate, which I love btw. Not saying I wouldn't love double chocolate layer cake (like all of it) with chocolate ice cream, but I'm making a lifestyle change and this is part of it :)

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