Gone mostly sugar free and struggling

Do you have a medical condition that is making you cut out sugar? Otherwise it's fine to keep eating foods with sugar, just fit them into your calorie allotments In order to succeed you need to do this in a way that's sustainable long term. Don't box yourself in with pointless rules and restrictions-that's a sure way to fail. You're already struggling now-how on earth are you going to keep doing what you're doing for 20, 30, 40+ more years?!

i did something like this years and year's ago. i also had an horrendous sweet tooth (candy, going through bags of sugar a week for koolaid, putting extra sugar in cereal, etc).

i found going col turkey was really most needed for me considering i was going to sleep with candy in my mouth lots of times :laugh: so there was no such thing as "just fit it in and eat a small amount".

i stuck with the diet for about 4 months (i know it wasnt 6). i still got cravings every now and again the entire time, but it wasn't until after the fact that they pretty much stopped. now almost a decade later i still havent redeveloped a sweet tooth. in fact , many things are too sweet for me .

oh yeah i didnt do it for weight loss, but mainly to avoid getting more cavities and eating crazy amounts of candy

I find when I crave sugar it is usually also something high in fat. If I keep my daily fat intake high enough I find that I don't have the uncontrollable sugar cravings, and if I don't keep my fats high enough I crave the sugar.

And I'm an all or nothing kind of person, I can never just have one sweet. It has to be the entire box. Then another and another.

Then the next day I feel headachey and quite often depressed.

Honestly, your all or nothing attitude may lead to you being unable to sustain your weight loss. I think now would be the best time to practice moderation. It's not going to be easy, but if you are having such issues, both physically and mentally, then maybe a different approach is needed.

Theres something in sugar that causes me depression and makes me binge eat.

Thats why I've given it up.

Oh honey, no. No, no, no. Your body doesn't recognize the sugar in sweets as being different than the sugar in fruit, or veggies, or dairy, or anything else. It all gets processed the same way.

It sounds like your issue is more psychological than physical. You associate sweets with bingeing and feeling bad about yourself, so you're thinking it's something in the sweets. It's not the food. What's going on that is causing the binge? Do you associate sweets with feelings of comfort or coping? Are you bored? Do you view sweets as "bad" and then figure you've already crossed the line, so you keep going as a way to punish yourself for doing it? If you can pinpoint the reason behind the behavior, it is easier to confront it and change it.

Oh yeah - someone had the SAME plan as me for January - going sugar-free!!

I began January 2nd and am planning on seeing this thru the end of the month. No sweets, none of it.

The beginning of the month - the first week - I had the WORST headaches! For about three days, pounding headaches. I was eating a LOT of sugar before, so I think that was the withdrawals kicking in. Since then though, it's been OK.

I've had my moments of temptation, but all-in-all, it's been OK. I'm only planning to do this for 30 days though, and then see if I can slowly reintroduce sugar - in limited quantities - back into my diet. See, I don't know about YOU, but for ME, in the past when trying to diet, sugar was a "trigger" for me.... I'd see a cookie or something and thing "Well, it's only one cookie - I can have just one. That won't mess-up my calories TOO bad." So I'd eat it... but then 5 minutes later, I'd eat another... then another.... and within a half-hour I'd basically consumed 500 calories of crap and then feel horrible after, because I lost control. We all lose control now and again with food, I'm sure - but with sugar, it was almost a guarantee that I would binge.

I made the goal to give it up completely in January, party for nutritional reasons but mostly as a mental kick-in-the-pants, so-to-speak: I NEEDED to prove to myself that I didn't NEED sugar. That I could not only go 1 day without eating it, but that I could go 30 days! It's day 21 now for me, and I'm confident I'll make it to day 30 (January 31st) going the entire time without sugar. At that point, I am going to try to allow myself a once-weekly "treat" and see how that goes. To avoid binging, whatever my "treat" is will be purchased and eaten in a single portion - no half-gallon of ice cream sitting in my freezer, or baking myself a pan of brownies and promising myself I'll "just eat 1" or whatever.... cause that hasn't worked for me in the past. So beginning in February, I'll try allowing myself a once-a-week "treat" that gets eaten on the spot.... and see how that goes. If it triggers some binge, it's back off sugar completely again.... But anyway, guess we'll wait and see.

My advice to beat sugar cravings? Drink LOTS of water.... eat at regular intervals & fill-up on healthier alternatives.... and take it a day at a time. Sometimes no matter WHAT you do, you still crave the sweet - I've been there a few times this month too. Ya just gotta suck it up, commit to your commitment, and focus on just getting thru "today" without sugar.

I find if I just get thru "today" - then "tomorrow" I wake up feeling proud of myself... which gives me a little more motivation and drive to get thru my next "today" - know what I mean? Good luck!