Trying to quit sugar...AUGH!

MFP says that I can have 54 g of sugar per day. Did you change your diary settings to give yourself less for any reason?

Why not have a little every day. Not "low sugar salad dressing" but a little chocolate, 1 serving of gummy bears, etc. Pre-portion your sweets and leave room for them in your daily calories. You'll be happier and you'll feel less deprived/less likely to go overboard because you'll know you can have your treats again the following day.

but now I'm starting to gain because I have been eating so ...

...many calories.

but now I'm starting to gain because I have been eating so ...

...many calories.

This.

There is no valid reason to deprive yourself of sweets completely. I don't know about you but the instant something is put off limits for myself or anyone else I know, that's exactly what's craved. Fit it into your calorie allotment and enjoy it. No, you can't eat candy, cookies, and cakes all day and expect to not gain weight but you can easily have something every day and lose weight.

I love sweets myself. I save them for after dinner.. I cut up pineapple and I buy a bar of dark chocolate. I'll have two or three pieces of chocolate and eat it with my pineapple! It's really sweet and it's totally satisfying. I bought donut holes from trader Joe's and man were they good. 250 calories for 4! So I limited myself to two! Yes leave room for your sweets in you diary and use appropriate portions.

I am a sugar-aholic! I have no other unhealthy aflictions except that I...LOVE...SUGAR! Not necessarily "carbs", although of course sugar = carbs; but I don't mind the absence of breads, pastas or potatoes...but desserts, oy! I crave it every single day. Chocolate of all kinds, chewey candy (like gummy bears), cakes, cookies...when I'm despearate, I even scrounge for chocolate chips used for baking!

I'm starting to read labels and look for sugar grams on them to keep my sugar grams at about 25 per day. I ate a high fiber/protein cereal for breakfast with soy milk and a nice spinach / vegetable salad with lean protein for lunch - and the salad dressing only had 1 gram of sugar. But now, it is taking every ounce of will power (that I'm not sure I have) to ignore the desire to get a candy bar or eat a pop-tart.

I recently lost 30 lbs and have kept it off for 8 months, but now I'm starting to gain because I have been eating so much sugary foods. What can I eat instead that may help me feel satisfied in place or candy? How do people actually quit sugar? HELP!

What's worked to keep my sugar and salt and fat and anything else urges under control is intermittent fasting. I used to always try to have a "healthY" breakfast and snacks and all that jazz and I never could seem to control myself. I read about IF on here last year and it just seemed right to me. I don't tend to *want* breakfast. I now usually don't eat until after noon and usually am done eating by 8-10 p.m. I'm female so I don't go for a super long fasting stretch, but I've found this really works for me. When I do eat, I eat mostly "real" foods - fruits, veggies, dairy products, meats, etc. I tend to stay away from the "high fiber, high protein, etc." type of stuff that has added ingredients to up the fiber and/or protein because I've found that it usually doesn't taste great and it leaves me feeling like I need something better.

What has also helped, I think, is that I don't worry about fat count. My carb/fat/protein ratios are set at 40/30/30 and I'm often way over on fat and protein. When I have a spinach salad, I usually have cheese on it as well as full fat dressing or a fattier cut of meat. Just eating a salad that's light on protein and/or fat sets me up for serious urges to over eat later on. I eat a good sized lunch, snack if I need it, and a fairly large dinner and save several hundred calories for the evening when I might want something. Sometime's it's 1/2 slice of cheesecake or a cupcake and sometimes it's cheese and crackers and sometimes it might even be a salad - whatever I want. I found that knowing that I *could* have my cake every night if I wanted to took away the *need* to have it all the time.

but now I'm starting to gain because I have been eating so ...

...many calories.

This is the crux of the matter.. but if you're like me eating sugar creates sugar cravings. not eating sugar equals no sugar cravings. Once I get it out of my system I don't crave it, I don't want it. It can be on my counter in my kitchen and I won't touch it.

So, if that's you. Go all in cold turkey and don't give up. At least that's the only thing that works for me.

2 weeks and i'm good to go

What did you eat for two weeks??

High protein, high fiber foods. vegetables and low sugar fruits. Limited cheese (almost no cheese really), greek yogurt, cottage cheese, sugar free jam.. there are a lot of options out there. - ps i posted what i am eating today above.

but now I'm starting to gain because I have been eating so ...

...many calories.

This is the crux of the matter.. but if you're like me eating sugar creates sugar cravings. not eating sugar equals no sugar cravings. Once I get it out of my system I don't crave it, I don't want it. It can be on my counter in my kitchen and I won't touch it.

So, if that's you. Go all in cold turkey and don't give up. At least that's the only thing that works for me.

2 weeks and i'm good to go

What did you eat for two weeks??

High protein, high fiber foods. vegetables and low sugar fruits. Limited cheese (almost no cheese really), greek yogurt, cottage cheese, sugar free jam.. there are a lot of options out there. - ps i posted what i am eating today above.

I thought you said no sugar....there is sugar in fruits and vegetables and well most things we eat!

but now I'm starting to gain because I have been eating so ...

...many calories.

This is the crux of the matter.. but if you're like me eating sugar creates sugar cravings. not eating sugar equals no sugar cravings. Once I get it out of my system I don't crave it, I don't want it. It can be on my counter in my kitchen and I won't touch it.

So, if that's you. Go all in cold turkey and don't give up. At least that's the only thing that works for me.

2 weeks and i'm good to go

What did you eat for two weeks??

High protein, high fiber foods. vegetables and low sugar fruits. Limited cheese (almost no cheese really), greek yogurt, cottage cheese, sugar free jam.. there are a lot of options out there. - ps i posted what i am eating today above.

I thought you said no sugar....there is sugar in fruits and vegetables and well most things we eat!

SO predictable. LOL

Initially I said no *added* sugar. (forgot the word added in my second post, my bad) My diet, My choice. I don't need your approval,. OP asked a question, I answered. End of discussion.

:drinker:

I found that knowing that I *could* have my cake every night if I wanted to took away the *need* to have it all the time.

Just in to say that this ^^ made the biggest difference for me! If I "can't" have something, then, oh my god, do I want that thing every minute of every day. But if I utilize just a slight language change and say it's not that I can't have something, it's that I'm choosing not to, then it puts me in control of the situation instead of being this powerless victim to temptation/cravings/emotional eating. If I know I'm full and don't need to eat dessert (even though I want to and, many times, have eaten dessert way past being full!), I'll say to myself, "Man, I really want that dessert but I'm full so I'm choosing not to eat it. If I still want dessert later, I can have some in a couple hours (or after the next meal or tomorrow or whenever)." Once I get through that, I'll find that by the time a couple hours or tomorrow or whenever rolls around, I'm usually not tempted anymore--but if I still want dessert then, I'll have it!

Also, I know that this is tough for a lot of people to do but my best friend sets aside 200 cals for dessert every day and portions out a couple pieces of chocolate or a serving of ice cream and that's worked for her!