Newbie with sugar cravings...

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loushep
loushep Posts: 191
in Introduce Yourself
Hi, my name is louise and i have just joined this site. I think the site itself is fabulous and i'm so pleased to have found it however i don't yet have any friends on here :( so anyone looking for a newbie to chat to and maybe give some helpul advice/hints and tips to, add me :)
My weight at the moment is 200lbs and my goal is 140. My downfall is sweets and chocolate so i'm dreading the sugar cravings kicking in (anytime now!) if anyone has any advice how to overcome this or at least make it more tolerable please let me know. Thankyou.

Replies

  • chelseyq7
    chelseyq7 Posts: 9 Member
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    I have a sweet tooth as well, and some treats I'd recommend are sugar free/fat free pudding snacks, fat free/sugar free frozen yogurt, weight watchers and breyers both make nice ice cream diet snacks. those usually take care of the chocolate craving for me. otherwise just allow yourself one piece a day. maybe a hershey kiss or something similar. Good luck!
  • loushep
    loushep Posts: 191
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    Hi, yes i think i will buy in some sugar free sweets that i know of just to have handy for moments of weakness. Some of the things you mention i couldn't buy ( I live in England) but i'm sure there will be English alternatives. I only just started today so it will take some time for me to shop around and find foods that fit into my plan. I'm a bit too weak willed to allow myself just one, it ends up being one packet so i'm going to try avoidance and see how far i get with that! Thanks for replying and good luck with your weight loss too (although you already look slim in your photo). Are you near your goal?
  • ScorchPA
    ScorchPA Posts: 23
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    IF you can find it, there is an "Ice Cream" made by Arctic Zero that has only 150 calories for a PINT!!! It's an excellent way to curb your cravings

    I buy it at Whole Foods.
  • cozzy530
    cozzy530 Posts: 46
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    I also have a bad sweet tooth. Try getting the Clif builder bars. They taste pretty good and I eat half of one as a morning snack and the other half in the afternoon. They have 4-5 different flavors and if you get them at a wholesaler, amazon, BJ's, Costco they are only about $1.25 each. The protein is good for you so it is better than candy or cakes. I like to look at the calories and see how much I have to work out to burn that sweet. A 3-4 mile run is required to burn off one candy bar so do I really want it that bad?
  • loushep
    loushep Posts: 191
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    Thanks Scorch, i'll look for that. I'm not particularly an ice-cream fan but if i'm craving something i can't have then i'm pretty sure i'd be glad to have ice-cream.
  • loushep
    loushep Posts: 191
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    Thanks Cozzy, i've never heard of them but i'll have a look on Amazon. I'm imagining they're something like the bars you get on the Cambridge diet, which i liked. Thats a good tip, seeing how much exercise i'd have to do to burn off a particular treat.
  • pinktreehands
    pinktreehands Posts: 18
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    Fruit can be your best friend in these situations!! Really sweet fruits, like bananas for instance, can be turned into deserts! I recently saw a recipe for grilled banana (simply brush with canola oil and grill lightly) and then drizzle with sugar free maple syrup or sugar free chocolate syrup! This way you are getting a sweet fix, but also nutrients that are so beneficial, and usually missing in the packaged "diet" sweets! Get creative and find easy quick recipes (because none of us like to wait when the sweet tooth kicks in!). Since you said you wanted to practice avoidance (which is what I do for the most part) I thought this might help! Fruit deserts have even gotten me through PMS crisis!
  • lauraweeks
    lauraweeks Posts: 3 Member
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    I am not much of a craver of sugar as I am a craver of salt...I have been trying to reduce my salt intake because I have high blood pressure and it is very hard. I even put salt on my fruit (which tastes really good)...are there any alternatives to salt? If so, I would love to hear. I am also trying to drink more water. Any recipes for good water?
  • mapinkerton
    mapinkerton Posts: 147
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    Fruit helps me to deal with my sugar cravings. Also you can cut the sugar in many recipes without altering the overall taste of the recipe. I also use Splenda Blend in some of my recipes. You use HALF as much Splenda Blend as you would sugar. Sugar free pudding is darned tasty! Try to find ways to make your favorite recipes healthier.

    There are some things that I REALLY like. So I find room in my daily food intake and have a SMALL portion. Those little rewards help you to not feel so deprived.

    Good Luck!
  • loushep
    loushep Posts: 191
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    WOW i love this website. Just picked the kids up from school, stress levels going up and i really want a choc fix to calm me but my first thought was to go on here and log my snack (banana, i was good) and then i find i have friend requests (yay) and some helpful advice too!!
    Pink, thankyou. What great advice. I never knew you could get sugar free maple syrup!! Any suggestions where i can get it? You are so right about not being able to wait when a craving hits.
    Mapinkerton,thanks i will look out for it. What is sugar free pudding? is it American? I live in England. I'm definetely going to have to cut out all sweets, cakes, biscuits etc at least for a while because i know i will not be able to stop at a small piece.
  • HMKan
    HMKan Posts: 472 Member
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    Gosh, such good advice. Sugar cravings are my achilles heel. This is great advice.
  • secostley
    secostley Posts: 409 Member
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    I wnet through the sugar craving thing as well. What I did was instead of grabbing bite-size chocolates and what not, I started eating more fruits--raisins and tangerines in particular. They tended to satisfy the craving. I also gradually weaned off sweets. I tried stopping cold turkey, but I went through withdrawal and then would binge on sweets. I literally went from king-size bars, to standard candy bars, to bite-size bars to hardly any. Today, I normally grab a few bite size bars on my cheat day once a week and I'm good to go.
  • loushep
    loushep Posts: 191
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    Well done Shawn for cutting out the sweets, i have done this too once before (several years ago) so i know i can do it again. Today is my first day and i already have a massive headache, but i'll take a couple paracetamol and drink lots and hopefully in a few days come out the other side. I found last time it took me about 2 weeks to stop craving sweets but the bad withdrawal symptoms only lasted for a few days. I love dried fruits but unfortunately a bit too much so ( i can easily eat a large pack of raisins, dates, figs etc and they are high in cals and carbs). Regular fruit i like (can take it or leave it) but find it hard to really feel like eating it in the winter time.
  • CarolHudson11
    CarolHudson11 Posts: 372
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    I don't eat sweets normally anyway, so it's not much of an issue with me. if I do want something sweet, I'll grab a bottle of water and put a crystal light on the go pack (pink lemonade) in it - 10 calories and it's sweet lemonade. Good luck! You'll do great! :)

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