arghhhh i cant stop cheating on my diet

Sweet treats can also be low fat yogurt, bananas, oranges, watermelon, etc.

This is super hard. I cant stop cheating after dinner i keep looking for sweet treats.

You and me both! The good news is that when I get obsessed there's no stopping me from losing weight. Right now I don't have that obsession.

Probably not the best way to live I guess.

if you can't stop bedtime snacking, cut down your calories in your other meals and apply them toward bedtime treats. i have a bowl of cereal before bed almost every night, which isn't a problem as i plan its calories as part of my daily intake. also weight watchers and some other companies make low fat desserts, some of which are quite yummy. and i used to eat these delish fat free devil's food cookies that were lower in calories than most store cookies.

A lot of us have sort of programmed ourselves our whole lives that after dinner, you get a sweet treat. If your life has been like that (mine has!) your body and your brain are primed to wait for that little sweetness to signal that you're done eating for the day. If you don't give your body that signal, then the later the evening wears on the more you feel this almost irresistible urge to find something sweet to eat. That's just what your body is used to, and a "reward" your brain has come to expect.

I pre-plan my calorie intake every day to include some sort of treat between dinner and bedtime. It doesn't have to be much to soothe that beast. A couple of squares of chocolate will do in a pinch (but I try to reserve 300 calories a day for this). You do have to measure your portion out, and it's always a good idea to not eat directly from the packaging. If my treat for the evening is a cookie, I take it out of the packaging, put it on a plate, put the package away, then go sit down and eat.

Moderation is hard, but you really do have to learn it. All or nothing, binge vs. abstinence, etc. is simply no way to live.

I understand completely! I am a type 2 diabetic and I crave sweets and carbs. Since I went to a naturopath and have made some big changes I don't crave sweets so much. In fact I have been "cheating" with date squares which aren't too bad. But I should stop this guilty pleasure if I want to reach my goals. Good luck to you. One day at a time!

This is super hard. I cant stop cheating after dinner i keep looking for sweet treats.

This is an easy one: save some of your calories for your after dinner snack, and make it whatever you like.

You've gotten lots of good advice and I hope some ideas about different ways people deal with their eating. Personally, I don't keep sweet stuff in the house as it's too difficult for me to control my intake if I have it around. On the other hand, I really enjoy having a glass of wine after dinner in the evening and have no difficulty stopping at one. So I build my day with the expectation that I'll have that glass of wine, which serves a double purpose: I can have my wine if I want it, but I also have room if I decide I specifically want something else.

Today was one of those days. Instead of my wine I drove to MdDonald's and ordered a chocolate chip cookie. It cost me 40 cents and 150 calories and was still warm and gooey and I enjoyed it very much and it didn't come with any friends that would live in my kitchen and I would have to try not to eat.

The point is to think strategically instead of bemoaning that you can't stop cheating. If you can't stick to what you're doing now, you certainly won't be able to stick to it after you lose all the weight, so it's time to tweak it to something that you can stick to. Whether you call it a diet or not, remember you have to do it forever or the weight will come right back. So it's time to rethink. You can manage your calories, keep the food out of your house, schedule in a treat, take up a hobby to get you out of the house (a lot of night eating is actually boredom,) or otherwise change what you're doing.

Or don't. Maybe you don't want it enough right now. Maybe you'd rather not put forth the effort. If that's the case, that's okay too. MFP isn't going anywhere. The boards and tools will still be here if you decide to take a break. If you're like me though, I slowly gain when I'm not working on my food intake, so be prepared for the possibility that you could lose ground if you give up and stop.