How can I avoid "sweet" cravings?

SarahRDanaher
SarahRDanaher Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Sometimes when I have a GREAT day, like when I got running in the morning, eat well and drink tons of water I have a severe craving for something at night. And before I know it I have sucked down 2-5 cups of ice cream, or cinnamon rolls, or some of my boyfriends sugary cereal. What do I do?

Replies

  • weightliftingdiva
    weightliftingdiva Posts: 522 Member
    Prelog/preportion something sweet into your day. I also find eating lots of filling food (high protein, fiber and fat) help keep me from wanting to overeat on sweets at the end of the day.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Fruit, especially berries. Very sweet, very yummy and low-cal!

    Eventually, when you get used to not indulging every craving, they will stop. It a bad habit that needs breaking, that's all. :)
  • SarahRDanaher
    SarahRDanaher Posts: 9 Member
    Thank you, I really do need to focus on portion control.
  • starznholes
    starznholes Posts: 170 Member
    edited October 2014
    Sweets are my downfall. Something that's worked for me is dark chocolate. Not a whole candy bar obviously, but a couple pieces normally hit the spot.

    Sometimes when I'm desperate and I have no chocolate, I'll get some plain Greek yogurt add 1/2 sliced banana and drizzle agave over it. Or something along those lines.

    Unfortunately, I have not found a way to avoid the cravings. They are there.
  • throoper
    throoper Posts: 351 Member
    I know some people are anti-artificial sweeteners, but I find that drinking a sugar free root beer or eating a sugar free dark chocolate pudding cup hits the spot.
  • MagicalGiraffe
    MagicalGiraffe Posts: 102 Member
    When I lived in a student house I would keep my sweet things in the kitchen, my social anxiety would stop me from venturin in there to grab things to eat at night since there would be people over watching TV in there.
    Since coming back to my Mum's, I have free range of the kitchen. I try not to have sweet things in the house unless they are things I have to prepare! Then it's a matter of if I'm too lazy to make something to eat or not. If I am prepared to make something, my "go-to"s are sliced up berries, air popped popcorn made with coconut oil and with icing sugar sprinkle or my current favourite is the former alongside a muller light dessert- 99 cals a pot and they come in flavours of chocolate, white chocolate, mint, fudge and chocolate orange. They are pots of heaven! I hope they are available where you are!
  • CdnRower
    CdnRower Posts: 28 Member
    It all comes down to willpower and holding yourself accountable. I like sweets on occasion, god who doesn't? I have a personal contract with myself that if I have any sweets I have to do 100 burpees the next day. Trust me, I don't have sweets very often :)
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    weightliftingdiva wrote: »
    Prelog/preportion something sweet into your day. I also find eating lots of filling food (high protein, fiber and fat) help keep me from wanting to overeat on sweets at the end of the day.

    This^

    Plan for something sweet. They day will come when you are in maintenance......this will be like managing your sweet tooth forever. I still have some work to do myself.
  • kaspatore
    kaspatore Posts: 95 Member
    The less sugar you eat, the less sugar you crave. Please stop keeping all of those things in your house! My favorite go to snack is Trader Joe's brand dark chocolate covered banana slices. Dove makes them too, but TJs is better. Soooo decadent! Just have 1 or 2 slices, and only buy one box at a time.
  • Jesssamesssa
    Jesssamesssa Posts: 116 Member
    Protein shakes! thats my saving grace! I know that at the end of the day I get a chocolate or chocolate peanut butter shake! :) Dark chocolate is also good, you can eat 5 dark chocolate kisses for 100 cal!
  • jaggerjia
    jaggerjia Posts: 51
    Dark chocolate a/o open and just sniff vanilla extract.
  • BigDaddyBooth
    BigDaddyBooth Posts: 10 Member
    I'm a sucker for ice cream, and it sounds like you are as well. Every week I buy these Great Value ice cream cups. They come in vanilla and chocolate, and only have 100 calories.

    It's actually good ice cream, and it's portion controlled! I leave calories each night for it, and it's my daily sweet.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    edited October 2014
    For some of us, sweet tastes pique our appetites for more sweet tastes. Try avoiding naturally or artificially sweetened drinks and see if that helps with the cravings. Worked for me.
  • misswhitney1
    misswhitney1 Posts: 72 Member
    Half of a sliced apple or a cup of grapes - there's enough actual sugar in there to give me a fix, usually.

    Also, watermelon or strawberry flavored EXTRA/Orbit chewing gum in the afternoon when I start to fade.
  • marcia724
    marcia724 Posts: 180 Member
    OK so I'm not a Shakeology "pusher"...but I'm not kidding it works when it comes to cravings. I don't know if it's because of the vitamins & protein it has or what. Since I've been drinking Shakeology once a day my cravings have been amazingly minimal. Just my two cents. :#
  • jke78
    jke78 Posts: 59 Member
    starznholes wrote: »
    Sweets are my downfall. Something that's worked for me is dark chocolate. Not a whole candy bar obviously, but a couple pieces normally hit the spot.

    Unfortunately, I have not found a way to avoid the cravings. They are there.

    This is my answer. I keep a bag of Hershey's dark chocolate kisses. 20 cal each, I'll have a couple here and there, it really helps.

  • Ulwaz
    Ulwaz Posts: 380 Member
    frozen fruit, fruit/honey, funsize/treatsize bars of chocolate, low calorie hot chocolate, frozen yoghurt, nuts, dried fruit :)
  • Ulwaz
    Ulwaz Posts: 380 Member
    also freezing chocolate bars is helpful, makes them last longer
  • PinkPupper
    PinkPupper Posts: 47 Member
    Eat more ripe fruit. Bananas are the perfect thing for a sweet tooth.
    Just remember bananas are not ripe until they have speckles. I like to call them freckles. haha
  • terri_mom
    terri_mom Posts: 748 Member
    A friend once told me to eat a pickle when I craved chocolate. What works for me is to save calories for chocolate milk that I mix at home (Nesquik in skim milk). Hot or cold depending on the season. I hope you find what works for you ! ! !
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    If you have a sugar craving especially after a great run, sometimes it's your body reacting to a glycogen deficiency. I know after a long run over 2 hours, like an hour or 2 after my long run, I crave something very sugary. I can very easily drink an XL size of Dr. Pepper. Not very helpful if you are trying to loose weight or be in maintenance but something to think about. Maybe have an orange or banana just after your run in the morning. The glycogen uptake is huge within the first half hour or hour after your run. So glycogen replentishment will occur much faster and may help with the cravings later on in the evening.
  • blukitten
    blukitten Posts: 922 Member
    starznholes wrote: »
    Sweets are my downfall. Something that's worked for me is dark chocolate. Not a whole candy bar obviously, but a couple pieces normally hit the spot.

    Sometimes when I'm desperate and I have no chocolate, I'll get some plain Greek yogurt add 1/2 sliced banana and drizzle agave over it. Or something along those lines.

    Unfortunately, I have not found a way to avoid the cravings. They are there.

    This works for me too-- the dark chocolate part!

    I had to not do sweets and still have to not do them now with a new diet my doc put me on with PCOS, so I would have really bad sweet cravings like you describe-- but after a few weeks they get better and easier to control-- but you have to not give in to them or subsidize them with a healthy alternative -- not an all out carb/sugar fest.. its not easy but can be done!
  • pplastics
    pplastics Posts: 135 Member
    Like others have said, try to plan in something sweet for yourself if it is becoming a nightly problem. I sometimes have a serving of Great Value "churned" vanilla ice cream, a few strawberries with a graham cracker crumbled on top. Works out to about 177 calories. Yummy.

    If I do not plan well though, I will have a cup of herbal tea with stevia. Sweet and warm and very comforting.
  • 365andstillalive
    365andstillalive Posts: 663 Member
    Pre-log something sweet or set aside a few hundred calories for something.

    I love my sugary goodies, but I know that I probably don't need to be eating them on a daily basis, so I use good ol' self control and will have something more decadent like once a week (cheesecake, cinnamon rolls, ice cream, whatever) and I use healthier/more calorie efficient sweet snacks the rest of the week. Things like dark chocolate with sea salt (50 cals a square), key lime greek yogurt (100 cals, 8 grams of protein and tastes like dessert) or I'll have some frozen grapes. I also make myself healthier recipes of things I enjoy like carrot or zucchini muffins with whole wheat flour and often those serve as my sweet for the day --I'm not an icing fan, so I get to skip the extra cals from that happily haha.
  • EMTFreakGirl
    EMTFreakGirl Posts: 597 Member
    I eat something sweet that I have pre-planned for. I allow myself one square, usually 1/4-1/3 of a good dark chocolate bar. My current fave is the Ghirardelli Intense Dark Sea Salt Soiree. I also made a huge batch of Hot Cocoa mix, low carb and low cal, that I'll enjoy a cup of at night, or I'll mix a spoonful of the cocoa mix in a small mason jar with 2 TBSP chia seeds and a cup of SO unsweetened Coconut Milk...chocolate pudding. If I can fit it in my daily macros, I'll add a small "squirt" of whipped topping, the kind from the can. (I weigh it and literally only squirt out the 15g) Portioned correctly, the stuff has minimum impact on my numbers and feels so decadent. Sweets don't have to be unhealthy, just plan ahead and choose wisely. Best of luck to you! :D

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