Trying to loose weight and control my sugar addiction...

Nope.

But it's still rather simple. Eat less during your other meals, so you can have your soda, dessert, and other sweets and still be around your calorie goal.

You can ask your doctor for a appetite suppressant. It isn't a magical pill but it does help me. I gave up soda but if you do, you need to slowly decrease the amount you drink. If you don't taper off, you will end up with a massive migraine from hell. As far as sweets go, I am sure you can eat one or two but make sure it isn't a huge piece of anything. Try cutting it in half and slowly keep cutting it in half until you feel comfortable not having it at all.

I uped my fat to get rid of sweet cravings. I also found eliminating my sweet sugary triggers made my cravings subside. You'll get a wide variety of answers, find what works for you. I got tired of hearing it's only self control issues. I fought, made myself miserable, and failed until I changed my macros.

I haven't had a regular soda in over ten years and I don't miss it at all. Only occasionally (once or twice a year, at the movie theater) I might get a diet soda. Otherwise, I love my unsweet tea and sparkling water.

I use to drink sodas with every meal plus energy drinks. I was also a smoker. At first i cut the sodas and replaced with energy drinks, but I realized that wasn't good for me either. I tried coffee, but didn't like coffee. I cut all sodas and energy drinks. I drink 1 glass on water with crystal light and the rest of the day is just water. I had a bad withdrawal so I tried the It Works greens. That is what actually helped me get over the withdrawal. I also used it for when I stopped smoking. I had the same withdrawal symptoms as I did when quitting smoking. Cold sweats, stomach cramps, vomiting for 7 days. It was awful.

Try a week without it. I LOVE sugar and am totally addicted; however, I prefer days without it because once I have something with sugar I continue to crave it and often over indulge on it. If I don't have it, I don't think about it

CoffeeNCardio wrote: »

While "addiction to sugar" is a MYTH of horrifying proportions, it's true some people cannot locate their willpower around certain types of foods. If sugar is that food for you, there's no reason not to cut down on it. You can't cut it out entirely, since there's naturally occurring sugar even in foods like broccoli (I dare anyone to find anyone who behaves like an addict around broccoli, which contains 2.5g of sugar per NHEA serving), but if you're the kind of person who bites into a donut and ten minutes later you ate a dozen oops, sure, cut it out. Just bear in mind that there is nothing inherently wrong with sugar. It's just a carb like any other carb. In moderation, like anything up to and including exercise, it poses no danger to your health or weight loss efforts. If it's easier for you to cut it out of your diet as much as possible than to simply buck up and white-knuckle it so you don't over-indulge, that's fine. Please just make sure you're doing it for the right reasons, and not because of some serious misinformation that's been spread around okay?

I agree with this.

writerchick83 wrote: »

I am motivated to eat healthier and have less calories. I am even walking my dog after work. My biggest problem is I'm addicted to sugar. I always drink a soda with my meals and as a child I always ate dinner to get dessert. I do that now. I wish there was an easy way to curb my sugar cravings. Is there spill out there, like they have for smokers?

A pill like Zyban? Yes, Wellbutrin. Here's my standard advice for cravings, but I do take Wellbutrin as well.

When I do the following, I don't have cravings:

1. Get sufficient sleep
2. Exercise regularly - when I get the happy hormones from exercise, I'm not prone to seeking them from food.
3. Get sufficient protein in relationship to carbs. I'm not low carb, but reducing carbs and upping protein worked for cravings for me.
4. Take a magnesium supplement. This can be especially helpful premenstrually.

I also don't keep trigger foods in the house. I have learned to moderate foods like Ghiradelli chocolate squares, and do keep them in the house.

tomteboda wrote: »

1. You are not addicted to sugar. You like sugar a lot.
2. You can eat whatever you like within your caloric goals and lose weights.
3. Retraining habits takes time and conscious effort but it's very achievable.
4. Calling liking sweets "addiction" demonstrates a severe lack of understanding what physiological addiction is.

QUOTE AGAIN BECAUSE IT IS SO RIGHT!

You like to eat sugar. It's tasty. Our body need glucose to function and eating carbohydrates (specifically processed carbs) gives an ample supply of it. But it digests quickly and does not tell your body to release the same "full" feeling chemicals that fat and protein will. In order to not feel so hungry, you could try eating more protein and fat with the carbs that you choose.

THE BIGGEST THING I believe you can do to help yourself, is to STOP giving away your power. YOU are in control of what you eat. You are not a victim of sugar. You are a fully capable adult who deserves to treat herself as such. Will it be hard to eat less of something you really enjoy eating? Sure. But that doesn't mean you're addicted to it, it just means that you haven't found a way to deal with how hard it is, yet. I 100% believe that if you can work your brain around this, you can stop feeling so limited and can learn that you don't have to go all or nothing.

tomteboda wrote: »

1. You are not addicted to sugar. You like sugar a lot.
2. You can eat whatever you like within your caloric goals and lose weights.
3. Retraining habits takes time and conscious effort but it's very achievable.
4. Calling liking sweets "addiction" demonstrates a severe lack of understanding what physiological addiction is.

I agree with this.

It sounds very much like the issue is that there are certain things you trained yourself to expect. I used to eat snacks (ones I didn't even like much) pretty mindlessly when they were available at work. I trained myself to only eat at mealtime (including a small dessert after dinner). At first I missed food when I expected to have it, but that went away. The dessert gives me something to look forward to if tempted to grab peanut M&Ms or whatever at work -- I say would I rather have this or my planned ice cream (or chocolate or cheese or whatever) after dinner?

I personally think getting out of the habit of routinely drinking lots of calories can be very helpful, so I'd try drinking water instead. There are also lots of artificially sweetened beverages you might like (diet soda, flavored water), and I personally really enjoy homemade fruit-flavored iced tea, non sweetened (just pick a kind you like, brew it, chill). But if you really love the soda save calories for a moderate amount of it or drink it on special occasions. Some do this with alcohol, you could do it with soda.

As for desserts, there's really nothing wrong with enjoying a dessert if you have the calories. It doesn't have to be tons of calories. The problem is if you eat dessert type stuff constantly or beyond your calories. What works for me is planning my day to include lots of nutrient-rich foods that will meet my nutrition needs (I aim for protein and lots of vegetables at every meal and adequate fiber, among other things). After I eat that, I fit in an extra (often sweet, sometimes a piece of good cheese or I use it to have a higher calorie meal than normal, like at a restaurant or something like lasagne). Being active makes this easier, also. I find that if I focus on eating a healthful, balanced diet I don't tend to have issues staying within my calories or being uncontrolled around foods, and having the extra to look forward to helps (as well as filling my diet with food I find delicious not "diet" stuff). There will still be habits to break, which takes some effort, but it gets way easier.