Sweet tooth?

sanjay_says
sanjay_says Posts: 22 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey all, I've been successful with a consistent loss of 1 to 1.5 lb per week since early October. I'm terrible at logging, but I have settled into a solid routine of meals that keeps me satisfied and keeps me at a calorie deficit. However, lately I have been having a sweet tooth craving after dinner. I've found that fruit isn't satisfying the craving. In the past, I would eat something like ice cream after dinner, but I am opposed to buying ice cream now (even though it's possible to eat a scoop within my calories, I find that I am more likely to binge on something like ice cream if I have it in my home, so it's better to just avoid bringing it home to begin with). I'm looking for a suggestion for a sweet or semi-sweet snack (say under 200 cals) that I could eat after dinner that won't undo my day's work. I was thinking maybe trying a high-cocoa percentage chocolate or something like that, but I would welcome any other suggestions.

To give you an overview, this is what a typical day looks like for me, since my diary is incomplete:

Breakfast - Steel cut oatmeal (nothing added)
Mid-morning snack - a banana
Lunch - Grilled chicken breasts and steamed veggies
Afternoon snacks (typically twice a day) - 20 almonds OR berries OR baby carrots
Dinner - Ground turkey, steamed green peas, handful of cherry tomatoes, and one low-carb whole grain tortilla/flat bread.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks!

Replies

  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    A chocolate biscuit, sugar free hot chocolate, air popped corn, sugar free jelly. You could eat all of those for around 200 calories.
  • rickyems
    rickyems Posts: 3 Member
    Try the Dannon Light and Fit Greek yogurts. I have a horrible sweet tooth and these satisfy this. They are only 80 calories and has food protein. I blend it with frozen fruit and Museli (oats and dried fruit) to make a morning shake.
  • Glampinupdoll
    Glampinupdoll Posts: 234 Member
    Slightly sweetened boom Chicka Pop- 3&1/2 cups for 120 cals
  • noexcuses0626
    noexcuses0626 Posts: 60 Member
    What about a Skinny Cow ice cream bar? That way you have your preset portion and you don't have to worry about over-indulging!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited March 2016
    If you are craving ice cream - eat ice cream.

    When you get to maintenance - is the plan to never buy ice cream again? Sooner or later we all need to manage portion sizes for ALL foods. Not just the foods that we eat when we want to lose weight.

    Buy just a pint if you don't trust yourself just yet.
  • Only1Golda
    Only1Golda Posts: 6 Member
    I know exactly what you mean, I was right there too! My nightly after dinner snack is a scoop of chocolate protein powder + 1T of raw cacao + 2T of liquid (I use rice milk) + 1T Udo's OR coconut oil. Mix into a paste and enjoy. ptusmop577v2.jpeg
  • chulipa
    chulipa Posts: 650 Member
    I like fiber one bars only 90 calories and helps with fibet I also like the orange cream pops only 70 calories
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    I really like hot chocolate in this situation. Just mix the hot chocolate powder with water and a tablespoon or less of milk or creamer - about 100 calories. You can use milk instead of water if you have room for more calories.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited March 2016
    I like Ghiradelli squares after dinner. They come in all sorts of flavors and are 50-70 calories. The local drug store chains rotate having them on sale.

    I eat them REALLY slowly.
  • sanjay_says
    sanjay_says Posts: 22 Member
    edited March 2016
    Thank you all for the great suggestions! I am going to try some of these out.

    TeaBea wrote: »
    If you are craving ice cream - eat ice cream.

    When you get to maintenance - is the plan to never buy ice cream again? Sooner or later we all need to manage portion sizes for ALL foods. Not just the foods that we eat when we want to lose weight.

    Buy just a pint if you don't trust yourself just yet.

    That's true, but there are some trigger foods that I know I'm not ready to have sitting around at home (ice cream being one, chips being another). In the past, one or two bad binges will cause me to get very frustrated and abandon my healthy eating altogether. My approach this time is not deprive myself of these types of trigger food. I'm fine with eating them if I'm out to dinner or out with friends as I'm less likely to binge in those settings, I just prefer not bringing them home for now. My goal is to slowly expand my arsenal of substitutes for these types of trigger foods so that I have other options to bring home and can leave these types of foods as treats for special occasions outside of the home.

  • BeYouTiful94
    BeYouTiful94 Posts: 289 Member
    Same. I've always got a sweet tooth. It's quite ridiculous haha. I frequent these chocolates called ghirardelli. I also have a bag of Hershey's kisses in case I'm not feeling ghirardelli that day. And I've got ThinkThin protein bites in a chocolate peanut butter flavor as well. I'll typically eat about 2 bites which isn't many calories at all
  • NaturalNancy
    NaturalNancy Posts: 1,093 Member
    Fat free frozen yogurt w a few salty peanuts!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Flavored yogurts (I loathe the sucralose stuff like Light and Fit though), Fiber One bars, special K granola bars... heck I love Luna or Kind bars too. Or you could just have a protein shake. I love chocolate covered hazelnuts or almonds too... just 7-8g worth.

    It's kinda tough to offer suggestions because we don't know what you're likely to binge on. I'll eat a couple cookies or a square or two of chocolate, a serving of ice cream, a cup of chocolate or rice pudding, an ice cream bar, but I don't know if those would be too dangerous for you or not.

    For what it's worth too - a serving of oats with protein powder is delicious.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    i make room for chocolate almost every day.

    i had a twix bar tonight.
  • brb_2013
    brb_2013 Posts: 1,197 Member
    I think you need to buy what you want, which is ice cream, but do it in a way that sets you up for success rather than failure.

    My store had 3-4 brands, and up to 15 flavors of the single serve ice cream cups. The Ben and Jerry's ones have saved me from binging whole pints on impulse. There's also dryers which are a bit bigger looking if it feels too small, but contain the same amount. I think Hagen Daaz has many flavors, my partner spoons over green tea and strawberry.

    You're doing great, you're mindfully wanting to indulge but stay within the parameters of your plan. My partner and I will each pick one out then kinda hide them behind all the freezer groceries so it takes us a day or two to "find" them again :)

    Im a huge binge eater, and I can't over restrict myself right now. So I'm making plans to help avoid the binges. For me this means not shopping alone, and not buying "junk" in large containers. It must be single serve and high quality. Like, no more chips ahoy. I'd go to a bakery and pick out two cookies, one for each of us. Having to go to a specialty store makes it less accessible, and I HAVE to plan it ahead so I can reduce impulse buys. Just gotta learn how YOU best function. But sorry for going on so long, the short answer is buy single servings one at a time. OR go out for desserts, so it's an occasion and not right at home for grabbing.
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    Banana "ice cream". frozen banana and some unsweetened cocoa powder in a blender - add some milk if needed to get it going
  • eba2003
    eba2003 Posts: 43 Member
    Dark chocolate does it for me. 70% cacao. 1 or 2 squares is enough. And healthy!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I had a Oikos triple zero Greek yogurt with some fresh strawberries today... Very tasty!
  • Ieyen
    Ieyen Posts: 19 Member
    i too have a pretty serious late night ice cream addiction.

    I take half a banana, throw it in a bowl with a dollop of peanut butter and mash it just a little so it's still kind of chunky, then warm that in a microwave. Then add 1/4-1/2c cold soymilk on top , voila, half melted PB banana 'ice cream'. Delicious and filling, and the different temps and textures give the comforting effect of having a warm brownie with ice cream :). The way I make it, it usually comes just under 200cal, 20g carbs, 10g fat, 7.5 prot.

    Obviously could have variations with cocoa, other nut butters, other types of fruit..
  • cbelc2
    cbelc2 Posts: 762 Member
    A tangerine hits the spot for me. A small fruit in season is just perfect. I stay away from processed low calorie sweets.
  • cbelc2
    cbelc2 Posts: 762 Member
    I saw a recipe using frozen bananas and cocoa powder and skim milk to make ice cream in the blender. You are supposed to fold in fat free whip cream in the end, but I was going to experiment with whipping fat free evaporated milk.
  • CTRLplusZ
    CTRLplusZ Posts: 23 Member
    I know you said you are opposed to buying ice cream because of the chance of binging. I buy the single serve Hagen daas to prevent that from happening. (The teeeny tiny ones).

    I enjoy "oh yeah" protein bars, they are around 200 kc and are very treat like. The birthday cake, fudge brownie and almond bliss are my fav flavors.

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