Reduce or quit?

NadNight · December 2018

I eat waaaay too many sweet treats and am trying to cut down.

I've made some good baby steps like swapping my after lunch chocolate bar for a piece of fruit and not eating anything sweet until after 10 am (yeah...that's how bad I am with sugary stuff. I'll sit and have chocolate with my breakfast...). I'm making sure I'm eating three good meals a day plus snacks and using cacao powder/nibs in things to get a chocolately tasting kick. So I'm not eating because I'm actually hungry.

Anyway, I'm not trying to restrict myself of things I enjoy but when you're eating sweet stuff as much as I am it's a disaster waiting to happen. So I was wondering from people's experience, what's the best way to cut down?

Go for baby steps like swapping for fruit or just cut it all out?

emmies_123 · December 2018

My baby steps were to stock house with measurable things. Wrapped chocolates like Godiva or Lindor, or cake bites, etc. I avoid things like cake, pie, and brownies that I have to portion out myself. Also helps that small chocolates don't go stale as fast, so I can have just what calorie budget allows without letting it get old or go to waste.

Second step: I keep the spare chocolate (i still have a lot in the house) in our pantry and leave 2 things out on counter. I feel like i'm getting variety, and the rest is out of sight out of mind. In the pantry, I am not allowed to buy anything new until I finish something old (cough costco cough).

Third step: similar to what you did. I replaced chocolate snacks at work with healthier (calorie wise) options, and I set myself a "dessert o clock". When I am at home I can only have chocolate/sweets at 8:30 at night. Far enough from dinner, but also far enough away from bed time that I don't regret late night snack. This keeps me from grazing, and allows me to log all other food during day to know what i can afford to eat in chocolate. If I don't want/get dessert at 8:30 then I clearly didn't need it (emotionally or hunger related), so I skip dessert.

I understand the pain, I always want more than I let myself have. But I also remind myself of the results I am seeing by denying myself and it helps me avoid falling into old habits.

quiksylver296 · December 2018

Some people are moderators (cut it down) and some people are abstainers (cut it out completely). I'm a moderator. If I tried to cut chocolate completely out of my diet, I would freak out and binge on it after about a week.

You'll have to experiment a bit and find which works for you.

AnnPT77 · December 2018

It doesn't work for everyone, but making it a point to eat more fruit (like 3 servings a day, at first) reduced my cravings for less nutrient-dense things like candy and baked goods. (I still like them sometimes, but don't crave them like I used to.) Like I said, not universal, but I've read others here say a similar thing worked for them.

laurenq1991 · December 2018

I've tried to cut out processed sugar entirely and I always end up binging after a couple of weeks. I recommend moderation. I don't buy processed sugar snacks every week and if I do, it's something higher-quality like dark chocolate or biscotti, that is a smaller size package than getting an entire pie for example. There are some foods that I never buy (notably Oreos) because I know I will eat too many of them if I do. Also, get some unsweetened dark chocolate chips (I recommend Pascha brand). The chocolate chips are bitter on their own but combined with some sort of fruit, especially dates or berries, they're great. Check out raw vegan desserts for some healthier options. Of course, they still probably have a similar amount of calories as regular desserts, but they're made from nuts, fruits, cacao, etc. so there's more nutrition in them.

kshama2001 · December 2018

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Some people are moderators (cut it down) and some people are abstainers (cut it out completely). I'm a moderator. If I tried to cut chocolate completely out of my diet, I would freak out and binge on it after about a week.

You'll have to experiment a bit and find which works for you.

To expand on this, I moderate some foods and abstain from others, and:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-happiness-project/201210/are-you-abstainer-or-moderator

...When dealing with temptation, I often see the advice, “Be moderate. Don’t have ice cream every night, but if you try to deny yourself altogether, you’ll fall off the wagon. Allow yourself to have the occasional treat, it will help you stick to your plan.”

I’ve come to believe that this is good advice for some people: the “moderators.” They do better when they avoid absolutes and strict rules.

For a long time, I kept trying this strategy of moderation–and failing. Then I read a line from Samuel Johnson, who said, when someone offered him wine: “Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.”

Ah ha! Like Dr. Johnson, I’m an “abstainer.”

I find it far easier to give something up altogether than to indulge moderately. When I admitted to myself that I was eating my favorite frozen yogurt treat very often–two and even three times a day–I gave it up cold turkey. That was far easier for me to do than to eat it twice a week. If I try to be moderate, I exhaust myself debating, “Today, tomorrow?” “Does this time ‘count’?” “Don’t I deserve this?” etc. If I never do something, it requires no self-control for me; if I do something sometimes, it requires enormous self-control.

There’s no right way or wrong way–it’s just a matter of knowing which strategy works better for you. If moderators try to abstain, they feel trapped and rebellious. If abstainers try to be moderate, they spend a lot of precious energy justifying why they should go ahead and indulge.

Sunshine_And_Sand · December 2018

It wouldn't work for everyone. As others have said some of us do better moderating and some do better cutting things completely.
Lately I've been sprinkling a serving, weighed out on food scale, of mini semi sweet morsels on a sliced up banana. That 70 calories worth of chocolate gives me the chocolate flavor I want on every bite of the banana, and paired with the banana makes a pretty filling snack for me.
Maybe that would work for you? You really have to just try different things until you find something that works for you.

apullum · December 2018

I love chocolate. Those who have been around here for a while know I have some every day, including over the entire time I was losing weight. Some of it is eating a piece of chocolate, and some is eating chocolate things that are more nutritious.

While I was losing weight, my daily chocolate might just be a chocolate protein bar or protein shake as a meal. I would also have individually wrapped small chocolates--I was a big fan of Ghirardelli, which are about 50-75 calories each. I could usually fit in one of those.

In maintenance, my typical breakfast is Greek yogurt, chocolate PB2, chocolate protein powder, and fiber cereal mixed together. The macros are great for me, and I love the flavor. I also keep a stash of chocolate protein bars in my desk. There's a bowl of chocolate in my office for students and other visitors, but I rarely eat that myself. Usually after dinner, my husband and I will split a nice chocolate bar.

youngcaseyr · December 2018

apullum wrote: »

I love chocolate. Those who have been around here for a while know I have some every day, including over the entire time I was losing weight. Some of it is eating a piece of chocolate, and some is eating chocolate things that are more nutritious.

While I was losing weight, my daily chocolate might just be a chocolate protein bar or protein shake as a meal. I would also have individually wrapped small chocolates--I was a big fan of Ghirardelli, which are about 50-75 calories each. I could usually fit in one of those.

In maintenance, my typical breakfast is Greek yogurt, chocolate PB2, chocolate protein powder, and fiber cereal mixed together. The macros are great for me, and I love the flavor. I also keep a stash of chocolate protein bars in my desk. There's a bowl of chocolate in my office for students and other visitors, but I rarely eat that myself. Usually after dinner, my husband and I will split a nice chocolate bar.

I've been having the same issue as OP lately, and I love this strategy. I used to implement this very successfully and somewhere along the lines (like right before Halloween) I got too comfortable and too indulgent. I don't want to eliminate the things I like from my diet, but I have to remember how I can fit them into my diet in ways that will complement my goals.

janejellyroll · December 2018

laurenq1991 wrote: »

I've tried to cut out processed sugar entirely and I always end up binging after a couple of weeks. I recommend moderation. I don't buy processed sugar snacks every week and if I do, it's something higher-quality like dark chocolate or biscotti, that is a smaller size package than getting an entire pie for example. There are some foods that I never buy (notably Oreos) because I know I will eat too many of them if I do. Also, get some unsweetened dark chocolate chips (I recommend Pascha brand). The chocolate chips are bitter on their own but combined with some sort of fruit, especially dates or berries, they're great. Check out raw vegan desserts for some healthier options. Of course, they still probably have a similar amount of calories as regular desserts, but they're made from nuts, fruits, cacao, etc. so there's more nutrition in them.

Calorie counting vegan here. In my experience, raw vegan desserts are often based heavily on things like coconut, nuts, and dried fruit and are often even more calorie-dense than their non-vegan and/or raw counterparts.

For someone who is trying to hit a specific calorie goal, it's probably best to only have these things because you genuinely enjoy them, not as a significant source of nutrients.

CarvedTones · December 2018

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Some people are moderators (cut it down) and some people are abstainers (cut it out completely). I'm a moderator. If I tried to cut chocolate completely out of my diet, I would freak out and binge on it after about a week.

You'll have to experiment a bit and find which works for you.

I am a third variation - I give myself a pretty free hand, but log it and face the music, which might mean getting one of low cal frozen excuses for a meal, heating it for dinner and having no snacks or skipping breakfast the next morning. I guess that make me sort of a moderator because I usually won't do it again for a few days, but it isn't the kind of self control moderators exercise IMO. It is self control, but a more warped version.

amy19355 · December 2018

OP: have you tried the trick of drinking a glass of water when the craving first hits you?

I know, water isn't chocolate, but, there are many reports of thirst masquerading as hunger or cravings.

lemurcat2 · December 2018

NadNight wrote: »

I eat waaaay too many sweet treats and am trying to cut down.

I've made some good baby steps like swapping my after lunch chocolate bar for a piece of fruit and not eating anything sweet until after 10 am (yeah...that's how bad I am with sugary stuff. I'll sit and have chocolate with my breakfast...). I'm making sure I'm eating three good meals a day plus snacks and using cacao powder/nibs in things to get a chocolately tasting kick. So I'm not eating because I'm actually hungry.

Anyway, I'm not trying to restrict myself of things I enjoy but when you're eating sweet stuff as much as I am it's a disaster waiting to happen. So I was wondering from people's experience, what's the best way to cut down?

Go for baby steps like swapping for fruit or just cut it all out?

I find that the desire for something sweet at a particular time is often based on habit.

What works for me is not snacking/having dessert foods until after dinner, at which point I will have a little something if I want and have the calories. It's not always something sweet (in part because I don't want my dinner to feel incomplete without something sweet) -- could be some quality cheese or fruit (which is sweet, granted) or some brewing chocolate (which isn't sweetened). But when I was losing I went through a period where I had about 200-250 cal of ice cream after dinner most nights and that was fine.

I also agree that fruit is a good swap if you want something sweet. I crave fruit more often than other sweet things, largely because I tend to crave it when thirsty too -- juicy!

You do have to see what works best for you.

lemurcat2 · December 2018

Another thought is that sometimes I think there's too much focus on NOT eating things. What I find helpful is to focus on what I AM doing -- (1) hitting my calorie goal, no matter what (and I was very consistent with this when losing except one day per week I ate at maintenance if I wanted), (2) eating meals that allowed me to meet my protein and fiber and vegetable goals (I prioritize having vegetables at all meals if at all possible, ideally multiple servings), and then I'd eat whatever I wanted that fit in. Since I was eating enough and in a way that I was not hungry and since I knew I could have something dessert-like in the evening, it was usually easier to just wait until then and I didn't feel like I was missing out.

Focusing on calories and nutrition goals also helps you decide whether you like a particular food enough to waste calories on it. There are lots of sweet or snacky foods that I never eat now, not because I cut them out (if I really wanted I could have them), but because they were foods I never really loved and they never seem worth the calories now.

tcunbeliever · December 2018

I go for the individually wrapped things and just try to limit how many I have a day...those calories do add up quick, plus I find that sweets just make me crave even more sweets...I do find that eating more protein helps keep me out of the candy jar, but maybe that's just me.

Katelin7141 · December 2018

I rarely ever recommend restricting yourself completely. Your cravings will only increase the more you restrict yourself. Just go for smaller portions. Swapping for healthier options is always smart. Especially if it satisfies your cravings. As you reduce your sugar intake, your cravings for sweets will decrease. Until then it takes time and patience. You will get there.

Reduce or quit?

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