Depressed when cutting out sweets.

I work in sweets every day to my calorie count and trust me, when you only have 1200 calories a day, you have to make it work. I buy Dove dark chocolates and Yasso fudge frozen yogurt bars and have one serving a day. I can't cut sweets. I just can't.

GrumpyCat80 wrote: »

My diet is fairly ok, although I should probably include more vegetables. But... My downfall is my sweet tooth; biscuits, chocolate, ice cream, cakes and the list goes on. The problem is that when I try to cut down or cut sweets out completely, I just become depressed. Life just turns grey... It is ridiculous, I'm a grown woman and I should be able to cut out this stuff, but it just seems impossible. How do you do it?

I would add to the excellent responses you've already gotten - it's possible this is more psychological than specific to the food. Comfort eating can be a powerful habit, and if you remove the comforting food without dealing with the stress or boredom or whatever it was another way, it's understandable your mood might suffer.

Try to think of a couple of simple quick things that cheer you up, like puppy videos on YT or your fave song or a friend whose texts always make you smile or a quick walk. Plan for a portioned sweet treat every day, and then any other time you feel like reaching for more, try doing one of those other things instead.

If you're a reader, check out The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. :drinker:

I have a sweet treat every night as I also have a strong sweet tooth. Unless you have a medical reason, there is no reason to "cut out sweets completely" as you say. You can eat whatever you'd like and still lose weight as long as you are eating within your calorie allowance! It's all about balance!

In my case, my late evening sweet treats work best in the form of something that is already made into single servings like ice cream bars. These are my favorite: (I can't have dairy)

I'm not personally a fan of cutting out sweets unless you a.)have difficulty controlling, b.)have a medical reason or c.)plan on never touching them again. Cutting them out for the sake of weight loss seems to backfire on people. If you can, find a way to make them work (bank calories, eat lighter that day, have a maintenance day) or find low-cal alternatives. Weight loss doesn't have to be miserable and there's no mandate that you have to cut out sweets and things you enjoy.

I ate about two pounds of chocolate and candies a day and did so for years, in addition to cookies, pastries, ice cream, and soooo much more. All of the above, per day, folks, per day. I had a friend who was a shopping addict and would hide purchases in her trunk. I hid candy wrappers under other trash or took them to work.

What worked for me was having a naturally sweetened smoothie every night. Banana, almond milk, raw powdered cocoa (Hershey’s is better tasting than Trader Joe’s - probably because I was so accustomed to their chocolates!) and ice mix up in a Magic Bullet to have the same taste and texture as chocolate ice cream, at 155 calories for quite a big, satisfying jug that I slurp down with a spoon because a.) it makes it last longer and b.) I loved drinking chocolate milk with a spoon as a kid but was forbidden to do so. (Yay, inner child!)

Supplemented with some dry oatmeal and a tablespoon of almond butter, and it just transports me with happiness.

Other posters are right. It took a couple of weeks for me to get past the cravings, but months later, I’m finding that oranges are so sweet they make me pucker, frozen blueberries are way better than M&Ms, and OMG, do I ever have a new appreciation for cherry tomatoes. I used to eat around them, now I have to keep myself from popping them in my mouth while preparing then. It will come, but you have to start the process.

Now that you mention it, for me, the ups and downs have leveled out. You can chalk it up to the weight loss, excercise, getting out of the house, more sunshiney vitamin D, more confidence, or whatever, but my money is on getting sugar under control. I totally got sugar highs. Folks will argue it’s not addictive, but I just know how it affected me, and I hear others here who seemed to have been affected the same way. For me, it was scary and out of control. Dumping processed sugars has been a game changer for me.

I'm a grown woman and I have not cut out sweets, simply because I don't feel they're interfering with my goals. Why would I want to introduce more limits and deprivations unnecessarily? All I need for weight loss is a calorie deficit, and I have that. For nutrition, I need a nutritionally balanced diet, and I have that. Using some of my calories for sweets when I want them and not being stressed and awkward with friends and family when sweets are involved supports my mental and social health. For me, personally, I have nothing to gain from cutting out sweets and everything to gain from managing my food intake (including sweets) in a sustainable way.