Depressed when cutting out sweets.
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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.8 -
100 g of carbs sounds like an uncomfortable level. That’s not low enough to stay in ketosis, and not high enough to stay out of ketosis. Dipping in and out of ketosis will indeed make the whole world an ugly place. I find that for me 150g is reasonable and keeps my glucose levels normal (type 2 diabetic here.)
Everyone is different, but I’ve found that overly sweetened foods make me crave more, while naturally sweetened foods are more satisfying. It took me about two weeks to make the transition, and eating a lot of fruit helped. Now my treats are Greek yogurt with frozen berries, flavored extracts, and cacao powder, dark chocolate, and sometimes Halo Top. I also have some oatmeal cookies and cookie thins which I can have a small amount of without craving more - and sometimes I miscalculate and end up buying something which is just too tasty not to eat too much of! Then I don’t buy that item anymore.5 -
I love snacks and could eat nothing but snacks. But I found out that I don't long for snacks if
a) I'm not hungry in general. Thus food that keeps me full
b) if I'm not bored but have interesting things to do, hobbies, learn something, anything but sitting behind the telly in the evening
c) work out. While the other two things might work for many, I think this might be specifically me. But it absolutely fits into doing something instead of sitting behind the telly.
Btw, I do eat two small candy bars each day. If I want something more substantial than that then I won't have the two bars and don't go too much over my calories. If I really want a bag of crisps then I won't have dinner. The crisps also keep me full, and have quite a few more calories, but not too much relative to the dinner. As I like my dinners I don't do this too often.2 -
The sweet things I like but that also have more nutrients:
- Toast with peanut butter and smashed raspberries or banana
- Protein shake with frozen cherries, whey chocolate protein, almond or oat milk, maybe a bit of peanut butter if I fancy
- Halo top (usually half the pint, husband eats the other half)
- Pulsin raw chocolate brownies
- Some protein bars are quite tasty
- Skyr/yoghurt with micowaved/stewed apple with cinnamon, with a small sprinkle of granola for crunch. Apple pie!
- Dates filled with almonds
- Clementines, mango, various fruit
I eat these sorts of thing every day, plus sometimes I will just have the pecan tart because it looks good. Once it stopped being 'offlimits' I calmed down around things a lot. Used to not be able to have them in the house because I'd binge. Now, sometimes I'm over on fats on my macros if I eat a piece of cheesecake or whatever, but I'm usually in my calorie range so it doesn't matter. The next day I try to up the protein or whatever so it evens out.1 -
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.7
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I bought a multipack of funsize chocolate bars and made my mum hide them and only let me have one a day. Haha. I was always big on the sugar addiction, but unfortunately I don't think there's any easy way other than just push on through it. I wouldn't cut it out completely because it's all too easy to fall off the wagon that way. I ate three chocolate bars yesterday and only went over my calories just slightly (2 were low calorie) but most days I'm either just having a little chocolate bar or fruit. I always need sugar after a meal, sadly0
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Berries, especially blueberries, and strawberries are low in calories, but also sweet. Fruit. Also, what about exercise? I regular exercise to help boost and maintain my mood.1
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Interesting, I have no intention of giving up my candy. I already gave up beer and pepsi.
I usually have 300 calories spare at the end of the day to splurge as a grown man child which is a lot of sour jelly beans.1 -
So don't cut them drastically. just pick a reasonable number to save for sweets everyday.0
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Most people that have commented already will disagree, and that is because they successfully have worked the sweets into their calories, but reading your post, it sounds to me like you need a period of complete abstaining from sweets. If you can go 3-4 months you can retrain you tastebuds and you will crave new foods, stay away from items that use calorie free sweetners as all they do is make you crave those sweet items. Like yourself I had a major sweet tooth and the everything in moderation was never going to work for me. It’s been six months, and I can now have a piece of cake without it leading to a second piece of cake. But things like Chocolate bars are still off limits, they are my cryptonite, and way to convenient and easy to pick up in day to day life and I don’t want to have that constant temptation over me all the time.
I always say we are all different, but I think for every person who is a successful moderator there are a 100 of us who aren’t, which is why yo-yo dieting is the most prevalent form of dieting. It sucks but the truth is somethimes you just have to buckle down and put the crappy foods aside and move on, if your goal is long term sustainable weight loss. There is a reason we all ended up on a site that is primarily used for weight loss, and that is we weren’t very good moderators of our food intake or type of foods. I don’t think many of us magically get good at that right away.
Whatever path you choose, I wish you the best of luck on your journey. It won’t be easy, but it will be rewarding as you work towards your goals.4 -
usually fruit for me hits the spot. frozen grapes are super good to. if i want something more than that i usually eat a bar or a more healthier kinda snack. frozen cherries are also really good.0
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I have a sweet tooth too, especially for cake, and usually at night after dinner but before bed. I try to use sheer willpower but when that doesn’t work I have a Diet Coke and that usually works. On the odd occasion it doesn’t, I go upstairs to bed early and read. I’m distracted by the book and too lazy to go downstairs for a snack after brushing my teeth.1
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I have a powerful sweet tooth, but I find if I include any sugary snacks, I'm likely to binge on more. I know just what you mean about the world being gray without them, but what I did was substitute sweet treats like nice cream (large, sliced then frozen banana pureed with 2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder and 5 T powdered peanut butter (I look for lower sugar ones, but the small amount in there doesn't bother me much), maybe 1/4-1/3 c. milk (I used unsweetened cashew milk or unsweetened Silk soy milk and if you have enough calories to spare, a scoop of vanilla protein powder (I used Evolve, pea protein powder). This makes a huge bowl of very nutritious and guilt free nice cream, very sweet and chocolaty. I also freeze black grapes and eat about 1 1/2 cups of them slowly, as an afternoon snack. They are very sweet, like little Popsicles. These are enough for my sweet tooth, and good for me, and over time I do believe they've retrained me for the most part. When I do splurge on a candy bar (or several, ok, let's be real), I usually notice it makes me feel a little sickish in my stomach compared to my usual treats, but I confess, it does bring back the happy rainbows. I try to save them for occasions when I really need them these days.
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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?
Why do you cut it out.
Re-realistically if you have 10 sweets, then have 9
Once your comfortable with 9, then have 8, then 7 .... until not having sweets is not a big deal
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PrincessMel72 wrote: »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.
Just stick to your daily calorie goal of 1200 -- and you will definitely continue to progress/improve on that. The weight loss in itself will increase your brain's dopamine receptors -- the same ones that get released when we dive into a pot of ben and jerry's (no wonder it's hard to let that stuff go completely).....Nothing worth having comes easy for anyone.1 -
melaniekboe wrote: »I had a TERRIBLE sweet tooth until a friend suggested Magnesium as a supplement. I figured - what do I have to lose?!? If my body didn't need it, I'd just 'expel' it. lol It's been a God-send! I no longer have any cravings for sweets and it's been a month. Maybe this will work for someone else! HTH!
This - Magnesium really helped me with this too. Can help with sleeping as well !0 -
Is there a reason you want/need to cut out sweets? If not, why bother?
I tried doing a lowish carb (100grams) diet early on, but quickly decided it just wasn't worth it to me. I'm old (60) and life is too short to feel deprived all of the time. So, if I want cake, I eat it. I have ice cream almost every night. Bag of M&M's - no problem. I include all of the calories in my plan and just go from there.
Having said that, I will say if you can cut back some on the sweets, you'll have a lot more calories left for "real" food that will be more filling. So, you have to eat sweets in moderation, for sure. I'm on day 290 of my diet, have lost 70lbs and haven't completely cut out anything.0 -
I eat a 100 cal pack of m&ms, dove bar, or Milky Way bar everyday...I love chocolate and don’t plan on giving it up! Just work it in to your allotted calls and stay in a deficit and you’ll be fine. I’m day 4 and down 4 so far...good luck!!0
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Because of a strong family history of diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart attacks, I've completely cut ALL sugar and fructose, with the exception of the very small amount that is in Lindt 95% dark chocolate. (Seriously, how many women can give up chocolate!?!?!?! I only eat 1/4 serving per day now. )
I won't lie, the first two weeks post-sugar are rough. Your brain and body are fighting back, HARD.
But once you get through that, it is amazing how FREE you feel. Sugar no longer holds power over you. If someone had told me before that I was addicted to sugar, I would have laughed at them, but they would have been right. I was so addicted. Now that I am free from that white hell, I can't even begin to explain how liberating it is to be able to walk past a plate of cookies in the breakroom, or skip dessert, or turn down a morning donut. You will regain control over you, and the sugar won't do your talking for you.
And losing 40 pounds in 6 months sure hasn't hurt any, either.3 -
I have struggled with sugar for years. well before I even knew what the issue was. I have now switched to sugar free drinks, sweets, and the like. When I have dieted in the past, I would naturally cut down the sugar just by eating less calories, but the first few days I would literally break down and cry. my family could always tell when I was starting a new weight loss attempt.
After the initial few days of being a wreck, then maybe a week or two of cravings, I would find that I wasn;t constantly hungry. I even stopped biting my nails for the first time in my life because I didn't have the constant gnawing cravings, And I would do well for a few weeks, a few months maybe... until the next big holiday where I would eat sweets. And then I would be back to square one, eating and eating without any ability to stop.
After a few of these cycles I noticed the correlation between reintroducing the sweets in large quantities and the return of cravings. I considered cutting out sugar because I could see that it was a problem, but I couldn't emotionally handle it. I was even convinced that I might rather die than give it up.
Last year my dad had to quit smoking after having major heart surgery. He had smoked for over 40 years, since he was just a kid. I believe he claims he was as young as twelve or so when he started. I figured if he could do it, I could do it. So a few months later I finally worked up the emotional fortitude to give up the sugar.
Once I got going, the cravings and depression evened out after a while. If you can, try to stick to it. It will get better. And if you can keep yourself from going back, all the better. I don't have the same experience some of the others have had here, where veggies and fruit taste hyper sweet, since I am still eating my candy and soda, just sugar free, but the cravings are significantly reduced for me. I hope to cut out the artificially sweetened candy as well eventually. I am definitely using them as a bit of a crutch.
I know some people say that it is just a fad thing to blame the sugar, but my experience is that it is the thing that caused all of my other food cravings. I had plenty of foods on my "binge trigger" list that didn't have large amounts of sugar in them, and I have no trouble eating them in moderation now.
TL;DR- I use sugar-free, artificially sweetened candy and soda to ease the emotional transition to sugar free and it is working for me.2
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