I keep stumbling at the same hurdle
SugaSugaNooo
Posts: 106 Member
The sugar hurdle.
I know, I know, no such thing as sugar addiction apparently, but it is my one and only stumbling block. How do I break this habit for good?
In general I'm a healthy eater, I also exercise 4-5 times a week, but here I am again, back on MFP, for one reason only, I just cannot seem to control the snacking.
I seem to be an "all or nothing" person, the moderation thing just won't work.
Any ideas/suggestions?
I know, I know, no such thing as sugar addiction apparently, but it is my one and only stumbling block. How do I break this habit for good?
In general I'm a healthy eater, I also exercise 4-5 times a week, but here I am again, back on MFP, for one reason only, I just cannot seem to control the snacking.
I seem to be an "all or nothing" person, the moderation thing just won't work.
Any ideas/suggestions?
1
Replies
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If you're truly all-or-nothing, then you'll have to go with nothing.
Log everything before it goes into your mouth. That gives you a chance to decide if you really want something and, if so, how much.
If snacking is the problem, then cut out snacks. All snacks. Only eat at meal times.6 -
Agree with the above, though you might find middle ground if you work on it. If the sweet snacks is what hurts you, remove them from you home and replace them with better options. I know for many an apple isn't as satisfying as a piece of cake, but calorie per calorie often a much better choice. You can find things to munch on that are tasty and lower calorie.2
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When i get new clients, particularly ones with "sugar cravings" i give them a 10 day reset. It's super simple. for 10 days they only eat whole foods and zero starch carbohydrates. Only water and black coffee and no dairy.
It seems extreme but it really does work for them. You can argue sugar isn't addictive but we are human and sugar tastes really good. Physically it may not be addictive but it does reward our brains with a nice dopamine hit and for that reason you could argue that it can be mentally addictive. If you are the type of person to feel this way about sugar and food then giving up anything that will spike your insulin for 10 days will help you regain control of your cravings.
All of my clients who have done this have said that they feel in control of what they eat after the 10 days and when they come to the weekend they can have a treat and it not escalate and spiral into a sugar binge. I think it's something to do with the power you get from being able to go 10 days without food controlling you and on a physical level your insulin will level out.
It might work for you or it might not but i'd say you've got nothing to lose and at the very least you may drop a few lbs in the process.6 -
I succeeded in weight loss in part by fighting my sweet tooth to a draw. It’s been years, but I don’t have any suggestions that will solve this “for good.” Not sure that exists.
And let’s talk all or nothing. If you read this board much you see the diet mentality running wild. Find the most strict calorie deficit imaginable and try to beat yourself into submission. Doesn’t seem to work well.
Try to think in terms of reasonable limits. Life has all sorts of limits that we deal with every day. Some better than others. If we eat too many calories our bodies store the excess as fat. Just how it works. If we don’t want that, we need to limit our intake.
I discovered tracking at Weight Watchers. WW is just calorie counting dressed up for copyright protection. When I started there I did this fill in the blank exercise “I can do this if_______” one of my answers was “get a daily treat.” So I researched treats.
I found that to get a satisfying portion for a reasonable number of points/calories a frozen treat was the way to go. I eat some sort of “diet” ice cream nearly every day. But here’s the deal. I’m maintaining now. My maintenance calories here on MFP are 1900. My treat budget is 120 calories. If I give in to something during the day, those calories are gone. Ice cream almost always wins.
And I fought other battles one at a time. I worked in an office loaded with sweets. A donut is just a fried wad of goo. Reminding myself that donuts are fried helped. Muffin is just another word for cake. No idea how muffins got to be “healthy.” Cookies- got no answer except they are like potato chips to me. I can eat 100s of calories of cookies in minutes. I can’t seriously think of myself having a weight loss plan and do that.
A general observation- baked goods of any kind, cake, cookies, banana bread... it’s hard to fit that stuff in a plan.
Candy- sometimes I eat candy but I don’t keep it in the house. If you stop and taste it, most candy we see around is pretty lousy candy. It’s kid candy. There are shops around here that sell some really good imported candy. But I have to go out and buy it in the smallest quantity I can get. I’ve thrown away candy just because I can’t keep the extra around. It limits my willingness to buy it.
When I started this whole thing I rarely ate fruit. Now I eat 2-3 servings per day. Apples are a great plan friendly snack. A teaspoon of sugar on top of blueberries is really good and adds just 15 calories.
Hope this has helped you. I think weight loss is about problem solving. Keep experimenting until you find something that works for you. Good luck.8 -
Thank you all
I'm laughing at the "kid candy" as that's exactly what I'm eating, and I hate that childish behaviour!
I do think it should be nothing for me but I've dabbled before with cutting out snacks altogether, but there's no research to back up this is actually better/worse, so for now I think I stick to fruit as snacks.
Pre-logging definitely works, so I'm back with a fresh account now to get back to that.
@lukejoycePT you pretty much hit the nail on the head there and I like the sound of the reset. Can you explain to me what you mean by zero starch carbs? Is that bread/potatoes/rice etc? I'm not big into dairy, bar some cheese, but why would you cut that out?0 -
SugaSugaNooo wrote: »Thank you all
I'm laughing at the "kid candy" as that's exactly what I'm eating, and I hate that childish behaviour!
I do think it should be nothing for me but I've dabbled before with cutting out snacks altogether, but there's no research to back up this is actually better/worse, so for now I think I stick to fruit as snacks.
Pre-logging definitely works, so I'm back with a fresh account now to get back to that.
@lukejoycePT you pretty much hit the nail on the head there and I like the sound of the reset. Can you explain to me what you mean by zero starch carbs? Is that bread/potatoes/rice etc? I'm not big into dairy, bar some cheese, but why would you cut that out?
That is correct, it's basically cutting out potatoes, bread, rice, sweet potatoes, oats etc. Dairy has quite a bit of sugar so cutting this out will remove the sugars from dairy too. Essentially you just eat meat, eggs and vegetables. It has worked really well for my clients but this is purely anecdotal of course.
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Okay thanks, I'll try that from tomorrow (had already logged my sandwich and noodles for today
)
I love my slice of toast in the morning, might hang on to that, but lunch/dinner should be easy enough.0 -
SugaSugaNooo wrote: »Okay thanks, I'll try that from tomorrow (had already logged my sandwich and noodles for today )
I love my slice of toast in the morning, might hang on to that, but lunch/dinner should be easy enough.
Great and good luck with it. I would try and lose the bread first thing if you are going to do it as bread will spike your insulin straight way.1 -
Is your issue the sugar or the snacking (which happens to be sugary in your case)? Have you experimented with setting a firm "no snacking" rule for yourself? If you want something sugary you would have to plan it into your meal in advance, and once the meal is over, kitchen is closed until the next meal. Takes getting used to at first, but then it becomes a habit.1
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@amusedmonkey I'm not sure. I think it's the sugar. I don't overeat on apples when I snack on them, but once that packet of jellies opens... But maybe cutting out snacks altogether would work better, so I focus less on eating.0
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Apples get about 80% of their calories from sugar.SugaSugaNooo wrote: »I'm not sure. I think it's the sugar. I don't overeat on apples when I snack on them, but once that packet of jellies opens... But maybe cutting out snacks altogether would work better, so I focus less on eating.0 -
Throw out all junk food and do not buy anymore. When there is junk food in my house I eat it. And I have no ability to moderate. So I just don’t keep it in the house. If I do buy any kind of snack food, it will usually be on a Saturday and I make sure to finish it by Sunday. That way I can at least eat clean during the week.1
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SugaSugaNooo wrote: »@amusedmonkey I'm not sure. I think it's the sugar. I don't overeat on apples when I snack on them, but once that packet of jellies opens... But maybe cutting out snacks altogether would work better, so I focus less on eating.
Like many of us, you may just be a victim of hyper-palatable food. Perhaps if no snacking doesn't work, try putting fresh fruit and vegetables within easy reach so you have something to munch on, and you don't reach for the candy. I find fruit becomes sweeter if I don't have candy overpowering it, so it becomes a nice treat.1 -
Throw out all junk food and do not buy anymore. When there is junk food in my house I eat it. And I have no ability to moderate. So I just don’t keep it in the house. If I do buy any kind of snack food, it will usually be on a Saturday and I make sure to finish it by Sunday. That way I can at least eat clean during the week.
So easy isn't it, and definitely works. It's just that I don't live alone, my husband and children love a treat too...
Much easier for me to stick to it Mon-Fri, when I'm in work!0 -
I was a sugar junkie. My weight got up to 251 pounds at the highest point. I ate so much candy that my pancreas was exhausted and at that weight I ended up as a type 2 diabetic. I would eat candy daily in large quantities. The idea of something being "too sweet" didn't exist in my world.
When I got serious about losing weight I quit the candy cold turkey except I allowed myself sugarless candy. Now the trouble with sugarless candy is that they use sugar alcohols in most of it. That tends to do bad things to my digestion. As a result my limit is 2 pieces of hard candy a day. Many days I don't have any. But being able to have a mint or werther's candy helped me a bit.
As @RelCanonical says other things begin to taste better once the sugar gets out of your system. I can honestly say now some things are too sweet! I never thought I would say that. My weight is now normal and so is my blood sugar. It's worth it to find things for treats that aren't so high in refined sugar. It took a while to get that drive to eat sweets out of my system but now I can have something with real sugar from time to time without it setting me off. I often don't just because a nice apple or bowl of berries is better tasting and often less calories so I just make a different choice. Trust me if I can do it you can do it. Good luck.2 -
I meant to also comment on the "it's in the house" thing. My husband buys candy too and I have asked two things of him. One put it away when you are done (out of sight, out of mind) and the other is to not buy my favorites. This has helped a bit.1
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cheryldumais wrote: »I was a sugar junkie. My weight got up to 251 pounds at the highest point. I ate so much candy that my pancreas was exhausted and at that weight I ended up as a type 2 diabetic. I would eat candy daily in large quantities. The idea of something being "too sweet" didn't exist in my world.
When I got serious about losing weight I quit the candy cold turkey except I allowed myself sugarless candy. Now the trouble with sugarless candy is that they use sugar alcohols in most of it. That tends to do bad things to my digestion. As a result my limit is 2 pieces of hard candy a day. Many days I don't have any. But being able to have a mint or werther's candy helped me a bit.
As @RelCanonical says other things begin to taste better once the sugar gets out of your system. I can honestly say now some things are too sweet! I never thought I would say that. My weight is now normal and so is my blood sugar. It's worth it to find things for treats that aren't so high in refined sugar. It took a while to get that drive to eat sweets out of my system but now I can have something with real sugar from time to time without it setting me off. I often don't just because a nice apple or bowl of berries is better tasting and often less calories so I just make a different choice. Trust me if I can do it you can do it. Good luck.
It's not the sugar, fruit is mostly sugar. It's hyper-palatable food, so a highly-concentrated combination of sugar and/or fat and/or salt in the right balance to be melt-in-your-mouth with flavorings to enhance them. Highly processed foods are engineered to taste better than anything because companies want you to keep buying them, but are not very satisfying for the same reason. They are also nutritionally deficient. Please don't villainize sugar, that's missing the point of why we need to choose fruits and vegetables as a main part of our diets.3 -
RelCanonical wrote: »cheryldumais wrote: »I was a sugar junkie. My weight got up to 251 pounds at the highest point. I ate so much candy that my pancreas was exhausted and at that weight I ended up as a type 2 diabetic. I would eat candy daily in large quantities. The idea of something being "too sweet" didn't exist in my world.
When I got serious about losing weight I quit the candy cold turkey except I allowed myself sugarless candy. Now the trouble with sugarless candy is that they use sugar alcohols in most of it. That tends to do bad things to my digestion. As a result my limit is 2 pieces of hard candy a day. Many days I don't have any. But being able to have a mint or werther's candy helped me a bit.
As @RelCanonical says other things begin to taste better once the sugar gets out of your system. I can honestly say now some things are too sweet! I never thought I would say that. My weight is now normal and so is my blood sugar. It's worth it to find things for treats that aren't so high in refined sugar. It took a while to get that drive to eat sweets out of my system but now I can have something with real sugar from time to time without it setting me off. I often don't just because a nice apple or bowl of berries is better tasting and often less calories so I just make a different choice. Trust me if I can do it you can do it. Good luck.
It's not the sugar, fruit is mostly sugar. It's hyper-palatable food, so a highly-concentrated combination of sugar and/or fat and/or salt in the right balance to be melt-in-your-mouth with flavorings to enhance them. Highly processed foods are engineered to taste better than anything because companies want you to keep buying them, but are not very satisfying for the same reason. They are also nutritionally deficient. Please don't villainize sugar, that's missing the point of why we need to choose fruits and vegetables as a main part of our diets.
@RelCanonical I was not suggesting that sugar is a villian but it became a very bad habit for me. I had to remove it from my diet for a while to reset my taste buds. I was in fact agreeing with you that someone will find that things taste sweeter after being away from the refined stuff for a while. I can eat it now in moderation although often I pass it up for other things that taste better for the calorie cost.
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cheryldumais wrote: »RelCanonical wrote: »cheryldumais wrote: »I was a sugar junkie. My weight got up to 251 pounds at the highest point. I ate so much candy that my pancreas was exhausted and at that weight I ended up as a type 2 diabetic. I would eat candy daily in large quantities. The idea of something being "too sweet" didn't exist in my world.
When I got serious about losing weight I quit the candy cold turkey except I allowed myself sugarless candy. Now the trouble with sugarless candy is that they use sugar alcohols in most of it. That tends to do bad things to my digestion. As a result my limit is 2 pieces of hard candy a day. Many days I don't have any. But being able to have a mint or werther's candy helped me a bit.
As @RelCanonical says other things begin to taste better once the sugar gets out of your system. I can honestly say now some things are too sweet! I never thought I would say that. My weight is now normal and so is my blood sugar. It's worth it to find things for treats that aren't so high in refined sugar. It took a while to get that drive to eat sweets out of my system but now I can have something with real sugar from time to time without it setting me off. I often don't just because a nice apple or bowl of berries is better tasting and often less calories so I just make a different choice. Trust me if I can do it you can do it. Good luck.
It's not the sugar, fruit is mostly sugar. It's hyper-palatable food, so a highly-concentrated combination of sugar and/or fat and/or salt in the right balance to be melt-in-your-mouth with flavorings to enhance them. Highly processed foods are engineered to taste better than anything because companies want you to keep buying them, but are not very satisfying for the same reason. They are also nutritionally deficient. Please don't villainize sugar, that's missing the point of why we need to choose fruits and vegetables as a main part of our diets.
@RelCanonical I was not suggesting that sugar is a villian but it became a very bad habit for me. I had to remove it from my diet for a while to reset my taste buds. I was in fact agreeing with you that someone will find that things taste sweeter after being away from the refined stuff for a while. I can eat it now in moderation although often I pass it up for other things that taste better for the calorie cost.
It's a fine line but an important distinction to make. I knew you weren't disagreeing with me but I want to make sure the forum lurkers have it clear that it's not the sugar's fault, it's the lack of other nutrients that makes the difference between the jellies and the apples.1 -
Thanks everyone, really appreciate your comments.
I'm definitely not planning on giving up fruit, but might makes some swaps to veg for snacks instead.
Yesterday went well anyway and everything is prepped for today.0
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