What would some good alternatives for these be?

What about using flavored almond milk instead of the milk & sugar? This would add protein…

When I crave chocolate, I have a snack size (like what you give out at Halloween) packet of M&Ms. It's about 100 calories. I don't do it often any more.

I"m shocked. this is the first post where people aren't judging. hmmm confess a weakness and you get tons of support. Post something you think you're doing great..and nothing but bad feedback. humans.

what about starting with a cappuccino without the sugar? Than move to using nut pods or something with less calories?

I like vanilla or cinnamon in my coffee sometimes.

@corina1143 may be on to something.

I very vividly remember you describing a lot of these symptoms in another post.

It’s def something to consider.

If you need an alternative, my daughter drinks some kind of coffee flavored roasted something or other that she started drinking while still vegan. She’s on a cruise right now so I can’t ask her.

And yes, there’s a whole world out there of non-instant. I didn’t ever drink coffee at all until about four years ago. Now I find it a sort of soothing pleasure to set up my Aeropress, brew, and froth some milk.

I treated myself to an electric frother yesterday (meh, I’m going back to my faithful-and way more effective Ninja hand-pump frother) and a coffee grinder.

I brought some whole bean coffee back from a trip last week, and can’t wait to see if freshly ground is worth it.

If you can’t (or won’t- I balk at the prices) afford locally roasted, Lidl carries a “noir” ground coffee that’s excellent, and inexpensive. Community brand coffee is also pretty good they make a coffee cut with chicory that might be lower caffeine? Both brands are generally about $5 for a bag.

Maybe a better quality cup would help you reduce quantity?

After visiting a coffee plantation last week, I’m flabbergasted at the effort that goes into producing a bag of coffee. It’s a wonder it’s not ten times the price.

I agree. Get the black tea - I like Tetley irish or british blend, 3.99 for 80 bags. It's strong and flavorful. Add lemon to it. If you don't want to bother with real lemons or measuring out lemon juice (I don;t) then toss in a packet of Trulemon powder. You can get it at Walmart or online. And there are All kinds of teas. When I lived near a tea shop, they had a chocolate flavored tea that really did taste like chocolate.

For chocolate cravings, try Swiss Miss Reduced calorie (40 per mug) cocoa. It's very chocolatey. And it takes a while to drink. I also like the Russell Stover sugar free chocolates - they taste fine to me, but you should limit yourself to two a day because 1. they have calories (110 for two) and 2. They can have a laxative effect if eaten in quantity (though not for me). I also like Lily's sugar free dark almond bar. 1/3 of a bar is like ten squares and 130 calories. When I want a chocolate treat this is what I go for.

I’m going to go out on a limb here. Your mother was watching? She was critiquing your eating?

My mom was morbidly obese from the time I can remember. She had a tough childhood, and adulthood wasn’t much kinder to her. . I get it, she compensated with food. Even when we couldn’t afford meat, there was always a stash or two or three of candy and Little Debbie’s hidden around the house.

She hated that I was underweight, and took me to doctors or some idiot barber who sold nutritional supplements (I kid you not) to try to make me gain weight because I was “unhealthy”.

I worked with my parents for three decades, gained weight by the end of the first decade. She was so damn happy. “I told you you’d be fat, just like me”.

Any time I would try to lose weight, she would sabotage me. She’d bring in all my favorites, leave them in the kitchen and say “oh I didn’t like these, let’s put them out for customers” knowing darn well I’d eat them. Or she’d bring in a box of doughnuts, sacks of candy, a cake. I didn’t care for hard candy and wouldn’t touch the ones in the customer candy dishes. So she filled them with Tootsie Rolls. She always watched what I ate, and when I tried to watch what I ate without saying anything or she thought I’d lost weight, she’d go to work on me.

Yes, my fault, for caving in so easily. I should have had the balls to stand up to her, but I didn’t. She bullied me with food, and my outlet was to bully her for being incompetent on the computer. We were a toxic pair.

Do not let your mother pass judgment on what you eat, or tell you you’re doing this wrong or that you need to be that person.

I’m sorry to go off like that, but your describing her reaction just sent me off like a rocket.

You do you. It’s NONE of her business.