My hobby is ruining my efforts

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Kriszti29
Kriszti29 Posts: 32
in Motivation and Support
I love baking. I've always loved it since I was a little girl, and by now I'm pretty damn good at it.
My whole kitchen is designed and built around the idea of creating wonderful baked goods. I have bookshelves upon bookshelves of cooking books and all kinds of fancy gadgets to the same effect.

And it also a great hobby in the sense that it makes me relax and zoom out after any hectic day in the office.

But it also ruining my weight loss efforts. My immediate family is not that sweet toothed. We are not close with the neighbours. And there is only so many times I can drag my goodies into the office without turning into the office caterer...

So what then? How can I manage this? I've lost over 50lbs since July, but once a week (or two-three times a month) I just have this urge to bake something lovely - and I usually end up eating most of it. The difference from a year ago is that now I likely to eat it in a good couple of days, not in a good couple of hours - but the end result is the same: it shows up on the scale EVERY DAMN TIME.

I wish I'd have another hobby... like knitting, or training a flea circus, or serial killing... anything, which does not involve calories. I tried gardening last year, but it did not turn out to be the best substitute as English weather sucks most of the year.

There is no homeless shelter nearby where I could drop off the goods. And they wouldn't let me near the youth centre, because of health and safety/food hygiene rubbish. (I and my kitchen are not certified by the authorities).

Any ideas? Anyone out there overcome this same hurdle successfully? I'd like to know...

Until then - let's have another slice of the lemon meringue pie...............................:drinker:

Replies

  • mumof5
    mumof5 Posts: 328 Member
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    this is a tough one. I'm a mother of 5 and I like my kids to eat home cooked meals and snacks, I make all our own sauces, cakes, cookies....... cookie mixture is my down fall, love the beaters, and butter cake mix oh and.....(I could go on with my list of favourites)! what I do now is bulk cook, once a week then divide it into lunchbox portions and freeze it. I also cook on a weekend so everyone us home, this way someone else always takes a beater, and the end results is in the freezer. this is not an easy journey but as someone once said to me - healthy feels so much better than fat tastes :)
  • ellycope
    ellycope Posts: 80 Member
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    I love baking too (maybe it's a reaction to the rubbish English weather!). I guess I would say that this is what makes MFP so great - you can input the recipes so you know how much each piece of cake is in calories, etc and then you know what you need to do exercise/other food-wise on the day that you're baking. Maybe you could bake something and then go out for a run or do a workout DVD while they're cooling (and if you get a heart rate monitor it'll tell you how many calories you've actually burned) and then you'll feel like you've really earned some!

    Also, if you manage to control your baking urges to a few times a month I think taking them into the office will be fine!

    Maybe you could make half quantities or freeze some dough?

    Good luck, I know it's hard!
  • Harkins86
    Harkins86 Posts: 58 Member
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    What about doing a bake sale for charity? I asked a charity and did one at work. You can do them other places too, like regattas or galas. Have a look. I love baking too, so i know how you feel

    Good luck
  • Gigito140
    Gigito140 Posts: 9
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    I can really relate to you on this one. Except it is my 13 year old daughter who has a dream of being on Food Network someday with her own baking show...lol We have bought her birthday and x-mas gifts of nothing but baking stuff to encourage her dream...and then she uses them. LOL She is always making something from scratch and using her family as giunny pigs to try it out. I love sweets too, so that makes it hard. Wouldn't be a problem if she sucked at it, but she don't lol. Maybe try to figure out ways to make the same treats you make, but in a healthier way. It would challenge you and give you something to work at. Then when you do indulge, it's better for you and not so damn ready to show on that scale every time...good luck!
  • Kriszti29
    Kriszti29 Posts: 32
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    What about doing a bake sale for charity? I asked a charity and did one at work. You can do them other places too, like regattas or galas. Have a look. I love baking too, so i know how you feel

    Good luck

    Well, I'm working FOR a charity... so brining in baking is like doing a bake sale for them every week... Only they pay me in compliments, but it's still the charity benefits - hahaha. Just kidding. But true.
  • JodieLBradbury
    JodieLBradbury Posts: 38 Member
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    I love baking too but have had to cut back. There's only my wife and I at home so if something gets baked there is only us here to eat it. not good. Sometimes I get her to take them into her work which is better. Could you maybe take them around to some elderly people nearby? I bet they'd LOVE them, and wouldn't mind if you popped in a few times a week haha.
  • loopybec2002
    loopybec2002 Posts: 313 Member
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    Do you live near me I am rubbish at baking and love home cooked food. I could travel for come lovely cookies and a cup of tea. hehe j/k
  • SarahxCheesecake
    SarahxCheesecake Posts: 169 Member
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    Yes. Me. I dont buy the ingredients in the first place.
  • nk17
    nk17 Posts: 141 Member
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    Perhaps take the baked goods to a senior citizens center. A little food and some listening go a long way there.
  • becka63
    becka63 Posts: 712 Member
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    I love baking so I feel your pain!

    The one thing I like, as I think someone mentioned, is that with homebaking, I can input all the ingredients here to get an accurate calorie and nutritional info, which has actually put me off buying premade things.

    It's good that since starting MFP you say you now eat things over a couple of days rather than hours, I was wondering if some of the things you make could be frozen or cut into smaller portions and frozen like that? Then it becomes a treat!

    It's not much comfort, but I suppose by home baking, you have control over the sodium and preservative levels...
  • surfrgrl1
    surfrgrl1 Posts: 1,464 Member
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    New challenge, maybe you can take your recipes and turn them out in miniature batches and miniature sizes. :wink:

    In the mean time, I'll take that slice of lemon pie! :love:
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
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    Maybe take some goodies to the local police or fire station? Never saw a police officer turn down a cookie or muffin!
  • Tara4boys
    Tara4boys Posts: 515 Member
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    I love to bake too. I try to half recipes. I also freeze things. And I also... gasp... throw things away. I'd rather use the garbage can than use my body as a garbage can.
  • amymarie8709
    amymarie8709 Posts: 329 Member
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    My mom was big on sweets too. so instead of making the usual thing she found a way to make it lower fat and still taste good. There's a bunch of recipes online for substituting ingredients. And if you're making cakes and pies and such, then you could divide it up into smaller portions and freeze half of it for later so it doesn't go bad. :) I hope this helps.

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