Sugar Addict

poseyj88
poseyj88 Posts: 140 Member
edited December 20 in Food and Nutrition
I can stay away from the fat, the grease, whatever, but dangle a piece of chocolate in front of me and I just can't help myself!

I would ALWAYS do amazing on my food diary if I didn't add 300 cals in ice cream at the end of the day (today they happened to fit in, but not always).

Give me your tips and tricks. I live with a boyfriend who has a nasty sweet tooth and no desire to get rid of it so keeping it out of the house isn't going to happen.

Do I need to go cold turkey? Substitute?

Please help! (And be kind, I'm working hard here).

Replies

  • Brennaohh
    Brennaohh Posts: 47
    im the same way, i live with my family and my aunt always has freshly baked goods on the counters. Try planning your day ahead of time and adding the calories in for that food (or save 300 calories for something sweet)
    So that way when you do eat it you arent over your calorie limit for the day. And you can look forward to it and enjoy it instead of feeling guilty.

    I honestly am not sure if quitting cold turkey would be easy because if your bf always has the sweets around, youre going to want to eat them, and probably will cave in...atleast I would.

    Or maybe ask him to not leave the sweets around where you can see them and be tempted to eat them?
  • Sheilav330
    Sheilav330 Posts: 57
    Have you tried the Fiber One brownies? They are good and contains 5grams of fiber and less sugar ...maybe u should try that or eating a piece of fruit when ur craving the sugar.
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    I have a strong sweet tooth as well. Log it before you eat it. That way, you can decide whether it's worth it. Eat smaller portions. Eat lighter versions (low fat ice cream, popsicle, etc.). One of the things I do is to make protein shakes and freeze (today's version was ON vanilla, greek yogurt, almond milk, banana, strawberries, chia seeds - Massive portion, and I ate it all). My go-to is crystallized ginger - sweet, not too calorie dense, and satisfies my sweet tooth.
  • :flowerforyou: I started snacking on protein. Stuff like Cajun turkey from the deli section and fried pork skins. Also, drink at least two whey protein shacks during the day. You need to get you sugar level down so your Pancreas gets a break. Once you do the sugar cravings will go away. Then its no longer physical..... it becomes mental. Be strong. Sugar is what kills you diet. By the way this is my fat photo from last year. I am down 30 lbs. and knocking out the sugars and carbs is what did it.
  • I have a similar problem in my home. I have my boyfriend hide his sweets. Out of sight, out of mind, however one time I spent 45 minutes looking for donuts he hid. By the time I found them I didn't want them anymore (and I burned calories searching! ha.)

    I keep tons of fruit for my cravings..or sugar free pudding or jello. My go to substitute is always an apple out of the fridge.
  • Try to chew gum or keep a bottle of water with all the time. So when you see or crave a chocolate, the water will fill it up! :) Helped me!
  • iLoveMyPitbull1225
    iLoveMyPitbull1225 Posts: 1,690 Member
    Try the skinnycow ice creams, frozen yogurt, or the fat free bryers ice cream. Its all relatively low calorie, and at my local yogi castle they often have froyo thats both nonfat and sugar free. You can load it up with fruit and sometimes i do granola, its delicious but not horrible on your calorie count. And i know that for 1/2 cup of the bryers fat free ice cream its like 90 calories, not bad.
  • SteakGirl
    SteakGirl Posts: 9
    I have a huge sweet tooth too! Hot Tamales, jelly beans, marshmallows, frosting etc. I've been working out consistently, but 10-15 pounds crept up on me probably because I was consuming 500-1,000 calories a day in sweets, especially when I'm on a long drive. It's embarrassing to admit that. But three weeks ago I went "cold turkey" and haven't had candy since. It was soooo hard! I'm doing better now and find that I don't think about it all day long like I used to. I've allowed a few "healthier" sweets as they work in to my calorie count for the day. A few things that worked for me: 1. Count to ten before mindlessly popping candy into my mouth 2. Have lots of sugar-free gum around to chew when I feel like eating sweets 3. Have healthy, sweet alternatives around such as grapes, bananas, low-fat ice cream, sherbet, etc to snack on as it fits into your calorie count so you don't feel like you are depriving yourself 4. In a difficult moment, I'll tell the sweet I'm wanting to indulge in "You have no power over me!" then I walk away. This sounds really silly (and it makes my kids laugh), but it has worked for me. 5. Allow yourself 1or 2 bites of the indulgent sweet and no more. I've found that the flavor lingers in my mouth and I enjoy it more when I don't scarf down a large amount. This takes will power, but if you think about it, the flavor and pleasure isn't as intense anyway after the first or second bite. So why continue eating it? Good luck and add me if you'd like!
  • chandra38
    chandra38 Posts: 110 Member
    Have you tried the Fiber One brownies? They are good and contains 5grams of fiber and less sugar ...maybe u should try that or eating a piece of fruit when ur craving the sugar.

    YES!!! Those brownies are awesome!!!!
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    My strategy has been to work some in to my daily allowance. If I know that absolutely heavenly ice cream is waiting for me in the freezer, it helps me pass on the icky frosted cookies or so-so chips at work (if I have enough reason to be committed to staying under calories).

    Another strategy is portion control. I know it's hard (I had extra cake yesterday just because it was there, sigh …. not committed enough right now I guess). The 300 calorie ice cream is probably two servings, yes? You can cut that in half. Just put it in a smaller bowl, find a tiny spoon, and eat it slowly while you aren't doing anything else (no mindless noshing in front of the t.v.!) and you'll realize that you are satisfied with less.

    Hmm, I really need to start listening to my own advice and get back to these strategies!!
  • helenrachel123
    helenrachel123 Posts: 22 Member
    I can sympathise as I am getting major sugar cravings at the moment and am finding that I have been putting weight on also just found out that I am very anemic so not sure if this is why I am also craving sugar. I need to find the willpower to stay away from it as it is wrecking my diet. Any one got any ideas
  • tdmcmains
    tdmcmains Posts: 227 Member
    I also used to eat ice cream every night and chocolate every mid-afternoon. I gave up the chocolate in the afternoon cold turkey but we (my kids, hubby and i) all agreed to two dessert nights a week. If it's not a dessert night, I just have to say no. it sucks. for a long time I was really bitter that other people get to eat all the junk they want and ... i just generally have a hard time with constraints... with someone telling me i can't have something (whether it's food or job growth or whatever). I feel like it's not fair. But one day it just kind of clicked that i can eat that stuff all i want too but it will make me fat again. So it's not that I can't but there's a price. It's my choice. It made me feel a lot better about it.
    Now I love dessert nights (the concept and the actual dessert). it's much easier to accept that limitation because i'm imposing it on myself. And it's actually not too hard to say "ah, well, I would love some chocolate right now but it's not a dessert night". I love having these two nights to look forward to and make sure it fits in my calories.
  • I've also found that hard candy - when you choose the right kind - has fewer calories, lasts longer because you can suck on it, and help stop the craving. Claeys old fashioned root beer candy - 3 pieces (good for 45 minutes if you suck on them) 50 calories. That's my goto right now. Good Luck!
  • samlankford
    samlankford Posts: 334
    turned my boyfriend on to those brownies with just one that I brought him.. he went to the food store and brought more since he prefers to consume more fiber in his diet... how are the peanut butter fiber one brownies? someone said that they are a little pasty tasting?
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    I am very similar to you. I have a few strats I use to cope with this.

    I don't deny myself goodies. I just use the calories on them only when I've been good for a bit. Like I went grocery shopping couple of days ago and saw the calories on a chocolate bar was 220 for a small bar and I just told myself i'll have it next week instead.

    I keep chocolate Ovaltine at home. With a glass of 1% milk, its about 150 calories which I can deal with since I usually have that many calories left anyways
  • nsimportant
    nsimportant Posts: 170 Member
    You do know that most sweets are half sugar half fat or at least 2:1 carb to fat ratio. Its really hard to find low fat high carb sweets that arnt like plain corn or low fat yogurt's to jam into my post workout meals.

    Actually if You pick anything up in my store if its salty or a sweet snack you cant go wrong if You are assuming its 600 cals 100g and 60g carbs 40g fat.
  • bstrongerlennox
    bstrongerlennox Posts: 5 Member
    Try the Fudgsicle Brand No-Sugar Added fudgsicles. First, they're awesome. Second, they're only 40 calories per pop, which means you could have 7 of them and still be 20 calories under your 300 calorie bowl of ice cream (not that I recommend that;). I think each pop has like 2-2.5 grams of sugar. Really, I don't know anyone who doesn't love these once they try them.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    Ok, I am going to be the odd one out and put it straight out there.

    If you are TRULY a sugar addict and want to kick it then you have to do the same as an alcoholic or a drug addict. You have to go cold turkey and don't have sugary stuff, even fruit and artificially sweeteened stuff can keep flaring up the sweet tooth.

    Let it go and do what it takes to break the addiction. Once you no longer have those cravings, then add in small amounts of fruit and some dark chocolate.

    If the sweet tooth comes back, then remove those things for longer.
  • katenmills
    katenmills Posts: 113 Member
    Ohhh I am most definitely a sugar addict. I tried to keep sweets in my diet by eating small portions of them and making sure they fit in my daily cals.. however, for me this did not work as having one portion of something sweet would trigger me to take more and more and completely blow it. So then I tried super artificial/processed foods like sugarfree puddings, sodas, jelly, icecreams all sweetened artificially. Although this made it easier to avoid real sugar (most of the time), it didn't help with the trigger effect... I'd just eat more and more sugarfree things. Then I thought, even if I mangaed to keep subduing my cravings by eating a bowl of sugarfree jelly and 2 sugarfree puddings a day, there's no way I was comfortable consuming so many chemicals every day for the rest of my life - not healthy. Then I went cold turkey: no sugar or sweeteners of any kind. Cravings/sleepiness/bit of a headache the first few days... then a week later, started feeling better! More energy, no headache and cravings were already dying down. I increased my intake of good fats, like in nut butter and avocados because this supposedly helps. It did help in leaving me more satisfied after meals. After a fortnight, I was no longer craving sugar at all. My family eats a lot of sweets but I would just look at the cakes/cookies and genuinely be like "meh", didn't have any urge to eat them! You think it will be like "wow I'm craving sugar after 24hrs without it, surely by the end of 14 days I would've lost my mind!" But it's not like that, it quickly gets easier, not harder. Anyway, this is just what worked for me.. I am a "all or nothing" person in many aspects of life. You just have to find what works for you... if you're someone who is satisfied and can keep in control by having some dark chocolate or small treat now and then, i'm very jealous! i've always wanted to be an "everything in moderation" person lol.
  • katenmills
    katenmills Posts: 113 Member
    Wow! Sorry for the essay O_O
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