So I am within 20 lbs of my goal and I have really been thinking lately about how there is one food that really can make me gain. Chocolate. It is also something I can't really make it through the day without --in some capacity. It makes me wonder if truth, I am only fat because of this one food. I can tell you... not only does this food compel me to eat it, but, when I do, I can binge on it and nothing else that I ever eat a lot of puts weight on me like this.

So I was thinking about giving it up. For good... forever. Like an alcoholic. I am not sure I will be able to do it.

Has any maintainer give up a particular food that was just too toxic to continue to eat? Such as chocolate.

Not a food but a beverage that I firmly believe made me eat a whole lot more - diet cola. After I literally went through a withdrawal from this stuff I found that I binged a lot less and was much less hungry in the late afternoon.

I would expand that to include most artificial sweeteners. Apparently your brain, after receiving this super sweet sensation, then tells your body to expect a big calorie load. This is one article that details it

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...e-dangers.aspx

When the body doesn't get it the body revolts! At least that was my own experience. It was particularly bad, for me, with beverages.

Dagmar

I've permanently given up deep-fried anything. No french fries, potato chips, etc. for over 3 years.

I'm the devil's advocate. Throughout my journey I have, and continue to, drink beer. Not the cr@p low calorie stuff, but the real stuff. The delicious small batch IPAs brewed in limited quantities on the West Coast. Why? Because to have stopped this delicacy would have killed my whole weightloss effort. I would have simply given up.

So you can keep your chocolate but must make cuts elsewhere.

I skip eating dinner. And drink beer instead.

I'm thinking a chocolate dinner would have about the same effect as a beer one i.e. none.

I'm the type of person who cannot tell myself that I'll never have a food again that I love. I know that I will rebel, develop even more cravings for the food, and ultimately give in. What does work for me, however, is to make a choice to cut back but to allow myself the food on special occasions. I, personally, would see the world as a little less happy if you told me there would be no more chocolate for me.

Nope, never, and no plans to do so in the future. I also have a weakness for chocolate. Only fine chocolate, mind you. I've been known to eat a pound (yes, you read that right) of Belgian chocolate or Nutella in one sitting.

I've handled it by reprogramming my ingrained beliefs, rather than giving up chocolate altogether. I used to think I "couldn't" resist Nutella if it was in the house. Well, my kids enjoy having Nutella around and I see no reason to deprive them. I've taught myself to stay away from it, for the most part.

YMMV, of course.

Freelance

I gave up fast food in 2007. Haven't missed it yet!

Thanks for the responses. Once I have chocolate I can often not stop. It really is a trigger for me and results in an entire bag eaten. Having just a few pieces seems to make me want a whole bag. While, when I eat low or not chocolate I am not reactive to it.

But I have never been able to give it up completely. Often being "forced" to go out and get some if I don't get some for a long time.

The diet I am on has no chocolate although the chocolate flavored shakes help, but, I find if I have like a few pieces of candy, not only do I want much more but also, my weight loss completely stops.

Yes, and it was before my weight loss. I was a candy addict, generally eating @ 1 lb. of flavored sugar treats per day such as jelly beans, gummis, licorice. After a lifetime of trying to cut back on it, I finally went cold turkey in April 2005. It was horribly difficult and to make even more discouraging, did not result in even 1 lb. of weight loss. But I truly don't feel I would have been able to lose 100 lbs 4 years later if I hadn't conquered that habit.

However I should add that mentally the only way I could give up candy was to tell myself I could eat as much candy as I wanted once I reach my eightieth birthday. I knew if I told myself "never again" that I wouldn't make it. As of next week, only 26 more years before my next jelly bean binge!

This sounds like a crazy solution, but I used lemon juice to break my sweets addiction. Instead of retyping everything, here is a link to the post I just made to someone who had a similar problem.

3fatchicks.com/forum/mens-corner/288199-newbie-here.html

That is brilliant. Yes I will only give up chocolate until I am 80. That is totally going to work for me.

I have a hard time with bread and pasta but do not think I could live without either one. I try to limit the quantity with a meal and try to limit the meals with those ingredients.

I don't have any specific "trigger foods" that I have to give up forever. But I can look at a slice of pizza and gain 5 pounds.