Thanks for the responses everyone! I, too, live in a place where sweets will probably always be present (especially this time of year). Sometimes I feel like completely removing anything sweet from my diet would help the cravings, but I just haven't been able to get there. Seeing that so many of you have done so (or at least moderated the amount) successfully leaves me hopeful that I can, too!
Also, JohnP, love your signature: "I eat whatever I want - just not however much I want." I've never heard it put this way, but those sure sound like words to live by!
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Originally Posted by kaplods
Not always, sometimes it's not so much your mind as your biochemistry. I used to believe it was all "willpower," but after I read the book, "The End of Overeating," by David Kessler, I realized that biochemistry had more to do with it in my case.
I've heard others sing praises of this book! I need to check it out.
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Originally Posted by Arctic Mama
By the way Carissa, how did your pregnancy go? I've missed seeing you around the site
Aw, thanks! It has been one crazy ride! Pregnancy was great and motherhood is even better. He will be two next month !
I've fallen back in to old, dangerous habits, and I thought maybe resurfacing here would help get me back on the right path
Has it been that long?! Wow the time FLIES! I was thinking you were pregnant when I was, and you were, but not this current pregnancy (your son and mine are only a few months apart). I got my babies confused
I wish you the very best in getting back on track. I've lost all my weight with various numbers of children (being heaviest and getting started when #2 was a few months old) it can definitely be done and isn't even that hard, but it can be easy to get on autopilot and make poor choices and that's a big ditch to watch out for. Otherwise it's just a matter of time and consistency.
My DH still likes his sweets so we have them in the house, but that is not a problem for me. I bake pies and cakes for him, but I stay out of them.
Please please please tell me how you got to THAT point. I was okay for MONTHS until Halloween when someone waved a candy bar under my nose. (The holiday baking is an unbreakable tradition, I don't live alone, so please don't anyone dare tell me to "just remove the temptation".)
My cravings for sweets hasnt diminished one iota. I could still eat a trainload of pastries, cookies, ice cream - you name it. When I lose it and go overboard, I dive into the sugary sweets.
I think it depends on the person. I'm astounded that people can walk by a plate of free cookies at work and not grab some. But then, I'm a sugar-addict. However, I know people whose weakness is, say, meat. My wife's is pasta. So it all depends.
I don't think the physical craving, or just plain wanting, sweets has diminished for me. I think I have just convinced that part of my brain that I will not die if I do not eat the cupcake RIGHT NOW! Guess I've just learned to redirect myself, for the most part. I still give in a lot more than I'd like, but it's a slow process and I'm okay with that.
I'm a binge eater, though, so it might be different for a more "normal" sweets eater.
I don't think the physical craving, or just plain wanting, sweets has diminished for me. I think I have just convinced that part of my brain that I will not die if I do not eat the cupcake RIGHT NOW! Guess I've just learned to redirect myself, for the most part. I still give in a lot more than I'd like, but it's a slow process and I'm okay with that.
I'm a binge eater, though, so it might be different for a more "normal" sweets eater.
Ditto. There is no such thing as ONE cookie or ONE scoop of ice cream for me. All the more reason to try to give it up completely, I suppose.
It definitely works for me. If I stay off of it long enough I even get to where JoJoJo2 is. Last winter I was even making fudge without having any! I am by nature a chocolate fiend. If I stay off of any of it for a while I can even enjoy some wonderful dark chocolate without over indulging in it and without it making me crave, no milk chocolate though or I'm sunk. For me it doesn't even have to be a true sugar binge that sends me back to it. I had too much white bread once and then I wanted brownies like a mad woman.
Ditto. There is no such thing as ONE cookie or ONE scoop of ice cream for me. All the more reason to try to give it up completely, I suppose.
Don't try to give it up completely, or you may risk binging on it later. Allow yourself to have some, but only as an occasional treat. I calorie-count; I can eat whatever I want, but not as much as I want. Best diet I've ever been on.
I find that if I've eaten a lot of sweets/junk one day then the next day is really difficult to get through cravings wise. If I don't eat any crap for a few days it's usually pretty easy but I wouldn't say that the cravings are non-existent at any point.
I am going through a cheat withdrawal right now lol...procrastinating as we speak...ok im going to workout right now...Ive been posting and reading..ttyl..all
My cravings only subside if I don't eat my trigger/junk foods very often AND if I do everything in my power to make it difficult for me to get to them. I don't keep sweats or other junk food in the house because I really can't keep them out of my mind if I know they are there. Its kind of like that Edgar Allen Poe story about the beating heart under the floorboards. If I know the food is there, it will torment me until I eat all of it. You can't eat what isn't there. I always give myself permission to eat whatever I really, really, really want, but if you have to leave the house, go to the store, buy it, bring it home, prepare it, etc before you can have it, you have plenty of time to get over the craving or talk yourself out of it.
It has definitely changed for me. I got fat on sugar in all of its various forms. I could eat a bag of Hershey's kisses in an hour. Once I lost the weight, I've kept it off by cutting out simple carbs and all the empty calories that go with them. However, when I reached goal, I told myself that I could eat whatever I wanted one day a month. It was my way of making better eating a reasonable goal and not expecting myself to be perfect every single day. The first six months or so, I'd eat some sort of crap and feel lousy, physically and mentally. After that, when I 'd try to figure out what I wanted to eat on my free day, I couldn't come up with anything that even sounded reasonably good. I just kind of gave up the sugars without even really meaning to. At this point I'm not sure I could eat enough of any simple carb to get myself back to the point where I couldn't control it; it simply doesn't have that hold on me anymore.
My free day each month now consists of dinner at a nice restaurant with my husband where I order anything I'd like instead of scanning for the lowest calorie item. Somehow, having my vegetables sauteed instead of steamed seems like a big indulgence, now.
I cut sugar out in June and I don't physically crave it anymore. I am definitely a sugar addict. It doesn't really bother me to have it around either. I just know that I don't eat sweets. When I tried to allow myself some sweets in moderation, there was always that one time when I went overboard and got off track with my diet and couldn't get it together again.
I calorie-count; I can eat whatever I want, but not as much as I want. Best diet I've ever been on.
This!! I have a huge sweet tooth, and I find for me, I am most successful when I allow myself to eat what I want, as long as it fits within my calories. And if it doesn't, I can usually pass it by!
Or occasionally, like for Christmas stuff, since I only make certain things at this time of year, I allow myself a little indulgence, and just up the exercise that day.
I am trying to find a balance between this healthy lifestyle and enjoying the foods I love. And 17lbs later, it seems to be working!
!
