Cutting out candy - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

kwrong · 09-22-2011, 10:59 PM

Mini goal 1 reached: lost 10 pounds! Yay!

Mini goal 2:

So I'm a newbie around here, and my next mini goal isn't strictly to lose weight, but to change an eating habit. My mini-goal is to drastically cut the amount of candies and sweets I eat (which is quite a lot!).

Though I imagine cutting sweets will also have the unintended (but very welcome!) side effect of losing a few more pounds. :-)

Anyone else have the killer candy cravings? Sweets have always been my weak spot. I think I will absolutely have to stop buying larger bags to keep in my apartments, and stick to vending machine packs a few times a week. I know I cannot cut it out completely right now.

And I try replacing it with other sweet things (fresh fruit, dry fruit), but it just doesn't work for me. :-(

So I figured putting this out here in the open would make me feel more committed.

KatieC87 · 09-23-2011, 09:01 AM

Good luck! My weakness is chocolate. Unfortunately, my husband keeps a box of Fudge Rounds (the big 300 calorie ones) in his office, right where I can see them. It's a constant battle for me.

Instead of trying to replace candy with fruit or buying the vending machine candies, why not try a lower calorie candy? I'm not sure exactly what kind of candy is your weakness, but for me, it means eating chocolate pudding cups (70 calories each!) or those 100 calorie bags of cookies.

Congrats on the 10 pound loss, by the way! You're doing AWESOME!

tdiprincess · 09-23-2011, 01:34 PM

Hi there,
Awesome work on your first mini goal!!
I'm not a huge candy craver or snacker. But, something that I have changed is that I don't purchase big bags of chips or candy anymore. If I want something I get a small bag or a small amount of the item. I enjoy it and then I'm done.
I also am a huge sweets baker though. But, now if I make something like cookies, either we're going over someone's house or I give them away.

Try not to completely cut them out though since most people will agree that then your body will crave it more. But, you know your body!

JOLINA · 09-23-2011, 03:45 PM

I switched from eating candy to drinking one cup of hot chocolate every other day.
That works for me, plus I get some milk into my diet.

IN HEAVEN, CHOCOLATE HAS NO CALORIES AND IS SERVED AS THE MAIN COURSE.

kwrong · 09-23-2011, 07:21 PM

Katie,
EVERY candy is my weakness. I love it all-chocolate, gummy candy, hard candy, chocolate-covered-everything, caramel....mmmmmmm. I love candy so much, which is why I know I won't be able to cut it out completely. I just know I have to stop buying larger bags-I cannot limit myself when I have them.

tdiprincess, that's my plan: no more large bags-just the vending machine sized ones on occasion. But I definitely cannot buy small bags in bulk-because I'll just eat them all!!! I guess it's a good thing I'm not big on baking-just doesn't do it for me, but I do like eating other people's baked goods. :-) yum yum.

I love food.

Jolina, I might try that, minus the reg. milk (allergy). I guess I could always do the soy milk hot chocolate variety. :-D

caryesings · 09-23-2011, 10:15 PM

Yes. I had to kick candy completely out of my life to stop eating it. I could not limit myself to a small amount and would average nearly a pound of candy per day when I finally went cold turkey in April 2005. But I didn't attempt weight loss at the same time as I had to stuff myself with other food to keep myself out of the candy.

Some folks will say when they stop eating a food the cravings go away after a short time. That's not how it worked for me. I thought I woud lose my mind the first year and it was 4 years before I felt I'd conquered it enough to attempt dieting.

Oddly, because I couldn't face the fact of never eating candy again so I promised myself I could go back to my candy habit when I reached age 80 (I was 45 the year I stopped).

Ash15+ · 03-21-2012, 03:19 PM

I'm like you kwrong! I love every kind of candy, its a constant struggle for me. I have to cut it out completely because I can never limit myself to a small portion. Right now, I'm attempting to conquer my cravings using green tea... we'll see how it goes!

Cinderella00 · 03-21-2012, 03:26 PM

I think I could have written your post! I LOVE LOVE LOVE candy too. And would buy those big bags, telling myself that I'd eat it over a long time. You know, the smaller bar means I'll only eat a little bit at once. Wrong. Add to that the fact that I'd hide the candy from everyone else in the house so they couldn't find it and eat it...

I'm only 2 weeks into this right now, but here's what I'm doing - I had a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips here that I opened, and every once in a while I go get 2 or 3 and let them melt on my tongue. I'm not sure this will work long term, but it's gotten me through the last 2 weeks!

DhaniCauldwell · 03-23-2012, 08:00 AM

I use gum as a way to suppress my candy cravings (sugar-free). Extra even has a line of dessert flavored gums if you want to try those.

jessica2231 · 03-23-2012, 09:52 AM

i use blowpops and actually suck on them till the bitter end lol.

kgrantmeserenity · 03-23-2012, 10:57 AM

On the 10 lbs!

I love the idea of non weight related mini-goals. If I don't make the weight loss goals "soon enough" I get discouraged. Habit is much more under our control!

As for cravings, I love ice cream. Luckily, I live alone, so I can keep it out of the house. My problem is overeating in general out of stress, so it doesn't even really matter what the food is.

smarkey · 03-23-2012, 07:16 PM

I use gum, too. And, once I actually cut-out sugar (mostly) for awhile, fruit started tasting sweeter, so it became a treat. I didn't give up dark chocolate and have been enjoying Trader Joe's tins of Chocolate Nibs. Very small, but it you keep few nibs in your pocket, you can use them to curb the cravings (don't carry around the whole tin! -- sure fire way to use them up in one sitting).

Semi-sweet chocolate chips work well that way, too. Fred Meyer carries an organic brand that has less sugar than say Nestle's or Hersheys. Cost more, but use them sparingly.

Don't get me wrong, this has not been easy at all. I love candy of all kinds and going into any store around Easter is killer. Anything with marshmallow acts like a magnet. Then again one chocolate covered marshmallow egg never hurt anyone, did it?

Keep going. Changing eating habits is the only way to go.

panzees36 · 04-02-2012, 10:36 PM

I love candy also and since I work in retail I'm around it daily. I've managed to stay away from it except for an occasional piece maybe once a week. My one weakness is jelly beans and of course they are everywhere this time of year. I usually buy a big bag and eat a few handfuls on my way home from work. I keep the bag in the car so I won't be tempted later. I've still managed to lose almost 6 lbs. in 2 weeks despite eating jelly beans five days a week.

JessicaB · 04-04-2012, 09:46 AM

I love candy too, and with Easter this weekend, I've been thinking about it more and more. I've managed to stay away from it for a month, and I do find that fruit is tasting sweeter, and have been getting by chewing gum as well.

I've already set aside some candy for my Easter basket, since I have a toddler at home, but I can't decide if I should just give it all to my husband afterwards, or eat just one piece every couple of days.

panzees36 · 04-05-2012, 10:44 PM

I made Easter baskets up for my 3 granddaughters and divided the candy equally among the baskets. Any extras, which weren't many, I ate. I was surprised at how sweet the chocolate seemed. I'm thinking it must have had been because I have eaten very little chocolate over the last 3 weeks. I really did not even enjoy eating it.