So frustrated. My weight loss had been super slow, and then I've been losing nicely the past month since I lowered carbs and increased fruits/veggies. I love to bake and am an absolute sugar fiend, but I've cut way, way back on those things, having maybe one serving of sugar a week at most. I've been feeling confident about it, enough to risk baking 3 big batches of cookies so I could make some gift baskets for friends. I allowed myself to have "some" and calculated my calories. I determined the 'stop-off point', but one lick of batter became 5, and then I ended up having 3 of the finished cookies on the last batch, putting me around 800 calories over for the day. I want to be 'normal' and indulge in my hobbies, one of which is baking, but I worry that I'll never be able to handle it when it comes to sugar. Are there others out there that like to bake? How do you cope with the temptation?
I love, love, love baking, and like you, I have problems with sugar. One of my earliest and fondest memories is making pie crusts with my Mom. Birthday cakes were always an Ace of Cakes worthy work of art in my family - from scratch baking has always been a big deal to us.
How I'm coping? I don't bake any more. Personally, I had to choose between baking and my health. I really felt like I was mourning an old friend, and I sobbed when I realized that I wouldn't ever be making spectacular birthday cakes for my family and friends any more. But you know what? It got a lot easier as time went on, and I have new hobbies now - mostly fitness related yoga, canoeing, etc. and I feel good about not encouraging my family to associate celebrations with unhealthy food. I still enjoy making my husband the occasional sugar-free banana or pumpkin bread made with almond or coconut flour, but that's it. The end of sugar and grains was pretty much the end of baking for me, and that is my new normal.
I love cooking as well -- to be honest, for the first while at least, I only made things I DIDNT LIKE lol Same with Hallowe'en candy, I only bought stuff I hated until I learned enough skills to co-exist with everything LOL
Not quite as fun as licking the spoon, but it was still fund to hand over a delicious treat basket to people who DO like pumpkin muffins (barf) or gingersnap cookies (barf) LOL
I like to bake, but don't like sweets, so I guess I do not have the temptation so much. However, I lived on a high carb diet before and pretty much cut everything out of my diet once I realized that I gained the weight in part due to the carbs. In fact, cutting the carbs has been the only way to loose. I am also a slow looser due to thyroid issues. I have periods when I loose and periods of long stalls. I get through the stalls by exercising, which allows me to still loose inches. Exercise also allows me to add some (~300) calories back that I then use for necessary enjoyments. I like to drink my glass of wine daily and I also cannot drink my coffee black, but need some half and half.
If I have cravings for sweets or carbs, I have my "carb only" days. I actually need to have those days regularly to keep my thyroids happy. On those days I limit my calories still, but I eat loads of bread or chocolate or pasta. I find that carbs crave carbs. They are hard to limit to just one lick. But, if I feed myself with 1000 calories of dark chocolate, I generally do not want to even think about chocolate for the next two weeks, I have my carb cravings (and needs) fulfilled, and I still only ate about 1300-1400 calories that day. This is my recipe for the moment. It works for me and may not be suitable for others. But instead of feeling guilty and thinking you are a failure for going for 3 cookies, think about how to incorporate the things that are critically important to you into your eating plan.
Because let's face it, you will have to do that anyways if you are to maintain your losses. I gained most of my weight due to medical reasons, so it is maybe a bit easier for me to maintain the losses since I prefer healthy food. But loosing slowly while others just rush through the pounds requires me to think about this as a long-term process. I do not want to feel deprived while loosing, because that just builds up frustration and leads to out of control eating. And because my base metabolism is so slow, I will never be able to eat "normally". It will always feel like dieting. I may as well embrace it and enjoy it.
I love to bake, but now I challenge myself to create healthier versions of favorites. I also have a celiac friend and I enjoy creating tasty gluten free baked items for him. And, on occasion, I bake some old favorites but I give them away
I can REALLY sympathize, Frances. But it's not "baking" for me....it's cooking, as in main dishes and such. I'm not a big sweet eater or cooker, but meats and potatoes...now there's my problem!
As a matter of fact, I was coming over here to see if anyone could offer me similar help. It's just me and my hubby now....and he doesn't need to lose weight. I have to cook for him every day.
So...how does one, like Frances and me, cook great food for others without getting sucked into over-indulging?
I hate the thought of not baking again, but I guess until I can control myself with what I bake, I'm going to have to lay off for a while...or make something like a cake, that I can't sample.
Yes, I had to stop baking too, because I was the one who ended up eating the most of it. My family hasn't really missed it and my waistline is better off for it. As for the sugar cravings I still get them, but I indulge them with something portion-sized and I try to avoid things that will make me binge or crave more.
I have had to give up a lot of different things I "loved" for my health. I decided I love feeling this good so much more than the stuff I gave up.
But I loved baking too, especially pies and breads. But I have switched it out with making vegetables that are really delicious. It's like a personal mission to get people to love veggies. I'm even writing a cookbook about it! I think it's important to replace the thing we stop doing with something else that supports our goals.
I haven't given up everything. I still like to eat till I'm stuffed on occasion. But it's feeling less fun and seems to require less food to achieve that as I get older. Still trying to find the immediate hedonic reward in eating until just satisfied.
I ADORE making cupcakes *cry* and totally had to stop that when I started watching my food and trying to lose weight....had to totally give that up because my baking passion really is sweets of all kinds...I can cook dinners, holiday foods etc with no problem but will indulge in sweets that i'm baking Every Time
in fact one of my favorite memories is helping my sister in law cater a big wedding and baking the tiered wedding cake and then cooking all the foods and setting it up
I try to bake things I don't like (banana bread, sugar cookies) or focus on just dinner stuffs, new crockpot recipes, soups etc
I decided to stop baking altogether so I just go out and get something sweet when I'm craving it. Today I went and got a doughnut and it was so worth it. One doughnut was more than enough to satiate my sugar craving because I've cut out so much extraneous sugar that a little goes a long way.
I still bake sometimes but I make very lightly sweetened things. I don't eat grains or sugar but I sometimes sweeten with banana or honey.
I also count carbs so I can't just use tons of honey or banana.
I usually take primal/paleo recipes and tweak them to use less carbohydrates. Honestly, a lot of times a little sweetness works out fine for me. I can make some 'cookies' with almond flour, eggs and a bit of honey and only eat one or two. If they were sugary and floury I'd eat easily 4+.
Besides that I feel good about eating cookies made with more than just sugar and flour.
No, baking isn't the same anymore, but I think it's better that way. To get something you've never had you have to do something you've never done.
Does it ever get easier?
