When you did it before, did you try planning out your meals ahead of time? It's one of the easiest ways for me to stay within my dietary budget. Just taking a minute to write down something like this could really make or break it.

B: Cheese omelette with side of sausage
L: Bowl of bean-less chili topped with cheese and sour cream
D: Meatballs with zucchini noodles and marinara
S: Cucumbers with ranch dressing

B: Scrambled eggs with bacon
L: Turkey and cheese in lettuce wraps with mayo
D: Steak, cauliflower mash, and green beans
S: Peanut butter w/celery

I didn't really plan my meals out like that, no. Those sound like very good options! I will have to look at more ideas like this and work on a weekly eating plan. Thanks!

Thewalrus0, I truly enjoyed reading your post, especially that last paragraph.

Munchy, your menus sound amazing!!

I second Munchy's suggestion of having a plan. I sat down and planned out every breakfast, lunch and dinner that I'd eat throughout the entire month of August. Planning every meal and having a firm plan in place was key, because I never allowed myself to reach a point where I got hungry and needed to "just grab something to eat." Every day, I knew exactly what I'd be eating for each meal, and I knew exactly when I'd be eating it, so there wasn't any room left over for cheating.

I basically went cold-turkey on sugar for a month, and it was pretty hard, but I just pushed through it. I approached it like a personal challenge; a competition to win. I kept on saying "I'll be so proud of myself if I just make it to the end of this month!!" Whenever I felt tempted to eat sugar, I just told myself that I'd be letting myself down. I planned a big sugar-binge as a reward for myself at the end of the month (and ended up not needing to do it!) The first month was hardest. It became enormously easier after the first month.

The reason I was able to go cold-turkey without bingeing on doughnuts was because I had this really detailed daily meal plan. I never allowed myself to get so hungry that I wanted to binge on anything. I ate my healthy meals and kept myself suitably full and satiated all the time. There were never any hunger pangs.

I also learned a lot about how sugar is manufactured and processed, and it was so revolting and disgusting to me that I kind of lost my appetite for anything full of processed sugar. Every time I wanted to eat a sugary doughnut, I'd think to myself "But do I really want to eat a bunch of ammonia-treated toxic chemicals?" and then I'd lose my appetite for that pretty quickly.

Over the course of that month, sugar lost its power over me and my tastebuds genuinely changed. Fruit started tasting sweet and delicious instead of tasting sour. I think it's worth it to try to go cold-turkey because it's true, the cravings completely disappeared. I used to be intensely addicted to sugar, and I used t have the biggest sweet tooth ever. I never thought it would ever be possible for me to quit cold-turkey, and I never though it would ever be possible for me to not crave sugar, but I bit the bullet and I did it, and it worked.

I could never cut sugar entirely 100% out of my diet in the long-term, though. Since August, I've added (homemade!) sweets back into my diet in a limited way, and it keeps me sane, and it keeps me on track. I have dessert once a week, and it's something to look forward to. The occasional homemade healthy treat won't derail your weight loss efforts.

Thanks! I have been planning my meals for about six years and have never had much of a problem with staying on plan. This isn't my menu plan, but just an idea for the OP.
What I like so much about it is that things like chili or meatballs can be pre-cooked, portioned and frozen so they can return again on a menu plan for months without having to actually cook again

Munchy, the suggestions that you made sound so much like what I have every day! And I, too, have both chili and meatballs in little 1 cup containers in my freezer. I make a big batch in my crock pot. This week alone I've dipped into my frozen supplies for 3 meals. It's very convenient and I really enjoy everything I've frozen.

Tweetie, I was really worried about cutting out sugar and especially carbs as well. It has been hard at times and I've messed up a couple of times since I started 3 weeks ago, but overall, it's been easier than I expected. Do you enjoy cooking? Cooking is something I really like to do, so I've been amassing a collection of lower carb recipes. All kinds of recipes! Many recipes can be adapted to be lower carb. Then at the beginning of each week, I make a meal plan for the week and buy what I need. For instance, this week's dinners will be pizza chicken (baked chicken breasts topped with homemade pizza sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, and olives), Greek salad, stir fry made of pork, cabbage, and mushrooms, and spinach-feta crustless quiche. We'll have leftovers of the chicken, stir fry, and quiche, and I'll serve some sort of veggie or salad with each meal. Nothing I'm cooking this week is bound for the freezer, but like Munchy, whenever I make something freezer-friendly, I make extra and freeze it for lunches and dinners.

To my surprise, a lot of lower carb meals are actually really good and almost better than with carbs. Take a tuna sandwich, for instance. I've always liked tuna sandwiches! Now I prepare the tuna as usual with some mayo and a bit of mustard, but I put it on top of a diced tomato or cucumber, or BOTH and put a few slices of black olive on top. It has much more flavor than just tuna on bread, which is how I used to mostly eat tuna.

In my experience, the meals I cook without carbs have a lot fewer calories, because pasta and rice and the like are packed with 'em. Plus, if I make something with a sauce, I don't need as much sauce since I don't have pasta or whatever to coat with it.

Let me note that I'm not following the Atkins Diet or any other specific diet, just cutting out grains, starches, and non-fruit/veggie based sugars.

So I too was a sugar junkie. At the end of August I gave my self a challenge--no sugary sweets--chocolate, brownies, pie, cakes, etc for 30 days. And to my surprise I did it! I was so happy. I did allow myself to have fruit, it seemed to help with my sweet tooth! These days I am not so I must have sweets...maybe once a week...and my DH and I don't keep sweets in the house so that really helps. I am happy to know that I no longer have to have all those sugars, and enjoy fruit a lot more than I did.

I recently watched 'toxic sugar' which you can find on youtube. very enlightening. I try to eliminate all the 'white stuff' from my diet including sugar. But sometimes I think it is psychological 'desire' for a piece of chocolate or something sweet. Though my body doesn't really crave it, my mind does. How does one get over this hurdle?

Every diet I have tried that cut out those things I love mainly chocolate and sugary snacks always failed. This is my first successful diet and it doesn't feel like a diet because I allow myself a small snack each day, usually chocolate. I don't feel like I am jipping myself and it keeps me from binging. I have lost 51 pounds since july and I don't feel the urge to stop I am happy. Sometimes its not always about getting rid of the "bad" stuff its about finding a compromise that will allow you to live both healthy and happily. I even found recently I don't want my snack and will opt for more healthy food, it is losing its grip on me and I don't feel like I am fighting hard to do it.

This is really well worded.

I just wanted to add that when it comes to things like sugar addiction you have to consider if you're truly addicted or if you're just masking something deeper.

The psychology of food as it relates to depression or compulsions is not a subject I know much about but I do think in some people it plays a role.

Regardless, in my opinion, I think the best way to beat it is total abstinence for a period of time. Easier said than done, I realize. I've never heard anyone say that the cravings got bigger after the initial "detox" of abstaining. Most seem to say the cravings diminished.

From there it is a matter of determining if you're an abstainince person or a moderation person. (If I may over simplify a complex topic)

If you've got the abuse or trauma in your background and you think it is part of your eating, help exists. If nothing else, talking to others anonymously on the internet in support groups can help. A friend of mine talks about this on her blog.

Tweetie, you mentioned that you may have a rough time avoiding sugar since the holidays are almost upon us. This is something I've been concerned about as well. Although I'm not that much of a sweets eater- I'd pick something salty over something sweet 9 out of 10 times- I've been concerned about it as well. One of my favorite Christmas pastimes is baking lots of cookies and making candy. It's just so fun and festive and yields such tastiness. Of course this year I won't be able to do as much of that. While I do plan to bake a few things and allow myself to have 1 of whatever I've made, it definitely will not be like it has in the past. Instead, I've been brainstorming other festive things I can do that won't make it feel like I'm missing out on Christmas. Here are some of the things I've come up with:

-Make low sugar desserts and treats. I plan to make some fancy Jello with sugar free ingredients, pumpkin custard (pumpkin pie made with Splenda and no crust), a recipe I found for low carb/sugar free peanut butter fudge, and I'm going to roast some spiced nuts. Of course I'm not planning to eat too much of any of these treats.

-Do a holiday puzzle. I'm kind of snowman crazy (always have been!) and I purchased a snowman puzzle to start working on soon. Skip this idea of course if you hate puzzles- I love puzzles

-Do some holiday crafts. I'm making several appliqued shirts for my little nephew, making my in-laws a handmade Christmas card, and making some ornaments. There are tons of ideas out there for handmade ornaments! If you can crochet or knit, there are even cute patterns for crocheted ornaments and decorations.

-Make lots of paper snowflakes. Haven't done this since I was a kid! Yesterday I bought a package of white coffee filters for a dollar and plan to make some long chains of snowflakes to hang from the ceiling.

-Send out holiday cards. Always fun!

Hopefully these ideas are a little helpful, sorry some of them are pretty silly.

I honestly never thought I could go without a sweet but I finally have. I know someone a LONG time ago in HS had a bet with her mom that she wouldn't eat candy for 30 days which her mom never thought she'd be able to do but she did and won the bet (I think it was for $100 or something like that).

I had NEVER been able to do that before but that's what I just did. Once or twice I dreamt of eating my favorite candy and that really made it difficult but I got through that and waiting for the next phase.

I did go cold turkey, tho, because I knew I was in a place where I could just power through. Drinking an iced latte with Splenda every once in a while helps and water enhancers in 1 or 2 of my waters every now and then just for something different. Hadn't really wanted a soda for a long time so that was easy but we were drinking iced tea made from a mix so that was bad. But we gave up cold turkey on that, too, which I wanted to do anyway.

So just super proud of myself for not having or even coming close to eating candy, donuts, etc. for as long as I have.

I am very new to the 3FC site, in fact only registered yesterday so I am not really sure what to do, but here goes!

I began my new journey to good health around six weeks ago. The very first thing I chose to do was eliminate all obvious sugar and cut right back on the "hidden" sugars, although I am not obsessive about those.

I have been doing great and have lost about six kilos with no real effort. Once I cut the sugar healthy eating just fell into place and I have found things fairly easy.

Christmas was a challenge but even though I had some hiccoughs I was able get right "back on the horse". Yay

My biggest challenge at the minute is that I have an eye infection and can't were my contacts so I can't drive to the gym. Hopefully tomorrow. I really love how I feel when I go regularly.

Anyhow, thanks for listening, it's good just to talk to like-minded people.

I used to be addicted to sugar years ago. I stopped by allowing myself a small sugary snack each day and that seemed to work well. At first I seemed to have sugar withdrawals and then I got used to it. I only have a sugar binge once every 5 or 6 months now and it's been like that for about 2 years. But it really depends on the person, you have to find out what works for you, there have been some interesting tips in this thread so far.