I just have some questions about how you are handling sweet cravings.

I have a horrible sweet tooth. Pre-diet, I probably took in at least half my daily caloric intake in surgary, refined sweets like flavored coffees, chocolate, and ice cream.

Other than this sweet tooth, I am not a fan of refined foods. I don't make a whole lot straight out of a box/can.

5 days ago I started removing sugary food items from my diet, regularly exercising, and preparing for SB (shopping, meal planning, reading the book, etc). Yesterday I started Phase 1. It's going really well so far. I'm experimenting with a wide variety of foods, and the family liked my fish I made last night.

Finally--here's my question!

Last night I was craving some sweets. Duh. I expected this, given my eating history. I did not buy any ingredients for sweet recipes or sweet food items that are allowed on Phase 1. I feel that I really just need to break the sweet habit. I am also scared that I will be in a situation where I don't have a "legal" sweet, so I will cheat and eat something sugary and unhealthy. I don't have a lot of will power when it comes to sweets, and I'll eat them with utter abandon, whether they are "allowed" or not.

A trainer at my gym told our aerobics class--"Whether you eat 5 brownies or 1 brownie, you know you are always going to want more, so just stop at 1." I kind of feel that I might as well not have any, because I don't WANT to stop after I start...but she's right, I always want more no matter what amount I take.

How have you handled your cravings? Am I being silly for completely denying myself any faux-sugar sweets on Phase 1? Am I setting myself up for failure with this restriction? Or have those of you who are more experienced had success with completely restricting your phase 1 sweets? Do you feel you have even *more* control over your sweet tooth now that you've completely broken that habit?

Sorry this was so long; thanks for the input.

L

The sweet tooth will always be my biggest challenge. I was very similar to you pre-SB. I do use artificial sweets to help with the cravings, I just make sure it's something substantial with some protein that will satisfy - the peanut butter cup, a ricotta creme, or a chocolate cheesecake smoothie, a latte or hot cocoa. I hope to get off the artificial sweeteners one day and become a person that "just doesn't care for sweets", at least that's my dream, but for now I am not able to give up the crutch. It's an individual thing, consider it an experiment and see what will work best for you.

L

First of all, congrats on starting life on the beach!

Second, I crave sugar more than anything in the world so I totally know how you feel. A word of encouragement: after a few days on phase 1, they will start to decrease and you will eventually get to where you don't have them and when you do you can control them. I am on phase 1 (did the diet a few years ago with much success), and baked a chocolate cake and a strawberry cake yesterday without having either. So in other words, YOU CAN DO IT!

The best way to fight it is to treat yourself with something that is allowed. For example, Sugar Free popsicles are a life saver. One, they only have 10 calories a piece, so you can have two or three without harm. Two, they are frozen, so after a while, your mouth is numb and you don't want anymore anyway! Even if you do eat a few, there is very little harm.

Sugar Free Jello is also a great option b/c again, 10 calories per pack. For chocolate cravings, you can do Sugar Free fudge pops (40 cals), but you can only have one of these. Sometimes I'll save all my sweets for the day (75 cal per day) and have 1 popcicle and 1 fudgepop.

Hope this helps! But trust me...the cravings will become less and become more manageable!

Good Luck!

Fruit now tastes so sweet that I crave it. It didn't happen overnight, but gradually my tastes have changed. In the beginning with SB I had the ricotta creme a lot. Never cared for the SF jello or NSA fudgesicles. Now I look forward to my daily berries or apple. My latest treat is prunes. I love them!

During P1 I actually had more of a craving for something sweet. My time was after dinner. I had SF jello. My desire for something sweet decreases weekly. So since 5/09 to present my craving for sweet has gone from intense to unimportant.

My suggestion would be to address that need with something on plan knowing that the more you progress the less your need will be.

Best Wishes!

You aren't the only one, I have a HUGE sweet tooth.

Once you get through Phase I, the cravings will lessen. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who has grown to dislike sugary foods, so it's something I believe I will always struggle with. As suggested by Schmoodle, I've found "alternatives" that keep me on plan and allow me to satisfy the sweet tooth. I would like to one day, not be reliant on Splenda and artificially sweetened foods, but I'm just not there yet.

My "keep me out of trouble" foods: NSA fudgesicles, sugar free dark chocolate pudding, SF jello, a dessert I call "peanut butter delight" (it's crunchy peanut butter, topped with SF cool whip mixed with cocoa), dark chocolate covered strawberries, the "peanut butter cup" recipe, SF whipped cream with strawberries, spiced pecans, SBD peanut butter cookies.

Good luck! You can do this!

I hear ya! I started a lil over a week ago and I don't wanna name all the sweet things I ate because it might make someone hungry (which may be me lol) but so far I've done reallllly well.

Sugar free popsicles, creamsicles, and fudge pop are GREAT!!!

Splenda, cinnamin and vanilla work great to sweeten things up!! (i put splenda and cinnamin on my sliced almonds and they taste yummy)

OR you can do the sb pb cup recipe which is awesome!

i've found sugar free chocolate syrup!

and the cheese cake recipe is good as well!

So good luck and I hope you stay strong! My results so far have been amazing and I can only hope to encourage other to do it as well!

Thanks for the encouragement and the suggestions. For a while I was struggling with the idea that maybe I just need to "stick it out" and suffer through the cravings to get rid of them. I'm thinking a more subdued approach may be best. As in, when I'm feeling strong, just to tell myself "no" to the sweets...when I'm feeling weak, to try the "legal" recipes to sustain the diet.

Day 3 has gone well. Day 2 I went for coffee with my family, and by coffee I mean coffee and dessert. I tried a sugar free coffee drink as opposed to my iced mocha with extra whipped cream. It was fine. I didn't feel cheated, I still got a "sweet" coffee drink without the sugar, and I could partake in the act of sitting down, having a treat, and conversing with my family. I hope that it is usually this easy. In any case, it was a nice reinforcement of the idea that I can continue to enjoy myself socially without feeling deprived or cheated in the experience.

Thanks again!

L

I'm done with phase 1 and I too have a sweet tooth but I noticed I crave less sweets now and when I do let myself indulge with a sweet I find them to be way to sweet. I did phase 1 for 4 weeks and I notice that although phase 2 is less strict, I still have all those phase 1 restrictions in my head and find myself somewhat following them. All I can tell you is too stick to it as close as possible and find substitutes for your old cravings. It will get easier. Good luck!

Before SB I was a regular junk-a-holic. I always had sweet sugary treats stashed away, and always over-indulged every chance I had. And ta-daaa here I am at this weight.

When I started SB I was just absolutely tired of being fat and having food control me, and I was determined to stop that and get this weight off. I think for me that has conquered any cravings that may have tried to surface.

I have to say that I have not really had any cravings. I am loving this new found taste for food, and like some other ladies have said, I enjoy my fruit and it's natural sweetness. I don't have a desire for that other junk really. Usually on w/ends hubby and I will have some fruit or sf jello with cool whip as our little tv treat. We used to have huge bowls of ice cream loaded with toppings !!

I know that the mentality of "just have one and stop" doesn't work for me, and I really don't want to open that gate up, because I'm afraid I won't stop. I am quite happy with what I'm doing, and it's working for me.

Everyone is different, and we all have to find what works for us.

Good luck !