I am addicted to sugar I am always craving sweets. Today I was doing great on my healthy eating I had a small amount of nutri-system granola cereal for breakfast with milk, ceasar salad with ranch dressing for lunch half of a pop-tart for snack and 2 small tacos one chicken one beef(no cheese) with a tsp of sour cream for dinner. But then I saw my sisters left over birthday cake in the fridge and I had a medium piece! My sister was supposed to take it home with her but it has been here for 2 days and I couldnt help it anymore!
I definitely have a sweet tooth and I battle the craving everyday, especially at night. First things first - Don't have if around and it you do (and its a problem) dispose of it! I have, on multiple occasions took ketchup/mustard/anything to chocolate just to ruin it so that I would HAVE to throw it away. Try keeping "healthier" chocolaty/sugary treats in the house. My favs are: Fat free pudding, Fat free candies like Mike and Ikes and hot tamales, even stuff like mints and gum help. You can even make low fat cookies! Also make sure to portion stuff out...dont just sit there with the whole box of candies or chocolates because you can lose track of how many youve eaten. I hope this helps!
Last edited by JennieLovesKisses; 01-12-2011 at 11:53 PM.
I am addicted to sugar I am always craving sweets. Today I was doing great on my healthy eating I had a small amount of nutri-system granola cereal for breakfast with milk, ceasar salad with ranch dressing for lunch half of a pop-tart for snack and 2 small tacos one chicken one beef(no cheese) with a tsp of sour cream for dinner. But then I saw my sisters left over birthday cake in the fridge and I had a medium piece! My sister was supposed to take it home with her but it has been here for 2 days and I couldnt help it anymore!
Hi...you and me both! Sweets are my passion. It has been a monkey on my back since I was a child. There is only one way I can handle sweets- not have them in the house at all. When I have something sweet it triggers a binge in me. I can't eat just one- I eat all of it. But I do allow myself special occasions- date night with my husband, holiday's or once a month. I don't want to completely deprive myself. It took me 2 weeks to undo the sweet eating I did on Christmas eve and Christmas day. I had wished later instead of eating so much I had limited my deserts to just 1 or 2. Then it would not have taken me so long to get back where I was before the eat fest.
The only advice I can give is when you see something tempting and you think you are going to lose it...put it in the garbage and put the garbage out. Also don't be hard on yourself you had a little slip- tomorrow is a new day. That's where I use to blow my diets before. I would slip and throw out the baby with the bath water. I would give up. One slip doesn't mean much in the journey we are on. We have a road in front of us that is filled with struggles and great joys! To 3FC!! Happy New Year- I hope you have wonderful success with your weight loss goals.
Last edited by goal4agirl; 01-13-2011 at 12:03 AM.
i really like sweets too, and crave them constantly especially after quitting smoking. I love having hard candies and they take me forever to eat, of course i eat them in moderation- they're a treat.
tea, i found also really helps me. not necessarily to give in to that sweet tooth craving, but keep it under control.
Yup. I don't overeat at meals. The food I cook is balanced and healthy. I do consume all the excess calories in the form of snacks- especially sweets. I'm like a shark on a feeding frenzy when there is chocolate involved. Sugar and lack of exercise have brought me to where I am today.
There was a time when I would have told you that I don't have a problem with sweets but I was lying to myself. I am addicted to sugar. After a couple of weeks completely off of sugar, the cravings get much better and is even gone at times. After 4 or so weeks off of sugar, it becomes much easier to resist.
"Healthier" versions of sweets just keep the cravings alive. I have to go cold turkey. I won't lie about it; it is hard. I let myself have sweets during Christmas, and now I am paying for it. I am in my withdrawal stage now and, at times, think that I just can't do this. But I know that I can because I have done it before.
Do whatever you have to do to avoid the sugar. Put it in the garbage disposal if you have to. Repeat my mantra, "You can do this and it will get easier!"
PS. Fruits do not cause cravings for me. So I load up on fruit during my withdrawal.
Sweets I think are a girl thing. I need to lose 10-13 pounds and I'm 51 years old. Am very active, work out daily and need to count calories for the first time in my life. I believe if I STOPPEd eating sweets that alone would do it for me.
A few years ago I stopped eating ALL chocolate for 6 months. The caffeine in the chocolate was making my boobs sore. So to stop the uncomfortable effects from it I quit cold turkey. As much as I enjoy chocolate I felt SO............................. much better for not having it AT ALL. And for me if I can't have chocolate I don't want any thing else. So maybe just make
chocolate of any kind your NO NO NEVER food. for me stopping chocolate ended the cravings of sweets.
You know what, if YOU will stop eating chocolate then SO will I right now, today. What do you say?
Quote:
Originally Posted by j0lamo01
I am addicted to sugar I am always craving sweets. Today I was doing great on my healthy eating I had a small amount of nutri-system granola cereal for breakfast with milk, ceasar salad with ranch dressing for lunch half of a pop-tart for snack and 2 small tacos one chicken one beef(no cheese) with a tsp of sour cream for dinner. But then I saw my sisters left over birthday cake in the fridge and I had a medium piece! My sister was supposed to take it home with her but it has been here for 2 days and I couldnt help it anymore!
You are not alone. I've been a member here at 3FC for a couple years and have seen a lot of people come and go. I would say that a good 95% of the people who come here in the obese stage of health are seriously addicted to sugar.
Many try the moderation route. I guess it works for some. Some try the total abstinence route...seems to work well for some too. The one thing I read year after year (and is also true for me) that Christmas time with the enormous amounts of sugar laden products either make or break a persons "diet".
We've got choices and decisions to make. We can eat the sugar and hope we are not the 95% who return to the addiction, or we can suffer through the withdrawal and get (or stay) at a healthy weight. Either way sucks for a while, but being a healthy weight trumps sugar IMO.
"Healthier" versions of sweets just keep the cravings alive. I have to go cold turkey. I won't lie about it; it is hard. I let myself have sweets during Christmas, and now I am paying for it. I am in my withdrawal stage now and, at times, think that I just can't do this. But I know that I can because I have done it before.
Do whatever you have to do to avoid the sugar. Put it in the garbage disposal if you have to. Repeat my mantra, "You can do this and it will get easier!"
This is pretty much exactly me, down to what happened at Christmas.
I don't keep sugary things that I crave in the house (ice cream, brownies, cookies). Even portion-controlled things like Skinny Cows can be dangerous for me - they usually just keep me craving more. I was given some of my favorite frosted sugar cookies before Christmas - I ate one a day, counted it in my calories, and kept the extra in my car . . . far away from me.
An occasional treat for me is a McDonald's vanilla cone (150 calories, and I'm only going to eat one!) or a cup of 25 calorie hot chocolate.
Don't be afraid to throw stuff away. You said your sister was supposed to pick up the cake but didn't - THROW IT AWAY! It seems wasteful and maybe a bit ridiculous, but it's better in the trash than in your mouth.
Fruits do not cause cravings for me. So I load up on fruit during my withdrawal.
Same here...I am terribly addicted to sugar, but have been doing pretty well so far. Whenever I get cravings for something really sweet, I will have mandarin oranges or clementines.
There was a time when I would have told you that I don't have a problem with sweets but I was lying to myself. I am addicted to sugar. After a couple of weeks completely off of sugar, the cravings get much better and is even gone at times. After 4 or so weeks off of sugar, it becomes much easier to resist.
"Healthier" versions of sweets just keep the cravings alive. I have to go cold turkey. I won't lie about it; it is hard. I let myself have sweets during Christmas, and now I am paying for it. I am in my withdrawal stage now and, at times, think that I just can't do this. But I know that I can because I have done it before.
Do whatever you have to do to avoid the sugar. Put it in the garbage disposal if you have to. Repeat my mantra, "You can do this and it will get easier!"
PS. Fruits do not cause cravings for me. So I load up on fruit during my withdrawal.
Every sentence of this is me, exactly. I used to not even think I was much of a sweets person! hahaha I would lump empty/white carbs right in with the sweets, as I have discovered that all of that sends my cravings through the roof now that I've done a decent detox from them. I still do eat carbs, but I try to opt for the whole grain route, and I ALWAYS try to pair them with a protein.
The other day I took a bite of my daughter's leftover bagel, and I felt like I just smoked a hit of crack. Instantly I was wondering if I could get away with eating the rest, then moving on to whatever other carbs I could find. I have begun to really learn that one bite, one piece, whatever, is NOT going to "satisfy the craving" for me, it's going to bring on more.
At work over the holidays, there was a plate of cookies in front of me that were pretty outstanding-looking. I thought to myself, what will happen if I eat one of those? Am I going to feel satisfied with it and think to myself "wow, so glad I ate that cookie - it really hit the spot and I'm over the temptation!", or was going to feel like "OMG, MUST EAT MORE, MUST EAT THE WHOLE PLATE!" Decided the latter was more likely and just didn't think it was worth it to go down that road.
I did splurge on a few sweet treats over the holidays, but I KNEW that doing so was going to mean a few good days of eating before the cravings stopped once again and I had my "new normal" appetite back. I decided it was worth it, and sure enough suffered a few days of cravings once I was done. I was able to reign it in and get back to business, and it was worth it. But it's not something I intend to flirt with often, I just don't trust myself enough to always get the mindset needed to stick it out through the cravings. But it does help me to "never say never" to sweets. It's gotta be REALLY, REALLY worth it, though.
[QUOTE=j0lamo01;3650520 Today I was doing great on my healthy eating I had a small amount of nutri-system granola cereal for breakfast with milk, ceasar salad with ranch dressing for lunch half of a pop-tart for snack and 2 small tacos one chicken one beef(no cheese) with a tsp of sour cream for dinner. [/QUOTE]
Ummm...I would be craving sweets with that day too because I would be super hungry. Personally, I find myself craving sweets more because of hunger and less because I actually WANT the item. Ice cream is my BIG thing...but typically, if I want it, its because I've gone too long without any food.
My suggestion, and you can take whatever you want away from it, is to seriously look at the foods you're eating during the day. Adding some veggies (because you've only had romaine lettuce through the whole day), maybe some fruit, a bit more protein could really help. If you're not hungry and you're feeling satisfied with the foods you're eating, it might be easier to resist the sweet cravings.
I second Duckyyellowfeet's suggestion to take a good close look at your overall menu rather than blaming a sweet tooth. You might just have some hungry teeth.
A lot of the items you mentioned--half a pop-tart, ranch dressing, granola--are very calorie-dense. They'll fill up your caloric budget well before they'll fill up your stomach. It's a lot easier to resist cake, sweet tooth notwithstanding, if you're completely satiated with your meal.
Take that half a pop-tart. A little Googling tells me that half a pop-tart is around 100 calories and weighs 25g. For 100 calories, you could eat an entire baked sweet potato, which weighs around four or five times as much and still has enough sweetness to satisfy a craving for sugar. You'll also get a big dose of vitamins and fiber with the sweet potato.
Sometimes it isn't about willpower as much as it is about how well you've set yourself up for success. It's never easy to say no to cake (at least for me), but it's at least a little easier when I don't feel as though my bellybutton's touching my backbone.
Try introducing some bulkier, less calorie-dense foods to your meals. Salad's a good starting point, but there's no need to stop there; add some lean protein to your salads, roast or grill some vegetables to go with your tacos, add flavorful but lean condiments like a homemade balsamic vinaigrette or hummus or pico de gallo instead of calorie-rich ranch dressing to your food.
You may still crave sweets sometimes, but you'll have a lot more room in your dietary budget to afford the occasional indulgence if you're careful with your meals.
Definitely agreeing about you taking another look at your menu. It doesn't look like you're eating very much, and a lot of what you are is pretty calorie-dense. Plus poptarts are full of sugar! Have some fruit for a snack instead, or some nuts. Add some protein to your breakfast, or whole wheat toast. Just cereal for breakfast never works for me, I always just feel hungry again. If your stomach is filled up with nutritious foods, you may be less likely to reach for that piece of cake.
I have a sweet tooth
you had a little slip- tomorrow is a new day. That's where I use to blow my diets before. I would slip and throw out the baby with the bath water. I would give up. One slip doesn't mean much in the journey we are on. We have a road in front of us that is filled with struggles and great joys! 
