I need some help! I made it through today...barely...with not eating sweets. I was even at the vending machine ready to buy and walked away with nothing! However...it seems like all of the commercials that I see are for candy, ice cream, chocolate...you name it. How do you try to "give in" to the craving without eating something bad for you. This is the hardest part for me. I have tried sipping water...but its not helping.

I still have sweets, but instead of a non ending bowl of ice cream, I have a 150 calorie cone or sandwich. I also find something like a banana hits the spot too.

Ditto w/ Vex,

i still do sweets daily, it is in fact how i accomplished the 90 lb weight loss.

i used to have at least 1/2 lb bag of Peanut M&M's daily and other bags of candy, seriously. i decided that i HAVE TO have chocolate in some form with my new eating lifestyle so i found something that satisfies ME and of course is WAY less calories and is actually healthful. For me that was homemade hot cocoa made with coconut/almond milk, pure white stevia to sweeten, a splash of one of those flavored coffee creamers (well, not so healthy, lol) and non sweetened dark cocoa and it does satisfy me and i have it almost every day.

There are lots of low fat/low cal dessert recipes on the net, say for instance http://www.hungry-girl.com/home has plenty of "cheat" recipes. i find that i have to stick to a very few or i will go spinning off my eating plan so if that's you, find ONE or maybe two recipes that fit the bill for you and go ahead and indulge and enjoy

I love l-glutamine for sugar cravings. I have it with me at all times. http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-beat...ngs-glutamine/

If you are trying to get past an immediate craving, try some chewing gum. Cinnamon flavor in particular works very well for me.

tea! I'm about to make myself a cup as soon as I get up next. Chai's good for when you want something sweet.

Ditto on the fruits. Everytime I crave sweets I eat fruit. I figure, even if I over eat fruit, I get fiber and nutrients I don't get from sweets. I have also found after a while when I crave sweets its easier to say no to fruit, so I can start minimizing the amount I eat a day.

I found the cure for all sweet tooths.

Baked fruits. Omggg.
My all time favorite: baked bananas. You cut them up, bake them and make sure you bake them with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Kills my cravings! I do pears, apples the same way and my sister LOVES pineapples.

also, sometimes I'll do those sugar-free puddings and some tea.

Find a substitute...

Fruit, gum, 100 calorie snack packs...

That sounds delicious. I, too, have hot cocoa almost every day, but it is the diet powdered kind. I am going make a note to buy myself some almond milk this weekend and try this instead on nights when I have more time to savor. Thank you!

Sweets: I chew gum at work, alot. Also I keep sugar-free hard candy in my desk drawer and have one after lunch every day. It satisfies the sweet feeling and lasts long enough to get me through it? Then I have a small piece of dark chocolate, though I am not wildly tempted by it and if you are I'd not recommend keeping it in your desk drawer.

These are all great suggestions. I will be using them all! Thank you!!!

I've got another suggestion for you! Silly, but it works for me.

My "sweet" of preference has always been gummy stuff (bears/worms/etc). So, like the grown up I am, I buy gummy vitamins and fiber supplements. So I get a little bit of "candy" every day, without the candy calories. Although occasionally I have to tell myself that no, I can't eat the whole jar of fiber gummies! (Can you imagine?!)

I tend to go for low calorie frozen desserts when I get a sweet tooth craving. You just need to watch out because some taste horrible. My favorites are:

The regular Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches
Edy's Frozen fruit bars
Weight Watchers Wildberry & Orange Sorbet & Ice Cream Bars (Aldis has version for less $)

Another thing I just tried which is fabulous - frozen banana "Ice cream".
Chop up a banana and freeze it solid. (Make sure it really is frozen.) Put the frozen banana into a food processor or blender at blend it up until it is a soft serve ice cream consistency. It chunks up at first and is hard to blend but it gets there. So delicious!

I also just tried Lifeway Frozen Keifer - Tart and Tangy. I love tart frozen yogurt and this was good substitute. Half the carton is 190 calories. (A little high in comparison to the examples above but better than ice cream!)

I would NOT suggest Weight Watchers cherry cheesecake ice cream sandwiches. They were super tiny and tasted really gross. Bleh!

I'm the biggest chocolate lover in the world. Seriously. Instead of giving up my love of chocolate, I'll have dark chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joe's. 6 pieces is only 120 calories! AND dark chocolate is a great antioxidant!

Or I'll make a protein shake with soy milk, Aria women's chocolate protein, and a teaspoon of peanut butter. AMAZING!