Chocolate craving is back! Help!
 

Hi everyone,
So the title says it all. I only (re)started this weight loss journey Tuesday, but it seems like I have lived in the gym/thought about why I'm doing this all the time since. My husband, who is also trying to lose weight with me, brought home some Reeses Peanut Butter cups the other day. I was fine with that until I was making dinner tonight, when I found where he was hiding them from me. :o (since I told him it would be hard for me to control myself with them)

Now the darn things are calling my name and I want to know: how do you keep yourself on track when temptation strikes?:devil:

(Also, will admit to a certain amount of sadness that all my hard work is not yet showing up on the gym scale.)

Are you allowed to incorporate unsweetened cocoa powder in your plan? I make myself a protein shake using protein powder and cocoa, it tastes like a real milk shake when you use lots of ice and crush it up in the blender.

Not doing an official plan; just trying to eat a healthy balance of foods--much more veggie and fruit, some carbs but not a ton, lean proteins, avoid juice most of the time.

Dump the chocolate in the garbage can and pour some bleach or vinegar or what not over so it's ruined. ;)

I keep some no sugar jelly in the fridge for when the sweet cravings hit and find that it works really well and is guilt free.. :)

Yes! I've eaten a half or whole jar of Walden Farms chocolate sauce when a craving wouldn't go away.

I keep mini chocolate chips on hand so I can measure out and slowly eat a couple tablespoons' worth. It works really nicely - it just takes a little bit to hit the spot. (I may or may not be eating some right now. :D)

I find it easier not to have those kinds of foods in the house at all. FWIW, I do it eat dark chocolate several times a week (at least 70% Cacao). I find that I am able to eat about a hundred calorie portion without eating more. I'm not sure why that is, maybe because it isn't very sweet.

But, there are some foods (cookies for example) that I just don't have in the house since I find them hard to control...

Your commitment will get you through. remind yourself as soon as a craving thought passes through your mind, of you goals. FOcus on your goals.

And yes get those temptations dumped in the bin. Make your husband remove them from the house, If he wants to put them somewhere safe so only he knows, he should still make you believe they are not in the house.

Keep your mind off the bad stuff and eat something healthy straight away instead. If you have no real reason to be hungry that point in time, just chew on a carrot or an apple. If you are hungry, have something more substantial like a cheese sandwich or tuna sandwich or something of that kind. Whatever you would normally do. Get rid of the real appetite and get rid of the thoughts about foods you would prefer not to eat.

Good luck.

Don't forget keep talking to yourself about your program, your commitment, your resolve and the need for restrain and sticking with healthy food etc. Make little rules for yourself for difficult moments.

Distract yourself from the problem. Go and put the bins out,water the garden, walk around the block. or something like that. Put the washing on. etc.

I've found a combination of banana and nuts (ideally almond but walnut works too) to help combat the chocolate craving

So alternating bites of the banana and the almond is really satiating.

The sugar and magnesium in the banana helps counteract the sugar and magnesium in the chocolate, and the almond replaces the fat from the cocoa butter (yep - my craving is never really for the 70% cacao sugar free chocolates but the really bad for you type)

A few weeks of alternately completely ignoring your craving, and if you succumb, having the banana/almond combination has meant that I no longer get chocolate cravings. I still have issues with eating even when not hungry but am working on that part.

Buy some good dark chocolate and get rid of the Reeses. That stuff is over processed anyway, when I get a craving for something dumb I allow myself to have a better version of it. If I'm craving taco bell I just go out and buy real groceries and make my own better version, if I'm craving reeses I go buy really good dark chocolate and eat it with some real peanuts - it tastes better anyway!

I ended up just having one Reeses peanut butter egg and telling hubby that I had found them so he would re-hide them. In general I will try to encourage him not to bring unhealthy stuff home, and I think in the future I'll take some of the suggestions I've heard here about super dark chocolate. Thanks!

I have 70% organic dark chocolate that comes scored in tiny squares (20 cals each). I have been eating 1-2 squares dipped in 18g natural peanut butter when a sweet craving hits me and when I have the allowance for it.

It's WAAAAYYY better than Reeses!

Yes!!! And I have found Brand's organic peanut butter has no sugars and salts added to it. Ingredients: Peanuts

A piece of dark chocolate dipped in real peanut butter will make you laugh at a Reeses

This analogy is like comparing caffeine to Heisenberg's blue meth. They're hardly the same thing and one doesn't necessarily scratch the itch for the other. Dark chocolate in PB *is* amazing though :D

OP, I'd caution you not to give too much power to the chocolate/sugar/etc. It will always be there, produced en masse forever, and you can always have it. Do you NEED IT TODAY?

I'm not familiar with the Heisenberg thing you mentioned, sorry. But my own experience is that dark chocolate and real peanuts or peanut butter is really really good. And I never ignore my cravings, not if they're real cravings. But the trick of finding something better works really well for me, I can't lie about that.

We also have to be very cautious when we are hit with temptation. A craving and a temptation are not necessarily the same thing!! A craving is a sudden urge to eat something that you conjured up in your mind. A temptation is a sudden urge to eat something that you SAW. We are constantly inundated with food messages, big juicy burgers on tv, tempting snacks lining the shelves while waiting in line to pay for something, seeing someone enjoy food, etc. Lots of external prompts. By focusing on what we actually want to eat rather than the sudden appearance of a Reeses peanut butter cup can help us realize that maybe we DON"T want to eat a peanut butter cup after all. One of the most useful strategies I've adopted recently is that when I get hit with temptation I stop and think about whether or not I'm really craving that. I think "that looks good, but is there something better that I would prefer to eat?" And I don't mean "better" as in "healthier" I mean better as in something I would rather eat. I've surprised to find that temptation doesn't always mean I'm craving something, sometimes I see a donut and I feel a compuslion to eat it. But when I stop and think I realize "hmmm, I think I actually want rice pudding instead" which CAN be very confusing but it completely takes away the power of that donut and the compulsion to eat it.

LOL the Breaking Bad analogy is pretty apt, and hilarious. I know I have a serious problem with chocolate. Going to talk to my trainers at the gym and see what they recommend and just try to go cold turkey until then.

OP: These food are gonna be around all through your journey and throughout your life. Are you going to avoid them forever?
I'm far from being a good example when it comes to weight loss, but I feel the real thing lies in developing a healthy relationship with our favorite foods...
In my case it's banana split gelatto, pizza and burgers. It's difficult for me to go for a long time without those so I allow myself to have them regularly. Just find the right balance for you.
For me, it's having them in a certain amount, as the only food (therefore calorie intake) for that day.
Sometimes I have huge quantities, so I engage in huge walking sessions afterwards.
So, please find the right balance for YOU!
Good luck

I love 100% cacoa -Ghiridelli is the the best! Dip that in a little almond butter and I am in heaven! With that said some things cannot ever ever ever come into my home...like DOTS! I basically told my hubby if he brings Dots it like an aft of war. No candy is more important than health!!! I have had coworkers bring me gummy bears and they get trashed. I know my limits and people around me have to respect them.