How to cut out the sweet things !!!!

celticfan32

Im morbidly obese. Im 6ft3 and i weigh 28stone. I have tried many times to loose weight but always seem to put it back on. I know where my problem lies and its that i have a very sweet tooth. I swim 500m 3 times a week and i play the odd game of handball. I am active but not very fit as one can imagine with the weight im carrying. I could do with some ideas and id love to get rid of my f.....g sweet tooth !!!!

thefa

I have a sweeth tooth too and my advice would be to stop buying sweet things when doing the shopping and using something like a fruit as a snack to replace them. I find that when i don't have them in the house, i don't be giving into the temptation to have them something nice like a few apples/pears/kiwis/banana & bread is healthier and don't leave me feeling as guilty.

Duckjob

Try to find some fruit that you really like.

For me, it's those small sweet oranges from Lidl. I make sure I'm always well stocked with them so if I feel like a snack, I'll happily munch through a couple of them.

And, as others said, just don't buy the chocolate in the first place. Shop on a nice full stomach (not of chocolate though ) to make that easier.

restaurants

You can't really cut out the sweet things.
Cut down on them. Have them around you so that you can have them if you want, but delay in eating them.
Try switching to fruit.

1967

I was in a similiar situation to you i was up to 22stone but totally unfit i am 6'4''.Basically i ended up in an ambulance xmas eve 2007 came round three days later in intensive care to be told i was diabetic and that i had died twice.So lifestyle changes ensued.As has been said eat plenty of fruit and if you drink soft drinks change to water also cut alcohol intake and grill your food where you might fry it,also besides swimming go for a walk whenever possible,i lost 9stone in six months i did not go out to lose that much weight it just happened and i wish you well.

tinkerbell

If you're 28 stone, then like you said you are morbidly obese so you need to get rid of that sweet tooth of yours. The only way to get rid of a sweet tooth is if you go cold turkey and cut out all sweets out of your life. I assume you are referring to chocolate etc rather than just sweet things in general? Chocolate can be very addictive!

Anyway the only way is just stop eating it altogether. It will be very hard for a few weeks while your body will struggle to cope with the lack of sweet things but after about 2 weeks, the pangs will cease and after a month, you will not really crave sweet things anymore.

Oh and stop buying chocolate or anything, easiest thing to do is to not have it in your house so you can't eat it.

Start exercising too, even if it's just a walk in the evenings. If you go out for a walk, then you are less likely to snack because you will just be undoing all the good of your walk.

Barry.Oglesby

Shop the way you want to eat.

If it's not in the house, you won't eat it. Often, the craving for sweet things late on in the day is your response to not enough of the good stuff. Your automatic response is to crave high calorie foods which these days come in the form of sweets and cakes.

You might not believe this, but EVERYONE has a sweet tooth. You, me and the rest of the world. What you don't have that other people with a sweet tooth have is the discipline not to respond to it. At your weight you're in mortal danger, I'm sorry that I can't put it any other way. The reason people are described as morbidly obese is because their weight is literally killing them. Right now, at 28 stone, you're in that category.

The good news is that you're a rational intelligent human being who can make their own choices and choose what to put in their mouth every day. Start making better choices.

The Guvnor

I'll spare the obvious lecture.

One good tip is never go shopping when you are hungry - if you are not hungry then you are less likely to deviate from a healthy shopping list.

I'd be interested to see what you eat atm. How old are you?
Did the doc say you are healthy as in good to go and hit the training relatively hard albeit in a controlled manner?

IMO you have two options -

1. Leave the diet alone and dramatically increase your exercise including weights.
2. Cut calories and do the same amount of cardio.

What I would do is start by increasing your exercise as in doing 6 days a week including weights. Just do this for a month to get used to it. Be conscious about your food but don't go mad altering it just yet.

I find if you do all at the one time the chance of packing it in is greater.

Once you have the training down and into a routine - then alter the food intake, more protein, less carbs etcetera.

Start today buddy!:)

digme

celticfan32 wrote: »

Im morbidly obese. Im 6ft3 and i weigh 28stone. I have tried many times to loose weight but always seem to put it back on. I know where my problem lies and its that i have a very sweet tooth. I swim 500m 3 times a week and i play the odd game of handball. I am active but not very fit as one can imagine with the weight im carrying. I could do with some ideas and id love to get rid of my f.....g sweet tooth !!!!

Don't get rid of your sweets altogether that's not going to work,just cut out maybe half the junk and you'll begin to lose fat again.Instead of that extra can of coke and bag of taytos have an apple, thats 200 calories less just there.

Kannon

you say you play the odd game of handball. try to play it more. i play it myself and for me there is no better workout than a tough game of handball. push yourself to try to make picks rather than giving up on rallies.

Carl Sagan

I have a sweet tooth too, and I've pretty much eliminated all cravings by cutting out foods full of carbohydrates.
I mainly eat eggs,fish,meat,vegetables and cashews etc. and have found it extremely helpful in both keeping me full and killing my cravings. It could work for you too, but I'd suggest asking your GP or someone more knowledgeable than me if it's a good idea to change your diet.

Ironman76

Chromium Picolinate works. You can get it in most chemists. I do a fair bit of trianing and find these keep me off the sweet stuff. (I have a serious sweet tooth).

EileenG

Gymnema slyvestre is a herb which completely kills your ability to taste sweetness for a couple of hours. You need to get it in tincture or tablet form, not capsules, as you need it on your tongue for it to work. But it really does. It's amazing how nasty a biscuit is if you can't taste the sweetness.

I bought some little sucky tablets of it in France, called "No snacking 2beslim" but you can get the tincture in some health food shops in Grafton street.

Apart from that, I really believe the best thing is go to cold turkey on sweet stuff. It's easier to cut out all sweet things than to be constantly playing head games with yourself, debating how many calories are in an Aero v a digestive biscuit, and which has the most sugar.

You already know that eating sweet things in moderation isn't cutting it for you. The best thing is simply to cut them out completely. Tell yourself that you just don't eat those things. And if you develop type 2 diabetes, it will be true for the rest of your life.

celticfan32

Hi guys. Thanks very much for all the help and advice. Much appreciated. My typical eating day consists of a big bowl of porridge every morning (2 tablespoons of sugar & low fat milk)@10a.m. That keeps me going till i have my dinner @ 2p.m. I find i do ok then till about 6p.m and then my sweet tooth comes into play. I eat biscuits, chocolate and basically anything sweet i can get my hands on till i go to bed @ 11p.m. I do have health problems. I have severe sleep apnea and im pre diabetic. BP is ok as is my cholesterol.

bubblyone

Going cold turkey never really works for me...I end up obsessing and going on a massive blow-out! Limiting myself to just dark chocolate (70%+) in small quantities helps though. It gives a chocolate "fix" without sparking the cravings.
If you're mainly eating sweet things in the evening, maybe it's more behavioural and emotional though? Are you bored/tired? Do you associate sitting down in front of the TV after a hard day with having biscuits etc as stress relief or reward? If so, maybe trying to change what you do in the evening would help. Like going for a walk or going for your swim in the evenings. It's so easy to just eat out of habit rather than actually being hungry or wanting it-I know I do it!

EileenG

You're going to have to overhaul your whole diet.

Seriously, you can't just "cut back" and have treats in moderation. It's clearly not going to work for you. But I bet you could do a whole new style of eating if you put your mind to it.

For most people, porridge is an excellent breakfast, but two tablespoons of sugar turn it into a disaster. Either eat porridge naked, or eat something else. Have you considered eggs for breakfast? They are a great start to the day, full of quality protein and fats, very filling, and best of all, you can't binge on them. As soon as you've had enough, you stop.

You didn't say what your dinner was.

Don't leave your meals to chance. Plan what you are going to eat, and make sure suitable food is there. If you have your main meal at 2pm, you can expect to get hungry again at 6pm or so. So make sure you have a suitable meal planned, or it will be attack of the killer crunchies time.

You MUST get rid of the sweets. Seriously, you have to take every single sweet, bar of chocolate, biscuit, cake, etc and throw them into the compost bin. And don't buy any more.

There are a lot of diets which will help you to lose weight, but with your history, I would lean towards the lower carb ones. Weight Watchers is great for the social support, but the food they encourage, being very low fat, tends to be high carb, which is likely to set you off again.

tinkerbell

celticfan32 wrote: »

Hi guys. Thanks very much for all the help and advice. Much appreciated. My typical eating day consists of a big bowl of porridge every morning (2 tablespoons of sugar & low fat milk)@10a.m. That keeps me going till i have my dinner @ 2p.m. I find i do ok then till about 6p.m and then my sweet tooth comes into play. I eat biscuits, chocolate and basically anything sweet i can get my hands on till i go to bed @ 11p.m. I do have health problems. I have severe sleep apnea and im pre diabetic. BP is ok as is my cholesterol.

There's no point in even bothering to eat porridge if you are going to put two tablespoons of sugar in it! I mean why is sugar necessary in porridge, I don't understand it?

You don't need sugar for porridge. Top your porridge with flaxseed and some fresh berries, e.g. blueberries. You'll get the sweetness then from the blueberries and they are good for you.

And stop buying biscuits and other junk food - you don't need it. If it's not in the house then you can't eat it til 11pm.

AmFor

Honey is a good substitute for sugar in porridge!
Good Luck!

EileenG

No it isn't. It's a less processed form of sugar, but it's still sugar. Worse, because people think of it as healthy, they tend to use more.

Seriously, this is a case for cutting out all sweet things. If someone is addicted to alcohol, you don't tell him to have a glass of wine a day in case he feels deprived. The OP is pre-diabetc and has serious health problems from not being able to control the craving for sweet things. It's not a case of adjusting the diet slightly, as in the case of someone who has a stone or two to lose. It has to be a complete overhaul.

Barry.Oglesby

I agree, Show a bit of moxy and ditch the sweet stuff. You're not quitting cocaine, you're trying not to stuff your face. It's remarkably simple no to do that.

G86

You just have to cut it all out of your diet like a few other posters said. I used to live off sweet/crisps etc., I couldn't moderate at all, so one day I just decided to cut them all out. I haven't eaten chocolate in 9 years and I never even miss it now, in fact after a few weeks of not eating it I stopped craving it completely. People find it really hard to understand now when I explain that I'm not depriving myself, I just never actually feel the want to eat the stuff anymore! The first few weeks will be tough, but after a while your body will just get used to a new way of eating and you'll start to actually want the healthier option, as opposed to feeling like you're missing out by opting for it.

What really helped me to wean off the junkfood was having substitutes at hand 24/7, so if I wanted a bar of chocolate I'd have an apple or some yogurt raisins, or if I wanted biscuits I'd have a ryvita or some fruit and yogurt. I varied my fruit alot too and realised there were loads of different fruits I hardly ever ate like pineapples etc.,so I'd cut some up and keep them in the fridge for whenever I felt the need for nibbles.

Oh aye and I used to put sugar on my porridge too, but a wee bit of honey is just as good, I know it's not great but at the same time it's better than sugar. You can also get bags of dried fruit to use as toppings on your cereal, which are mega yum Just make sure you check the ingredients and don't get the ones full of added sweeteners.

You really need to do more exercise too, it really would help and there are loads of people on here who could give you advice along the way. It really would make you feel a lot better about yourself; you'll make faster progress and that'll motivate you even more