i have a serious sweet tooth, how am i supposed to loose weight? :(

[Stevie]

I worked so hard at loosing my baby weight. i didnt do any special dieting or even exercise i just stayed pretty active but i didnt eat alot of junk food and i watched my portion size.
I have literally ballooned in the last few months. Ive eaten SO much crap food chocolate (which is my weakness) cakes chips icecream, i just cant help myself How do i avoid this? how do i not binge eat.. because that is what i do. I have a treadmil out the back which i will be going on everyday. and i will be being very good ith what i eat, but i need some healthy 'sweet' foods/recipes that i can treat myself with without feeling guilty.. actually any healthy easy recipes would be aweosme. Anyone have a favourite webseit for this? the other thing i worry about is that my eating habits will rub off on my children (i only have the one for now) but i want us all to be good healthy eaters.
TIA ladies x

[Kazbah]

Hey Stevie,

I think that it's important to set goals - EG - when I lose 5cm .. when I lose 5kg ... (the two can be mutually exclusive!!!). That and don't have the food in your house.
Do a menu plan, do your shopping, take your own snacks & water when you go out ... and just do it.

Also check out the 12WBT thread on BB good luck!

[tellytubby]

Eat loads of fruit for sweetness? A banana with a bit of custard, isn't so bad?
Pack yourself a lunchbox, salad sandwitches on multigrain bread, fruit, rice crackers etc - have it all ready, so when you do go to eat, the healthy options are available without having to go into so much effort.

[Razzberry]

I love melted choc on fruit, but have been trying it with yogurt instead - not bad I must say!

[nothing2lose]

Can I just add that if you decide to replace sweet stuff with fruit be very careful which fruit you eat. Fruits are very high in fructose (sugar carbs) so some have the same effect on your body as eating a chocolate bar. Opt for berries, apricots, apples...

[tellytubby]

Lollypops are also good. Yes they still have sugar, but they take much longer to eat than other chocolates/sweets. So can give you that sugar hit, without having as much. From memory (years since I had one), a chuppa chup is .5 a point of WW.

[peanutter]

red clover tea is good for getting rid of sugar cravings.

and a friend of mine wears vanilla scented perfume, because smelling sweetness all day causes her not to want to eat it as much.

[Trillian]

Peanutter, I wore vanilla scented perfume for years and it never turned me off eating sweet food LOL.

Stevie, I'd be looking for reasons as to WHY you crave these types of foods. Otherwise you can cut them out, or replace them with something else, but unless you work out what causes the cravings for it, you will just binge out on them because you will go fine for a while, but then it will build up until you just lose it. Unless you have very strong willpower, then it may be hard. A few years ago I was taking In-Liven, which is a probiotic and while I was taking it I lost several kg's just because I wasn't eating as much crap because I wasn't craving it. So for me, a lot of my issues stem from what is going on in my gut - when that is fine then I'm fine kwim?

[Caz1971]

OMG i have been binging on chocolate bullets this week. I have to STOP... I too have a sweet tooth.

[Saffy]

Read 'Sweet Poison' by David Gillespie, its about sugar addiction and how to break it, I still have the occassional thing but have cut back HEAPS, and went for about 2 months straight without eating any sugary food.

[~*Niadalla*~]

Simply getting it out of my house has worked a treat. I've not touched any chocolate in about 6 weeks. No ice cream (apart from the odd treat of skinny cow sundaes), no lollies, no cakes. Nothing.
It helps that I can't just duck to a supermarket, but mainly it's my new found will power muscle.

take it from someone who used to sit down and eat an entire block of choccie, followed by a massive bowlful of icecream with choccie topping several nights a week (not including all the cakes and things during the week) ..... it can be done

[krysalyss]

I am a big sweet tooth too. I have to be really careful that I don't buy big portion sizes. If I buy a chocolate bar I have to buy a freddo or milky way. I can't kid myself that I won't eat an entire family block of chocolate if it is in the fridge. Or a whole packet of lollies. I simply can't have it in the house. I feel your pain on this one. I also have some holes in my teeth which I can't fix up until I finish studying and get a job, so they like to remind me that I shouldn't be eating so much sugar. I won't cut back on whole fruits though. They may have sugar in them but they also have nutrients which is something that junk sugar doesn't have, as well as water so you feel more full. Bring on the summer fruit I say!

[Bloom]

I have cut out sugar (or fructose) like in the Sweet Poison book. I really didn't think I could do it, as I have a major sweet tooth and also binge eat. If I start, I can't stop. But I have been sugar free for almost 4 weeks and it has been easier than I thought it would be. I don't have really strong urges for chocolate or cheesecake or other sugary fatty treats. I have been pleasantly suprised by how well I've done. (Let's not talk about the fact that I have gained 2kg... we are working on that). But seriously I think not eating sguar is the key to stopping binge eating for me. I am hoping to keep this up long term (i.e. I can see myself not eating sugar except for maybe really special occasions for the rest of my life).

[forshelby]

When I was younger, and better behaved when it came to food..................... I had a few tricks to satisfy the sweet craving.
(apologies if any of this has been mentioned, I haven't read the other replies)

Yoghurt with my favourite fruits added, topped with toasted muesli. (frozen yoghurt is awesome for an 'icecream' hit)
Bananas ALWAYS cured my chocolate cravings. I have no idea why or how, but they did.
And nothing beats a good old 'health slice'. Muesli, nuts, honey, dried fruits etc.... yummy. I don't have a specific recipe, sorry.
My other favourite was eggwhites with tuna. It always kept me full and satisfied for ages. Hard boil some eggs, cut them in half and scoop out the yolk. Then spoon in some tuna (flavoured or not, but watch out for oily ones) and top with a squirt of low fat mayo. Oooohhhh delish. And fancy looking.

Hope that helped!