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Keep failing....

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 1:47 am
by Barbra
Sadly I’ve tried No S just about as many times as Low Carb. I related to the WW thread only with LC. Sweets are what get me every time. I just can’t seem to moderate them. One leads to many more. This is the reason I go running back to LC because it does control my cravings but the deprivation part gets me. Cutting out a huge food group is depressing but so is feeling addicted to sweets. Is there any middle ground? I’m so sick of being in this viscous cycle.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:36 am
by sharon227
Is every sweet a trigger for you or just some?

What worked well for me was the South Beach approach of first cutting out sweets - even healthy ones, like fruit - for 2 weeks to help stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels, and cravings. Then, add back the healthy ones slowly, and on S days, experiment with adding in treats one at a time. You may find that some are triggers for you and you can't enjoy them in moderation but others work OK.

Also, pay attention to situations that lead to overdoing. Maybe having a small ice cream out with friends is fine, but sitting with a carton of ice cream in the kitchen at 10pm is ill advisd.

I like to think of my eating style as low crap, not low carb. If you need motivation, maybe read a book like Thinner This Year that explains in detail the science of what eating junk does to your body.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 5:16 am
by Soprano
For most of my life sweets and chocolates have been my downfall. Now I don't crave them at all and quite happily turn them down. I even acknowledge that some I don't actually like.

It's been a long journey getting to this point though and I can't say one specific thing helped. I found Nos at a time when I needed it and have found it so easy as a normalising weight loss tool. I wish I'd found it years ago.

So how does that help you?

1. Stick with Nos it will get and keep you where you want to be.
2. Be patient it may take you a long time.
3. Make weight loss a secondary goal.


You need to tackle the deprivation part, the post above is good in that the body does tend to crave sugar if you are in that cycle of eating lots of sugar but if you feel mentally deprived it won't sort it long term. I've been there.

You need to stop seeing sweet stuff as a treat and something naughty. Don't use it as a tool to punish yourself.

Give yourself permission for one week to eat all the sweet stuff you want as part of your meals not as a snack. Buy your favourite things give yourself permission to eat as much as you want each meal and really sit and taste it. Just acknowledge how it makes you feel. Don't eat it mindlessly. Enjoy looking forward to it.

Come and tell us how that goes :)

Jx

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 4:37 am
by ladybird30
[quote="Soprano" You need to stop seeing sweet stuff as a treat and something naughty. Don't use it as a tool to punish yourself.[/quote]

I second that. If you can step back mentally a little from the bingeing, and see it as a problem habit that can be managed, it will help diminish it from an enormous mountain too high to climb. Changing your beliefs around sweet food is part of that process.

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 11:24 pm
by Whosonfirst
Hello Barbra, So you've been here on NoS for almost six years and have an astonishing 3 posts? You want to break your vicious cycle with sweets. Here's a crazy idea, try posting regularly, share your successes, fails, almost fails/successes, etc. Use the Habitcal and get into one of the 30 day challenges. In other words try something different, if you want different results. While I took the time to type this to you, this applies to all the hit-and-run posters. The regular posters on NoS will be a positive influence for you to make changes. Please take it in the spirit it was intended. Nobody gets beat up on this site.

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:47 pm
by oolala53
Dang it. TWICE I have written a response only to have it disappear when I was just trying to edit it.

I'll try to be quick. You mean you had to eliminate all starch to end the cravings for sweets? but ending the cravings was not a good enough payoff to balance what you felt you were missing?

I vote for starting with plain Vanilla and getting handholding help here to get through the learning curve on sweets. Consider not expecting that it will all be rosy. If it's not rosier than other stuff you've done, there is no one to stop you from going back to what involved less suffering. I myself believe that implying no suffering is misleading and cruel. We're looking for productive suffering, the kind that feels worth it. You know, like on a much larger scale, having kids in modern times.

Whatever you do, it has to feel like it's worth the tradeoff. What are you getting for your sacrifice? Is it a fair trade? Are you possibly expecting either too much of the process or too much of yourself?

My bias is always towards getting your mindset in place first. but sometimes just going through the habit motions works, too. That means not just doing the actions but recording success and failure with as little drama as possible.

So, you have options. Give yourself the gift of making a real concerted effort; otherwise, you'll never find out what life could be like living this way.

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:03 pm
by ladybird30
oolala53 wrote:
My bias is always towards getting your mindset in place first. but sometimes just going through the habit motions works, too. That means not just doing the actions but recording success and failure with as little drama as possible.
A psychologist I was seeing once drew me a little diagram where thoughts, feelings and actions went around in a circle. So our thoughts affect our actions, but our actions can also end up affecting our thoughts as well.

So yes, simply going through the habit motions can also lead to cravings diminishing. It has for me.