I'm a sugar addict. Join me getting clean

[FrenchFriesSurprise]

I have a terrible sugar habit.

Today I've eaten a packet of shortbread biscuits, a lemon cheesecake portion and a scone with jam. I have two young kids and I'm bored. I was a 'two squares of dark chocolate after dinner' kind of person before having babies, but motherhood has driven me to the Dairy Milk. In abundance. I'll get diabetes if I don't sort myself out.

I ate the biscuits in secret. I mainly eat my sugar in secret.

From Monday I'm going to cut out all high-sugar foods for 4 weeks. That's all cake, biscuits, chocolate, sweets, sweetened drinks, sweet sauces such as ketchup, stir-fry sauces etc, dried fruit. I think I'll keep berries and apples, but will avoid most fruit.

If you would like to join me, sign up here! It doesn't have to be a sugar addiction you'd like to kick - if you have any habits you're struggling with, or changes you'd like to make, feel free to join the thread and we'll work on them together 💪

Hello everyone

Chocolate disaster here this evening! It's Ds's birthday on Wednesday and he said he wants chocolate cake with smarties all over it (you can all see where this is going...). I went to Morrisons to get ingredients and tins. Instead of a tube of smarties I thought, I'd better get a bag. Bags were 2 for £3. Contents of 1 the bags is now in my tummy.

I don't even like Smarties very much. They taste cheap. But I'm tired. Must not let this turn into weeks and weeks and weeks of eating junk again! @financialcareerstuff we sound a bit similar maybe, you were saying you get 10 days in or so and then relapse... I wonder if I let my guard down a bit today.

In other news, I've lost 0.8kg in a week, so that's interesting. I'm not trying to lose weight, so might have to add in some more snacks if it continues.

@Setyoufree I'm a bit nervous about DS's cake on Wednesday... I think I might also have to completely avoid eating and buying sugary things as I don't think my will power is up to it.

Welcome @toomuchchocolate1 sorry to hear about the Covid, hope you're starting to feel a bit better.

Well done @excesssugar ☺️

@Bringbackspring great you've found a balance! Reassuring that your cravings have gone as well

@neilyoungismyhero welcome! I wonder if adding in a light lunch might help? I've never had a malteser ice cream but I bet they're nice 😂

@cloudengel that's a cute little breakfast bowl ☺️

Ok I'm back on the thread and back off the sugar 💪

I've had a very snacky day here today, no sweets, but not many proper meals either. We had a dentist appointment this morning, and then after some shopping and trying to get the baby to nap, we didn't get home until 1:30. He was being a bit clingy, and I wanted to do some sit down work with my older two daughters, so I just had something I could eat easily, standing up if need be. It obviously didn't fill me up, so I snacked all afternoon. The things I snacked on weren't bad, but I'd rather snack less.

I've also lost 0.8kg this week, which considering I haven't been meeting my step goals with the heat, I feel is pretty good. I'm hoping to walk more this week, and hopefully stick to sugar goals.

Has anyone have a husband/partner who doesn't fully get it? He's very much an "everything in moderation" kind of person, who can have snacks in the cupboard for months. Our daughters always buy him snacks for Christmas/his birthday in early January, and they last him until easter, at least. Mine are lucky to last the week. I do know that I do better with cutting things out completely though. In the past when I had to be dairy free, knowing it would make me ill, I was able to not have it as much as possible. Hoping I can do the same with sugar, if I keep in mind the way I have felt this last week.

Breakfast - porridge with chia seeds, flaxseeds, coconut and stewed apple
Snack - 6 cocktail sausages, toasted coconut
Lunch - crumpets
Snacks - popcorn, dried mango, coconut chips
Dinner - homemade pesto, wholemeal pasta, stringless beans
Snack - more crumpets

Morning all! I haven't kept up with the thread over the weekend but hope things are going ok for you all. We had a family over from abroad at the weekend so it ended up being slightly indulgent...more wine than things like biscuits and cakes though, not that that's better 😆

Anyway, I had a bad day yesterday as I was struggling to refocus but will hopefully do better today. Breakfast of Greek yoghurt, blueberries and a few nuts coming up!

Hi @CoffeeChocolateWine hope today's going well!

Luckily after my Smarties slip up I'm not craving sugar too much today. Although the chocolate icing I've made and put in the fridge is gently calling to me. Mustn't... shouldn't... won't.

@cloudengel my DP would never actually buy sweet stuff at all. Which is helpful in a way but yes I don't think he'd be able to identify. He's also not really a "showing love through treats/food" kind of person, whereas I very much am, it's probably better for DS and DD that we're not both like that!

Afternoon all,
There have been chocolate digestives in my house for several days and I haven't had any.
I've been doing pretty well, and after tomorrow will be at a week with no biscuits/chocolate etc.
Been interesting hearing about different approaches re total cold turkey vs putting in treats. I might try having something sugary at the weekend, as it's a friend's birthday, and seeing if it puts me back to square 1.
Re DHs, I've been a dreadful influence on mine. Before we got together, he would never have bothered with sweet foods. Oh how I have led him astray! He does get what I'm trying to do though which is very helpful.

I'm doing a lot of travel for work at the moment and my god trying to eat from train station cafe's and train trolley services is hard. I resisted just having 5 kitkats for lunch barely :P

I am sugar free almost 10 days now. what I have noticed is I don't wake up with swollen face and body. I feel like I have got rid off excess water from my body as it feels light. I mo longer crave sweet things or more like I don't think about it all the time.
I am currently on ferrous sulphate for iron deficiency which has caused reduced appetite as a side effect😐. Other than that I am alright.

how is everyone else managing?

Following the thread with interest. Coming back from holidays on Sunday and need to try and kick my sugar habit starting on Monday!

I think this thread has highlighted just how much of a binge eater I am. Going ok there till last night then lashed into a box of caramel donuts and a multi pack of Mars bars. Far past the point of full, far past the point of satisfied. Feeling sugar hungover today. Other than fruit struggling to replace that sugar habit healthily.

Hey @FabulousPharmacyst that sounds uncomfortable, love. How are you feeling today? Emotionally I mean. Was there something specific that triggered it? I wonder at what point it's good to see the Dr? To be honest, I've thought about it myself as I think my current eating are part of a history of poor mental health. Nothing extreme but it feels like there's always something - mild phobias or depression or drinking too much (not any more), it's like I'm working my way through a list.

Good work @Theeasypeasywoman woman! Welcome @MissScarletInTheBallroom and I hope you are hanging in there @LivingDeadGirlUK

Shortish message before bed, mainly just because I saw Fab Pharma's post.

I'm feeling a bit demotivated by it this week. I've generally tried to be good. I did buy myself a bar of dark chocolate yesterday - one of the expensive HU ones that have unrefined coconut sugar in, and managed to only have the portion size (which is an achievement in itself), but I'm just feeling kind of down. I think it's because this week I've only maintained weight maybe? Or a slump before I get fully used to it? Has anyone else found that the energy and enthusiasm from the first week is now gone and only the hard slog of maintaining the habit remains?

Yes, my enthusiasm and motivation from week 1 have done a bunk, and all that's left is I had a bowl of cocoa pops yesterday, and leftover cake the day before.
Actually that is a world away from how I was eating before, so it's still something.
I'm going to get back in the saddle today. Nuts and fruit for breakfast.
Big hug for everyone who is finding this tough. We need to count the successew as well as the failures, and it sounds like everyone has made real progress.

Feeling down too. There were birthday cake slip ups... had a really bad food day yesterday in general, I had Doritos and milk for lunch about 3pm, skipped dinner, but had half a bar of plain chocolate. Then a cheese sandwich at 9pm. I mean what am I doing? I know this makes me feel crap.

Just got on the train to work and realised I have dog poo on my shoe 🤮

I wonder if our brains have been used to large doses of sugar and the dopamine reward that goes along with that? Sorry to hear you're struggling too @cloudengel and @excesssugar but I really like excesses' comment that we count the successes. Very good way to think about it, because I bet they outweigh the "failures" for all of us.

Anyway off to work with a tuna sandwich, hummus and veg sticks, olives and greek yogurt. It's going to be better today.

PS I'm also going to Google "healthy dopamine hits"

It's probably going to say exercise isn't it 😂

I am still eating horribly.

I think in my brain I'm telling myself that on Monday I go cold turkey with processed sugar so I may as well go overboard on the crap until Sunday.

It does make a certain kind of sense because I'm still on holiday until Sunday and don't have complete control over what I eat until then, and I'm kind of hoping I completely disgust myself so that by Monday I never want to look at a biscuit again. But last night I had a dream that I couldn't stop eating cookies and felt more and more disgusted but I couldn't stop eating them.

I'm not actually overweight but I think my frame is not designed to carry spare pounds and I don't look or feel good towards the upper end of the healthy BMI range.

I actually don’t fancy sweet things since cutting back on sugar but I do want crunchy nut cornflakes every morning, that is the only sweet thing I crave

Would some other kind of cereal do or does it have to be crunchy nut cornflakes?

I’m doing ok and eating healthier was my main aim. Feeling less cravings. I did buy some peanut/dark chocolate expensive bars this week. Which seem to have sufficed.

I've kinda got used to not having sugary snacks now, to the point I'm not bothered by them. But I still haven't found something to replace the activity of eating between meals. I am fidgety and I realise snacking gives me something to do with my hands. Fortunately DH also likes healthy meals so that helps with keeping breakfast, lunch and dinner healthy. But I'm used to constantly grabbing snacks between meals. I especially miss eating biscuits in the evening when we're watching a good series. When I'm working I'm now surviving on lots of cups of decaf tea so as I'm still going in the kitchen to grab something, but its just a drink.

One thing that is keeping me going is the weight loss and clothes not being so tight. I am at the lower end of an overweight BMI so I'm trying to get myself back into the healthy range. Nearly failed at week 1 as despite doing really well I actually gained weight. Nearly threw the towel in. But it has gone down gradually since then.

I have tried cornflakes with honey but not sure if they are just as bad xx

Maybe try adding nuts too,@Rosesanddaffs? I've become a big fan of nuts over the last couple of weeks! I'm sure honey is better than HNC, as you can control the amount of sugar you are putting on.

This was repeated on the radio today
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001gx56
Motivational listening!

@excesssugar I think I need it!

Just a note of encouragement to hang in there guys. You start to get a bit of diet fatigue 2 weeks in when making a change like this.

I've found the Nutracheck app really good for accountability and its really easy to use compared to myfitnesspal which I was on and off for years.

Morning all,

Hope you all had a better weekend than me. My youngest has what I think is croup, so a distinct lack of sleep for me last night and he's feeding constantly. I managed not to snack on sugary stuff, sticking to dried coconut and mango. If I make it through today without binge eating, I'll have done well.

I'm just on hold to the GP, but will have a look at the Nutracheck app when I'm done @LivingDeadGirlUK