To want advice on chocolate addiction?

[Jinxed2]

It’s driving me mad, I can demolish a 200g bar every evening. I know it’s unhealthy but I just don’t seem to be able to stop ☹️

The only thing that works for me is changing my eating and going low carb, high fat. Kills the cravings

An easy solution is just not to buy it! If it's not in the cupboard, you can't eat it.

I’m the same. Chocolate is the first thing that I eat in the morning. I wish I could get it under control.

Change your eating habits completely and cut out refined sugar, not just chocolate. And don’t buy it - if it’s not in the house, you can’t eat it.

I go especially to the shop to get it
😩

Ditto! Have you tried maybe alternatives, like green and blacks dark chocolate so you get your fix but less of it?
Or get some yoghurts that have chocolate bits in them? I try to do well but then I have a tired/bad/any excuse day and I give in! x

Is it habit or are you eating for emotional reasons?

A bit of both I think. I’ve got a weight problem and just feel stuck in a rut. Lost 6 stone a few years ago following WW but put it all back on and more.

You really need to overhaul your diet and make permanent changes to lose weight and keep it off; eating wholefoods, cutting out sugar and all processed crap, lots of veg and good healthy protein, carbs and fats.

I'd really recommend seeing a (registered) nutritionist and working on a plan with them, make small changes so it's not overwhelming and day by day make improvements; honestly it'll change your life!

Can you change your routine to remove the opportunity?? I am hiding in a bath to avoid the TV / choc combo that would be inevitable downstairs.

Start a hobby eg crochet / knitting to keep hands busy??? Or sewing - can adjust clothes to fit better at the same time as distracting yourself!

Go for a walk after dinner if someone (DP?) is home if you have DC.

Start a computer based project ie family history research / sort out photos / make albums...

Put chocolate money in a jar and save for a treat eg face cream / bubble bath / new book every time you don't buy a bar

Would it help to know that chocolate is a laxative?

I would download MyFitnessPal (or equivalent) and be honest with yourself about how many calories you’re consuming in a day. This is what I do whenever I need to lose a bit. Be absolutely honest with yourself and put everything in.

Going cold turkey is the only thing that worked for me. Before that the £1 galaxy bars at the corner shop were a daily 'thing'. If I get a craving now I make a cup of tea, have some fruit or do my 7min exercise routine off You Tube. It's a lifestyle change, I was always tired, ill & couldn't drop the weight. Now I'm eating healthy & exercising (at home, gyms are scary if you have social anciety) & I'm getting my waist & energy back.

its the sugar - try going completely cold turkey sounds impossible but I did it so anyone can - I do get hooked back in but just do it again, Its tough

Another recommendation here for high fat, low carb eating (Keto). It kills sugar cravings completely and keeps you satiated. I've been eating this way for a few months and feel amazing.

If you have Netflix, watch 'The Magic Pill', it's about carb/sugar addiction and explains how we've been encouraged by the food industry to rely heavily on carbohydrates. It's a very interesting watch.

If you're doing it every night it sounds to me like it's out of habit or emotional reasons. With the best will in the world, unless you get to the bottom of those reasons, starting any new diet is just going to end the same way.

Are you overeating out of tiredness? Boredom? Stressed? Fed up and miserable? Don't eat enough in the day and then gourge at night? With me it was a little bit of everything. I came home after work and was stressed out and tired after work. I didn't want to do anything for myself and then I was bored and miserable. So ate to make myself feel better. I started going out in the evenings (to the gym!) and actually being able to do something for myself that helped me unwind actually helped it all fit into place. Now I know if I want to binge at night I either get out to the gym or get an early night cos I'm knackered.

Yes cut out anything with sugars in the ingredients list. I did this at the start of the year and felt amazing - slept better, aches and pains disappeared, felt way more awake... and my stomach shrunk noticeably and quickly. My tastebuds changed quickly too, the longer you’re off sugar the easier it is. Need to get back on the wagon now (special occasions ruined my flow!) but it’s so worth it.

Hypnosis! I had it to stop me eating chocolate. One session and it worked like a dream! I used to eat it for breakfast...🤮

I'm a skinny Minnie with a chocolate bar (standard 60/70p bar) and 500ml diet coke habit. I eat it every day at the same time in the same way and can get very narked if interrupted! I have incorporated it into an otherwise healthy diet and I don't have any other treats. I can see why it could cause massive weight issues so I worked around it so I could enjoy my fix after many years trying to give it up.

The only way is cold turkey! Chocolate was my kryptonite for many years. I was absolutely miserable. I was binge eating it sometimes to the point of vomiting, and was very depressed, no confidence, and 3 stone overweight. My relationship ended indirectly because of it. It was my crutch when I was sad, angry, anxious, and I'd stuff it down without enjoying or barely tasting it at all.

I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, so please don't do this, if you can happily and sensibly enjoy chocolate as part of a varied diet. I just never could, I was addicted.

So 15 years ago, i read about a sort of self-hypnosis which really helped. So basically every time you crave chocolate, visualise yourself eating it, really, really picture it. And then imagine a disgusting taste, like the worst taste you can think of. Imagine the smell of it, and then picture some disgusting smell. I did this every time the thought entered my mind for a whole year. It was really really tough, but the temptation gradually faded, and honestly now if someone asked me I would genuinely say the smell of it and the thought of it makes me feel sick.

I still have lots of lovely treats, with lots of other foods, but have maintained a healthy weight same with those treats I can just have a small amount and not keep going and going

Agree with others saying go Cold turkey. Try a hypnotist too. I tried one for a different issue and after a few sessions it actually worked.

I guess it’s because I am unhappy about how fat I am. I eat it all at once, practically inhaling it. I disgust myself ☹️ I just don’t seem to have the willpower to stop. I think I need to go cold turkey definitely because I can’t just have a small amount. My friend has wine every night and can’t understand my chocolate addiction, just like I don’t understand hers....

Someone said to me once that a chocolate craving can be a magnesium deficiency. Dr Google backed that up, as I remember. Maybe try a magnesium supplement?

It's not so easy to stop..just be very careful. There's a local group that get together every Tuesday evening we all suffer chocolism....the non choco group get funding from the council. It's quite a common addiction. Pick up a leaflet at your local doctors surgery. Good luck be strong.👍

I so sympathise OP, it’s miserable.
I’ve never been one to have a ‘square of dark chocolate’ a day.
It’s all or nothing for me, I would eat ALL the Chocolate in the house, to the point of nausea & then buy more!
I’d been avoiding refined sugar for a year, lost weight, loads of energy, felt great.
But after my DD’s breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year & subsequent surgery, chemo & radiotherapy I actually lived on chocolate, some days it was all I ate.
Hard core comfort eating 😊 Ashamed of myself for doing it of course but unable to stop.
It’s so bad for you physically & psychologically.
I finally decided that I needed to be healthy to care for my family so I cut out all refined sugar.
I think Cold turkey is the only way to go really.
After a day of cutting out all refined sugar the cravings do go.
Tell yourself you’re just going to have no sugar for one day.
I had a headache for the first couple of days & then feel great.
I’ve lost a stone & a half easily in 3 months 😊
Sugar makes me tired, lowers mood, gain weight alarmingly & causes flares in my various auto immune diseases.
I think ‘sugar addiction’ is hard to understand if you’ve never experienced it.
If you crave something sweet fruit is a good substitute snack & doesn’t trigger sugar cravings, in me anyhow.
Good luck OP, you can do it & you’ll feel so much better.