I genuinely live on chocolate. Please no judgements

[Nowanextraone]

OK I'm genuinely embarrassed to write this but I feel a 'confession' will hopefully be a pathway to recovery (if that's the right word)!!

I am addicted to chocolate. Cadbury's chocolate. I wish I was joking but I'm not .

I am about a stone overweight (I weigh 11 stone) at 5 foot 4 but my weight hasn't changed for years. Despite my chocolate intake, I stick to about 2000 calories a day.

But for my health, my diet is SHOCKING. My day is basically a 100g bar of cadbury's chocolate for breakfast, and another for lunch 😖 None of my family know I do this, it's like my dirty secret. I have done it for years (genuinely 7/8 years).
I don't eat anything normal or proper during the day.

Then for dinner, I eat a normal, healthy family (home cooked) dinner. Then in the evening, I might share a few squares of chocolate with my husband as a 'treat' (he has no idea about the rest of my day!).

What do I do? I have tried, but I'm honestly like a heroin addict trying to get to her next hit and it all goes wrong by lunch time and I'm back buying the chocolate.

I honestly don't know what to do. I am permanently tired. I'm also permanently hungry during the day. I feel very very unhealthy.

Help

Do a 2 week detox and you will likely find it disgusting when you try it again. I am a also a chocolate addict but Cadbury’s tastes like glucose and chemicals to me(liked it as a child).
You could read the sugar detox book(cant remember the name) that was fashionable a while back as your body will be addicted to the sugar rush.
Then later reintroduce chocolate with no more than 4 or 5 ingredients(cocoa, cocoa butter, milk, sugar- maybe vanilla, natural flavourings) and lower percentage of sugar- cadbury’s is 56% sugar. https://www.cadbury.co.uk/products/cadbury-dairy-milk-chocolate-bar-180g/#:~:text=Ingredients,MAY%20CONTAIN%20NUTS%2C%20WHEAT.

OP no judgement here I gave done the same, but I am far more overweight than you. Look at doing Zoe - it has shocked me so much I have managed to come off it at the moment.

Brutal but l think go cold turkey too

Have you been checked for anaemia? Chocolate contains iron and that is what you may be craving.

Lent is coming up if you want an excuse to try a 40 day break from it.

I would go for a slow and steady introduction of healthy food to replace some of the chocolate. So start with one slice of toast/pot of yoghurt/ piece of fruit and drop a quarter of the bar of chocolate. Similar swap for lunch. Then after a week drop to half a bar of chocolate per meal with an increase of healthier food.
Eventually you should get to a place where you have no chocolate for breakfast and just have about 20g as a treat after lunch.

Hm, conversely to most people on here, I would say don't worry about it too much. What have you liked eating in the past for breakfast and lunch? Maybe try to eat an old favourite again; make it a goal to have a proper lunch say three times a week. I also think Nutella on toast could be a good breakfast alternative for you.

I am so similar OP. Also drink too much coke too. I feel like crap but can't change. I eat healthy ish meals in amongst it but I eat so so much chocolate. Like a 270g bag of mini eggs the other day just as a snack at work. This morning I had three bags of crisps and three chocolate bars! I know I need to change but I have been like this 20+ years (worsening admittedly) and I don't have the willpower to stop! I wish I had advice!

I have gone cold-turkey on chocolate multiple times, sometimes for months, and never found it disgusting to come back to...

Try a hypnosis. Virtual gastric band is a good one.

And focus on not buying it and on eating something more nourishing. I like to think about all the good things a meal is doing to my body - helps me eat it when I'm fancying something else.

I can be the same with chocolate too. I find the only way for me is to not have any in the house. Also having grapes to snack on seems to help curb the sweet craving, no faffing about with any prep, just grab and snack!

You absolutely can change. You know you feel so much better if you do, quite apart from safeguarding your health.

5 or 6 years ago I weaned myself off sweet things by substituting lots of fruit and challenging myself to get fit. I never looked back and I am so, so glad I did. I'm quite old and at the time I was getting close to being pre-diabetic, as well as carrying about 20 pounds more than was good for me. Now I am fitter than I was in my 50s.

Have a look at Mark Hyman's book, or the one by Michael Moseley. I also used to watch a lot of Becky Gillaspy's videos on YouTube to keep myself motivated.

I wasn't as bad as this but I used to binge eat chocolate when I was unhappy in my life, with my work etc. I'm now in a less stressful job and my life is in a happier place (husband, baby etc.) and just don't do it as much any more. Is there something in your life that's making you unhappy? Maybe worth exploring with therapy if that's financially an option. I can imagine CBT helping you figure out the thought process that leads to you eating sugar and help stop that process part-way through maybe (not a therapist so I may be wrong). Or it could just be straightforward sugar addiction too. Eating loads of protein and then having a sweet non-UPF food like dried fruit might help you wean off.

PS I think Paul McKenna has a book about how to stop eating chocolate.

I am similar op. Today I’ve eaten half a pack of the white and brown Cadbury chocolate giant buttons (I love them), a crème egg, a boost, 2 bowls of honey Cheerios and a piece of toast. Literally nothing healthy just all sugar. I feel embarrassed by it!! I’ll be really good for a day or 2 then be mad busy and stressed and just skip back into eating sweet things and not able to face anything savoury

Another vote for adding in some chocolate chips or similar to a bowl of porridge in the morning. I make mine with a scoop of protein powder and then sprinkle some dark chocolate chips in. I get filled up with carbs and protein with a bit of a sweet kick. You’re hungry all day because you’re literally on a sugar crash all day and you’re taking in nothing nutritional.

I used to work for Cadbury and was around a lot of chocolate for years.

My advice is to start with chocolatey swaps- try a chocolate pain au chocolat for breakfast.

See how you feel.

Next day add in something with protein for lunch - peanut butter sandwich, say. Followed by 1 line of chocolate.

Do this for a week and see how you feel.

You can replace the Cadbury chocolate with better quality chocolate, and still eat it ever day. But instead of a bar, have a line of chunks instead.

If portion control is an important aspect go to Lidl or Aldi and buy a multi pack of mini chocolate bars. Have 1 after lunch each day.

Good luck!

Get your cholesterol checked, chocolate is full of saturated fat. DHs levels were very high and dropped to just about acceptable when he gave up his chocolate habit ( fairly healthy diet otherwise).

Try a keto diet. Do it for a minimum of two weeks and ideally 3 or 4. For me it had a long lasting affect in cutting down my sugar cravings for YEARS afterwards.

I could have written your post thirty years ago. It started after I left working in a chocolate factory. I had it hidden all over the place and would sneak off upstairs, in the garage, in the shed etc to scoff a lot in a minute or two.

I still do it but no where near as bad. I opened up to my doctor about it after she asked me what my diet was like. In the end after trying to cut down I just went cold turkey and for years I never ventured down the chocolate aisle. I find online grocery shopping helps me and I’ve no local shops to pop to.

the bizarre thing is I can ignore an unopened packet or box but once it’s open I have no willpower. It’s the major thing in stopping me losing weight now. I’ve tried cutting down but I’ve recently decided that I need to completely remove it from my life. I know I have an unhealthy relationship with it but often when life is difficult it’s my crutch. (That’s when I eat anything I can find made of chocolate even if it don’t like it 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️).

I'm similar OP.

The only solution for me is to not have it in the house. Really difficult after Christmas though.

I online shop so it's easier to not buy it.

It is so hard though, for me it's like a compulsion to eat it, definitely a difficult habit to kick.

Check out the Glucose Goddess on Instagram. I've learned so much about the effect glucose can have on the body and how it relates to health and cognitive functioning.
How do you feel about small, bite-size portions of chocolate? Could you have one of these smaller bite-sized pieces after each meal, so that you are not depriving yourself?

Start by cutting back until you are down to a few squares a day
in the morning just have 75g and same at lunch, throw the extra squares straight in the bin, I know it’s a waste but just get rid of them, then instead of the extra squares have a slice of toast or banana

After that cut back by 2 squares a day ( 1 at lunch and 1 at breakfast) until you are down to just a few squares

Im not surprised you are tired and hungry the sugar spikes you must be getting would exhaust me

I find that I want less chocolate if I drink coffee with it. So I never have chocolate on its own, always coffee and a few chocolates, which I put on a plate so I don't have the box to hand. In my case, I've suspected for a while that I have ADHD as I often seem to eat without being hungry for the dopamine hit and caffeine makes me feel relaxed and often more focused, rather than wired. I have no trouble falling asleep even after lots of caffeine! I'm currently trying to cut my sugar intake by looking for other ways to get that dopamine hit (exercise etc ,) but it's hard to fit stuff in when sleep-deprived with 2 little kids.

Slightly different perspective here- I'm neurodiverse and chocolate is one of my safe foods. When overwhelmed I struggle to make food and eat it. Seriously, making a cup of tea is beyond me some days. Thats if I actually recognise I'm hungry or thirsty.

Chocolate (and full fat milk) provides me with energy and is something I can grab and eat with minimal effort when I actually notice that I'm hungry. It tastes the same every time so no worries about the unexpected.So that's what my food intake tends to be when I'm stressed and overwhelmed which is pretty much constantly due to work.

I cannot get out of this pattern on my own- I need dh or my colleagues to prompt me to eat/drink something different or bring me something. I'm ok at dinner time when dh is here, but if he isnt then I'll either have nothing, more chocolate or plain pasta and cheese.

If any of that sounds familiar, look up arfid as you'll need more than willpower to overcome it.

sounds alright to me 😂 seriously though, do you have high cholesterol, high blood sugar? if no then carry on, as long as you eat a good evening meal with all protein, carbs and veg you need for the day and whack in a multivit, what's the problem?
If you don't like your weight, try and move more?
Have you seen the state of people's diets in other threads? Mine, I admit isn't that varied either.

It gets very comfy eating the same things sometimes so I get it.