Anyone out there overcome their chocolate addiction?

[MB34]

Hi, I'm MB34 and I'm a chocoholic!

I've always loved chocolate but since the birth of my firs DS 14 months ago, my addiction has run out of control. The first six months he was dbf and I was eating no less than 6 bars a day. Luckily I still lost on average 1lb a month so got back to my pre-pregnancy weight (although it's still half a stone heavier than my ideal weight)

I'm still bf him, still scoffing tons of chocolate and maintaining my weight but over the next few weeks/months want to cut him down to just morning and night, then stop so want to do something now about my habit!

I start off the day with good intentions (no chocolate whatsoever) but early/mid-afternoon I always think 'oh I'll just have one biscuit/freddo/square of chocolate' and it goes downhill from there! I know it does but I still do it - I can't help it! I can easily eat a family sized bar within about 15 minutes!

Anyone been in this position and managed to cut down considerably and stop craving it or even cut it out completely? I'm off to bed now to stop myself eating anymore, but any stories/helpful pointers will be welcomed!

No mastering of the chocolate addiction here

I curse everyone who told me I'd lose weight breastfeeding, it only makes me so HUNGRY all the time! I just had a huge spaghetti bolognese for tea and a slice of chocolate cake an hour ago and my tummy is doing the niggling hunger pangs already

I cannot wait until my appetite goes back to normal and I can put down the cake!

That's exactly what I'm like Sammie - I'm hoping too that my appetite goes back to normal but going to try to do something about it now just in case it doesn't!

How old is your LO?

She's very nearly 6 months!

I have gained an inexcusable amount of weight since I first fell pregnant, it's so depressing! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a bigger appetite! I've tried counting calories sensibly and it works for a week and then I just cave in and go buy the biggest bar of galaxy ever and think 'I'll lose weight when I stop breastfeeding', only now I've gotten back in to all my old habits that are so hard to break! Gahh!

You just have to stop doing it. Go cold turkey and cut out all sugar (except a small amount of natural fruit sugars).

No more chocolate, biscuits, cake, bread or syrups/sugar in drinks etc.

It takes about a week and you're no longer craving it. You do still fancy it, but just have to develop willpower.

There was a lot of chocolate in work yesterday, but I forced myself to ignore it and didn't have any at all.

I would say it's as difficult as giving up smoking as I've done that as well. In fact, I miss the cigarettes less tbh.

I think that joking aside, you are going to get cravings because of the blood sugar thing. So you would have to start with a solid breakfast, like porridge with fruit (frozen blueberries zapped for two minutes make a nice jammy substance that needs no sugar). Eat oatcakes during the morning to keep that blood sugar stable.

Have literally no obvious sugar at all for a few days. Not in chocolate, not in drinks, not nohow. You will probably get a bad headache even with the oatcake thing, I'm afraid.

After that the physical side should be over and then if you don't buy it much, you should be fine. We have chocolate on a Friday night with steak and chips; it is called Friday night Chocolate and I start looking forward to it around Wednesday afternoon :)

What hidden says is right.

It doesn't take long before the craving diminishes

I found that having a few raisins when I had a sweet craving got me through the initial period - but then I stopped that too as it was only a temporary thing and of course raisins are not too good to eat too many of! It just breaks that link to the chocolate taste.

Could you start by switching to dark chocolate? Its hard to eat as much usually and at least there's less sugar...

Dried figs are great for beating sugar cravings. I treat myself to two a day with a few nuts and it's just enough to satisfy that sugary, snacky type thing.

Thanks for the tips all, I've started calorie counting and cutting out most sugar today whilst at work so I was busy and didn't notice as much.

Although I struggled around 3/4pm so had a banana and cup of tea (no sugar just lots of milk) and that seemed to keep me going.

I also just had a small hobnob flapjack after dinner - I need to try to get into the mindset of having fruit instead and try some different snacks in the day but I think it's a good start. Plus I'm going to bed now so won't have any more!

Sammie thats what'll happen to me too - my bad habits now, will continue to be the 'norm'. Are you still on mat leave? I found it really hard being on mat leave when DS was that small - all those temptations in the house (and still do for the 4 days I'm not in work), but I really think cutting out sugar will help me, so fingers crossed!