"Addicted" to desserts

zill · Postby **zill** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:16 am

I just seem to love desserts after a meal but trying to lose the extra 6kg of body fat in order to be more competitive at cycling. Do people here have any suggestions to curb this addiction?

It certainly doesn't help when there are cafes very close to where I work and live.

However, everything else I eat is healthy.

reefer · Postby **reefer** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:17 am

Don't buy them. I removed almost all temptation out of my cupboards, cannot eat what's not there.

zill · Postby **zill** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:24 am

reefer wrote:Don't buy them. I removed almost all temptation out of my cupboards, cannot eat what's not there.

I don't buy them when shopping but because there are so many cafes near me, I cannot help it on the day!

WarbyD · Postby **WarbyD** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:34 am

No advice anyone can offer will help. It's down to your willpower and only your willpower.. You need to learn to say "no"

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herzog · Postby **herzog** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:55 am

Don't go to France or Germany then!

The desserts are impossible to resist

Carrots · Postby **Carrots** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:22 am

Skip dinner - straight to dessert. Problem solvered.

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HiChris · Postby **HiChris** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:37 am

Have dessert for breakfast and ride it off, then keep a bit of diet chocolate in the fridge for a sweetener after dinner. Works for me and I'm a real sweet tooth. Now I need to work out how to stop having a beer...

anttismo · Postby **anttismo** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:54 am

My personal downfall is snacking / desserts in the evenings at home. So basically stopped buying anything I binge excessively on - peanut butter, nutella, sugary cereals, biscuits, chocolate, cakes, etc. I substitute weetbix, and regularly eat a dry weetbix or 2. I love weetbix, but hard to go overboard on a dry weetbix binge.

So carry some weetbix in your pocket

X-ray · Postby **X-ray** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:35 pm

A sorbet of frozen berries mixed with milk makes a delicious and healthy dessert

zill · Postby **zill** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 5:03 pm

Anybody know of something that tastes like chocolate (or has the effect) but without the fat nor sugar?

zill · Postby **zill** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:43 pm

WarbyD wrote:No advice anyone can offer will help. It's down to your willpower and only your willpower.. You need to learn to say "no"

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Actually, this is surely the ultimate advice!

I wish I can stop craving sweet things. I use to crave potato chips but now that is gone. I hope this dessert craving will go also (soon).

It could be this cafe culture that surrounds cycling which makes this love of desserts unstoppable!?

Nobody · Postby **Nobody** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:57 pm

Viewing them as poisons should help you restrain.

small dog · Postby **small dog** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:06 pm

I found artificial sweeteners help with craving sugar. Also, try fruit instead of real sweets. One apple is about 70 kcal, banana - 100 kcal, much less than things you are trying to resist. Fruits are also more filling. With all the advice though, addiction to sweets has the same physiological basis as addiction to illicit drugs, and cravings are not easy to overcome. If you don't have them in the house you will not binge, so try not buying all this stuff.

riverride · Postby **riverride** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 9:22 pm

If you are eating healthy otherwise, then you are doing well. The advice about calorie control is probably the most important thing. Maybe you could try some healthier snack ideas? There are lots of recipes online. Some of my favourites are below and might seem strange, but they are surprisingly good.

A filling snack (more like a dessert) for me is cottage cheese and peanut butter with banana mixed through.

Peanut butter and banana pancakes are delicious - mashed banana, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons flour, peanut butter (tablespoon melted and mixed through). I'm a fan of peanut butter...

Greek yoghurt and dates also works well.. Greek yoghurt and pretty much any fruit is a tasty snack, just as long as you don't buy the pre-made ones.

Carrot cake oatmeal is also fantastic. You can google recipes but essentially, oats and milk form the base. Greek yoghurt, allspice, ginger and vanilla essence constitute the frosting. Grated carrot and walnuts are mixed through.

RonK · Postby **RonK** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:06 am

If you are constantly exposed to temptations, then they can be very difficult to resist. But you can have your desserts, and eat them too, just as long as you compensate by eating better/less of the other courses.

kb · Postby kb » Sun Jun 22, 2014 11:39 am

I find I need to make it a conscious choice. Buy sweets if you want but make sure you realise that you're sabotaging yourself "at that time" (as opposed to beating yourself up afterwards). Then you know you care more about food than weight rather than just suffering from impulse. Agree with reducing opportunities too.

MattyK · Postby **MattyK** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 8:26 pm

zill wrote:Anybody know of something that tastes like chocolate (or has the effect) but without the fat nor sugar?

High cocoa dark chocolate?

Redbull · Postby **Redbull** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 9:00 pm

WarbyD wrote:No advice anyone can offer will help. It's down to your willpower and only your willpower.. You need to learn to say "no"

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Will power is not the problem I have (of course I will have a bit

) whoa power is what I need to develop lol.

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zill · Postby **zill** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 9:40 pm

Redbull wrote:
WarbyD wrote:No advice anyone can offer will help. It's down to your willpower and only your willpower.. You need to learn to say "no"

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Will power is not the problem I have (of course I will have a bit ) whoa power is what I need to develop lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What is whoa power?

Postby **Mulger bill** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:43 pm

zill wrote:
Redbull wrote:
WarbyD wrote:No advice anyone can offer will help. It's down to your willpower and only your willpower.. You need to learn to say "no"

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk
Will power is not the problem I have (of course I will have a bit ) whoa power is what I need to develop lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What is whoa power?

Knowing when to stop.
Best exercise to lose weight at dessert time is to place both hands firmly on the edge of the table then push.

zill · Postby **zill** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:50 pm

MattyK wrote:
zill wrote:Anybody know of something that tastes like chocolate (or has the effect) but without the fat nor sugar?
High cocoa dark chocolate?

Or apples and bananas. Apples for sweetness and bananas for the thick satisfying feel as well as some sweetness. Actually, I will try that.

Lizzy · Postby **Lizzy** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:47 pm

zill wrote:
Redbull wrote:whoa power is what I need to develop lol.

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What is whoa power?

Sounds like "won't power", similar to but unlike willpower, works using the force of negativity (I stopped biting my fingernails this way after all else had failed).

Good luck zill, I have a similar problem with muffins and chocolate at work. Cycle commuting makes it worse because I feel like I earned it

casual_cyclist · Postby **casual_cyclist** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 3:34 pm

zill wrote:I just seem to love desserts after a meal but trying to lose the extra 6kg of body fat in order to be more competitive at cycling. Do people here have any suggestions to curb this addiction?

I've done it. It's a process. First step is mental. I had to change my attitude. In some ways, this was the hardest part. I started to eat for nutrition, not because I felt tired, bored etc. My downfall was cakes, muffins, biscuits, chocolate etc. After dinner, I felt like I "had" to eat something sweet or I didn't feel satisfied. This was to the point where if I didn't have a dessert to eat after dinner then I made icing and ate that... so, pretty extreme. I prepared myself mentally and pre-prepared food and snacks in advance and then went cold turkey. For this to work, I increased the amount of fat and protein I was eating during the day. My diet before was extremely poor, consiting of mainly refined carbs. I am not against carbs and didn't stop eating them but I found if I ate too many refined carbs and not enough protein and fat that I felt hungry all day, which made my after dinner snacking worse. For snacks I ate half a handful of nuts or fruit and cheese (like apple and cheese or pear and cheese). I really upped my fruit intake from an average zero serves per day to 5 to 6 serves per day. I started in summer, so after dinner when I would usually snack on desserts, I ate a big bowl of watermelon or a big, juicy mango. After the seasonal fruits were gone, I switched to apples and cheese or pear and cheese. Something I found helped the cravings go away was a couple of spoons of full fat greek yoghurt in a glass of full fat milk. It sounds gross but if you are not eating a lot of refined sugar, it actually tastes quite sweet. Anyway, I found that it only took a couple of days for the cravings to go away and a bit longer to kick the habit. Even eating 5 to 6 serves of "fattening" fruit on most days, I still lost about 30kg in a year. That is without a lot of cycling too.

Eleri · Postby **Eleri** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:59 pm

I don't know how not to eat dessert so no useful advice from me.

I've tried giving up sugar, or cutting back but I am truly am addicted. I only ever manage to lose weight by upping the exercise, usually by just doing more of it at more intensity - especially running. But more intense kms on the bike works as well. 300km a week and I can eat anything pretty much. Now I'm sure this isn't a great diet but I'm a vegetarian, otherwise eat pretty well.

Baalzamon · Postby **Baalzamon** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 12:40 am

MattyK wrote:
zill wrote:Anybody know of something that tastes like chocolate (or has the effect) but without the fat nor sugar?
High cocoa dark chocolate?

I wanna make this one day. Pricey chocolate tho!

Basic Dark Chocolate

200g raw cacao butter (I use Loving Earth Cacao Butter)
50-60g raw cacao powder (or to taste)
100g raw honey or pure maple syrup or rice malt syrup
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or natural extract
1/8 tsp fine sea salt