Originally Posted by cheebacheeba
I speak to you as a fellow food addict in a slow recovery.
Firstly, it's good that you've realised you've got this issue.
It's also important to know, in the event that you didn't, that sugar consumption is actually a worse factor than fat.
Sure, fat might stay with you - but sugar helps keep it there by being excess easy access energy - the human body burns this first, instead of fat.
My advice?
Don't go completely nuts.
If you drink tea or coffee and you're used to having sugar - try to just half it...though these are not really a big offender in the overall sugar count.
Bear in mind sugar is in fruit too, so go with only a couple of servings per day.
Learn about craving equivalency if you're dealing with chocolate.
Cacao, and nuts both have things in them that can take the edge off.
Drink lots of water.
No sodas/soft drinks, at all - no matter how much you crave them, do not touch them. If you need something fizzy look into mineral water and add some mango nectar or some such. Don't go overboard.
Drinking lots of water, even if you're sick of it...kind of flushes your system a bit. I found after about 4-5 days, the "need" to have these sugary drinks leaves you, if not completely, well on the way by this stage.
Now, I'm not sure about other things, but it sure helped when it came to the Coke etc.
Golden rule - if you have control issues...rather than trying to "practice better control", in my opinion, remove your control from the situation.
Do not buy these things.
At all.
Not for a sometimes thing. Not for a "Been doing so well, I will reward myself".
Fuck that logic right off. You have to.
If you're going to treat yourself - do it out, do not buy bulk, do it expensively, and of good quality. Don't buy a block of chocolate, go out and have that full sugar coffee with extra cream from a high end cafe with an awesome barista, and get yourself some badass truffles, slice of cake, whatever.
Let it hit you in the wallet. Be decadent. Experience the more luxurious side of these habits...but importantly, Do this NO MORE than once a week...or you'll simply land yourself in a more expensive habit.
Get exercise in. Steady cardio ideally, but if not walking. Set a time goal or make sure you do a certain amount of steps.
It's always recommended, but, it will go nicely hand in hand with the extra water consumption to get your system a bit more flushed.
Join a gym if unstructured exercise is something you're realistically not motivated enough to do - again, let that hit you in the wallet. Loss/waste of funds is a good motivator.
If you don't have the cash for a gym, well yes, then you're going to need to rely on yourself to do this - start listening to podcasts, they kill the time well and are habit forming while walking/jogging/cycling.
That's all I've really got.
Dieting sucks. It's hard. It's bullshit. But, it gets easier.
You're not so much "on a diet" as changing around your existing one.
You can do it. All it is is not eating something, right?
If willpower is an issue, like I said remove it from the table - the rest will follow in time. Don't expect an easy time of it. Expect a fucking SHIT time of it.
After a month, you'll be ok.
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