Hello. I am not obese, but I've almost always been overweight. I am currently about 40-50 pounds overweight. I have three young kids and I've been trying for years to find the right diet for me. I know that they all work if you can actually follow them, but I have a serious problem with sugar dependence. It brings my efforts to a screeching halt every time. I am prediabetic, if not diabetic already, and I have borderline high blood pressure. I am a nurse and I know what I should be doing, but the desire for sugar overrides every piece of common sense and knowledge I have. I've tried curing my problem with consistent protein, but I don't really like most protein sources. I had chicken for breakfast this morning with half a grapefruit because I wasn't in the mood for egg whites. I am literally not interested in any of the foods that are supposedly the ones I should be eating. I am really losing hope that I will ever overcome this problem. I can't even go one day without the sugar (mainly chocolate), and once I eat some, I always eat more. I can't moderate because it's a compulsion. Please tell me if you know of anything else I can do. I've considered a fat farm or something of that sort, but I am needed at home and I probably couldn't afford it anyway. I don't mind exercising, but I've learned that it does very little good if I'm not eating properly as well, so I've stopped doing it. My eating has always been the unsurmountable part of becoming healthy for me. I lost 30 pounds in 3 months when I was 17 by using Phentermine, and that is the only time in my life that I have lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off for at least a few years. I've tried using it again, but it causes palpitations and hypertension, so I can't use it anymore. Can you help me? Can anybody?
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I Need Some Reasons to Not Give Up
Look into the HCG diet. I am a little over one week into it myself and I have already lost 13 lbs (as of yesterday). I started out at 240 lbs and now weight 227. My goal is to be at 220 in two days. In two days, I lost 5 lbs; my wife also experienced success with this diet. She did it first, and when I saw what it did for her, I had to tryi t for myself, and it is working. The diet itself is hard--very hard. I, too, have sugar dependence, but I finally decided 2 weeks ago that I wouldn't let that stop me anymore. You may have to do the same for yourself. I have genetic predispositions to major health problems on both sides of my family, so I had to do something very different from what I am used to doing. The HCG diet is working for me. But like I said, it is not easy. Every day I have to keep my end goal in mind: to lose 50 lbs so I am at my ideal weight of 190 lbs. At that point, I would have lost a total of 60 lbs from my beginning efforts 2to weeks ago. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. With HCG, you will definately need it, but it is worth the struggle.
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I had the same issue.. i could not eat any meal that did not involve sugary food. Apart from at meals I also ate sweet things as snacks throughout the day. If I didnt get a 'fix' at 3pm, I was on the edge of my nerves!
I was quite over weight and not really happy with myself. Worse, I was, by example, teaching my kids very bad eating habits.
My 'cure' was to give myself a couple of weeks where i denied myself any rubbish food at all. I didnt have sweets, sweet drinks, bread, cheese and even savoury snacks were out. I made a point of not buying anything so the temptation was not there for me.
It was partly because I was worried about the amount of sugar I was consuming but also because I was getting really bad stomach pain.
I will tell you it was not easy BUT it was more manageable because I told myself it was a temporary measure. I didnt really like to eat a lot of fruit though I was a big lover of veg.
I think I set myself a target of 4 weeks.
I had only fruit salad and natural yogurt for breakfast.. but as much of it as i could eat. Sometimes i sprinkled it with plain oats. the fruit salad was tinned pineapple and tinned oranges (in juice) mixed up with apples, grapes, mango, strawberries or anything I had in the fridge. I bought lots of the tinned fruit because the juice made the salad and yogurt lovely and sweet.
For lunch and dinner I tried to eat raw things.. salad, fruit that kind of thing and i picked only the things that i really liked to put in the salad. My fave is garlic, mushrooms and peppers all roasted together, spring onions, green stuff (lettuce things), fresh beetroot and /or avocado on the side, hard boiled eggs or tinned chickpeas, corn, cherry or other tasty tomatoes, cucumber and a bit of olive oil. I made up enough to do a few days.
Sometimes later in the day i took a 'normal' meal .. rice, potatos, pasta.. with loads of steamed veg and some kind of interesting sauce.
I snacked on apples and other fruit
I had to pick things that i could make quickly and in biggish quantities - i'm a single parent and work about 11 hours a day so I can't spend a lot of time cooking. I am also a vegetarian.
The first week wasnt easy. I just wanted chocolate and biscuits ALL the time. The second week was easier. I just kept saying to myself it's only for a few more days. By the third week I was looking forward to it and not even thinking about sweet stuff.
I went from a UK size 20 to a 16 in about 3 months. The big bonus was once I saw the weight come off, it became a lot easer to stick with it. But I think my body just adjusted to having nice fresh food.
I am loads lighter, don't have stomach pains unless i eat rubbish, and mostly don't bother with sweet stuff. I have stayed with the healthy eating - I snack on fruit mostly but I do also have bread now sometimes. I do have sweet things - especially at that time of the month .. but i don't crave it any more. I eat sweet things like everyone else .. occasionally and for a treat. Not as an integral part of every meal!
I hope you beat this particular demon.. I think if I can manage it, you can. My colleagues and family were stunned that I could stop the chocolate.. noone could believe it because it was such a central element of my diet. I am free of it now and don't intend to start again.
If only i could give up the smoking
Thanks for the suggestions. :) I know I'm never going to avoid sugar completely, so I'll have to learn moderation I think. Good luck with quitting smoking.