temptation to biscuits and cakes

[d2001]

Hi All

I'm trying to lose my weight and I've started running 3 times a week. But my wife keeps buying cakes and biscuits for our kids. I cant help myself at night before I go to bed. I can control myself all day but after dinner i seem to sneak into the kitchen and eat 2 small cakes, 4 biscuits and a few crips. It sounds more than it actually is, but is there anything I can do to stop myself? I'm good all day until the last hour .... I break my my rules and I reconn I add about 500 Calories during my suger bing 😞

[Cornellian]

One idea might be to have the sweets out of sight. We have a breadbox inside the pantry and my family is responsible for keeping the goodies hidden away in the breadbox. I can't even see the breadbox when I am trying to graze ... never mind what's in it! Just an idea -- but it might work for you.

[emili]

its your mind not your body that wants the sweet and salty. you need to occupy your mind with something else. When you feel the urge and you start to sneak into your own kitchen (been there done that)- stop and set a timer for 15 minutes and wait. force yourself to wait. when the timer goes off- check in. still an urge- reset the timer, no urge- move on to your next activity. keep going till you either have to go to bed or its the next morning. you are stronger than the urge- force yourself to wait it out. And please don't do this is the last night I'm going to sneak- tomorrow for sure I will..... you are fooling no one ..

[d2001]

Thank you. I have a timer on the cooker so I'm going to use that... I'll give it a go tonight and see what happens. you are right, it is my mind, I use biscuits as a way to end my day, and because I'm not busy... worse comes to worse, I guess if I'm still hungry, I can eat some porridge oats.

[d2001]

Hi

thanks for the suggestion, I live in a tiny house, with a tiny kitchen so nowhere to hid the stuff, as the kids need easy access... 

[emili]

awesome and you know oatmeal is actually a really good choice and if you mix it with a little maple syrup- yummy! I can't wait to hear how it went... please update!

[d2001]

Sad but true, I've reduced myself to a single biscuit and a quarter a cup of milk before bed.... I'll see how it goes for a few days/a week, before moving to oatmeal 🙂 I'm just starting out so I guess I can afford to take it easy. 

[Trooper]

For the cake craving have a box of Weight Watchers Cakes ready to go in the pantry, You have a choice of Red Velvet Cake, Chocalate, or Lemon Flavor at about 90 calories. For the Biscuit Craving I would try a Rice Cake. You can get the Caramel Flavor or Sour Cream and Onion One. Each has 50 calories. Or you can toast a low calorie slice of bread at 45 calories, spray it with Parkway Butter, and you should be okay. 

[Tave]

Two suggestions.  The first would be to work with your wife to see if you could substitute alternative snacks for the kids, like veggies.

The other is to build the calories from those snacks into your total calorie allotment for the day.  If you deny yourself them, that could lead you to eat them from temptation and feel guilty afterwards.  Instead, add an extra workout or two in during the day that would get you to 500 or more calories burned so you can feel you earned the snacks.  

[SebringDon · Accepted solution]

@d2001

What @Tave said. It's ok to have some "bad" food. Just make sure the bulk of what you eat is healthy and budget some extra exercise to earn the calories you want to consume. You can build a little "bad" food into your normal daily budget, but if you're having very much, pay for it fair and square.

Also be sure to log it, and pay attention to your macro balance. If total carbs, fats and protein are in a healthy balance at the end of the day and you haven't skimped on "good" food to allow for the junk, a little treat won't destroy your efforts.

I have a occasional habit of accepting challenges from friends, beating my normal goals by a bunch, and rewarding myself with things I'd never eat on a normal budget day. That seems to keep me satisfied and still eating healthy most of the time. 🙂

Also, I have some "not as bad" foods that I substitute when I really want a half-gallon of milk and a bag of oreos. A one-ounce serving of Multi-grain chocolate cheerios, dry, is about 100 calories and I can munch them for a while, like I would a bowl of M&M candies.

The only "candy bar" I eat these days is a Pure Protein chocolate deluxe bar, which has 180 cals, 21 grams of protein, 4.5 grams of fat, 17 carbs, and has a taste mildly reminiscent of those killer candy bars I used to eat. Compare that to a snickers or a three musketeers.

[d2001]

Thank you everyone!!!

 I've reduced my "silly" intake to 1 biscuit so I should be fine.