Anonymous wrote:

For me, avoidance is the only thing that has worked long term (three plus years at this point). I know it sounds impossible, but your taste truly does change and you won't miss or crave it after awhile. Before that, I had used the moderation method for a long time and only ate sweets on the weekends or at special occasions, but doing that keeps your body in the cycle of consuming high fat, high sugar treats, and you won't truly get over the addiction.

There's little to no nutritional value in sweets, especially highly processed ones, so giving them up entirely is really the best thing for your body.

I think everyone is different. I was probably consuming 1000+ calories of sweets per day before I lost weight last year. I am able to sustain a healthy diet (and a BMI that dropped from 27.5 to 19.5), but I still want a little something each day for my sweet tooth. I eat a lot of whole grains, fruit, veggies, lean protein every day, don't drink alcohol except for maybe one glass of wine per month. This way of eating is only sustainable for me if I get to have my little 50-100 calorie treats with a few grams of sugar once or twice a day.

Plus, I find it difficult to maintain my weight where it is if I eat entirely healthy foods - I don't want to lose additional weight and I don't want to eat more protein, veggies, etc. I can eat close to 2000 calories a day and don't feel like it's a big deal to have 10% of these calories come from foods that aren't nutrient dense.

For me, avoidance is the only thing that has worked long term (three plus years at this point). I know it sounds impossible, but your taste truly does change and you won't miss or crave it after awhile. Before that, I had used the moderation method for a long time and only ate sweets on the weekends or at special occasions, but doing that keeps your body in the cycle of consuming high fat, high sugar treats, and you won't truly get over the addiction.

There's little to no nutritional value in sweets, especially highly processed ones, so giving them up entirely is really the best thing for your body.

Anonymous wrote:Prevention is everything. As a binge eater I have learned to identify triggers like dates and raisins or potato chips that I keep out of the house. Artificial sweeteners and eating sugar at breakfast or on an empty stomach also make the cravings unbearable. I have kept my New Year's resolution not to consume cake, cookies, candy, or sweetened drinks until our family vacation in August.

Anonymous wrote:OP, lots of people talking about moderation here, but for me I had to go cold turkey.

I was a non-stop sweets eater, and had ballooned to over 200 pounds.

I went on a 30-day, zero sugar diet, not eating any sweets or any foods that had added sugar. It was rough for the first week or so, and I definitely had to fight the cravings. But then they went away and I was OK for the rest of the month. That month, I lost 25 pounds.

Now...stage 2 is where it gets hard. I realized that I could not go on a "no sugar ever for the rest of my life" diet, so had to figure out what to do long-term.

First thing I learned was that moderation did not work for me - if I had any amount of sweets - even a bite - it set off my sweet tooth for the rest of the day and I would eat everything in sight. So that would not work.

What I have moved to instead is a purge day every two weeks or so - I set aside a day when I can eat whatever I want. And I eat everything that day. Honestly, I eat so much I feel sick by the time I go to bed. But then I'm done. The next day, I go back to no-sweets routine.

This has worked for me for over two years. It takes some self-discipline, but I do not have a constant craving for sweets - I have learned to eat better and my cravings have gone away.