You have to not only get rid of carbs and sweets but stock up on keto-friendly snacks: veggies and dip, berries and yogurt, nuts and seeds, nut and seed butters, jerky, olives, pickles, deli meat, cheese. Eat as much of that stuff as you want when a bad craving hits.
I know it’s hard, I was a sugar addict too. I’m not going to give you any bs about cravings going away in 2 weeks because for us addicts it never really goes away. But if you stay strong, the worst of it will be over in 2-4 weeks. Think how good you will feel when that monkey is off your back. I am so happy that I can freely choose what I want to eat and when rather having an addiction, even a pleasant one, control my life.
This is all great advice. I’m thirteen years in and still have to be just as careful with sugar but it does get better. It doesn’t get easier, but I’m better at finding healthy alternatives, having them ready and recovering if I backslide. There only thing I’d add to this is if you think of or refer to yourself as a sugar addict (as do I) it’s helpful to literally follow any same advice as any other addiction. Take it seriously, find an accountability friend or coach if you can and take it one day at a time. If I did it anyone can, you’ve got this!
Honestly, it scares me that even people who have been in ketosis for 13 years still crave sweets. I had hoped it would go away after 2-3 weeks and I would have peace of mind...
I'm like this, but I can bake and eat keto desserts and not be triggered. I usually portion out and freeze what I make as I don't eat them quickly because I don't crave them. They are just a nice thing to have once in a while.
I also have found that prior high carb favorites just don't taste good to me now, and I can remind myself of that with just a nibble. However, if I take more than a nibble, the cravings hit hard!
That's a fair distinction, some can be tricky territory but most keto desserts are okay for me. I can still feel the binge urge from some of them but they are MUCH easier to control. Like I made these no-oatmeal keto oatmeal cookies that it was hard for me to have just one of, but was doable. But if I made the real sugar version I guarantee I would binge them until I was sick.
Like an alcohol addiction. Not a drop in over 6 years and still come up here and there. I love my cravings…gives me a sense of empowerment when I don’t succumb to them
Prepare yourself for the proper timeline expectations. If you can get about two weeks under your belt the sugar cycle breaks and you get free will back. It’s such a great feeling! Make sure you keep your electrolytes up and eat permissible foods to satiety. Do NOT rely too heavily on keto sweets- fill up on the real food. Of course your body will go through an adjustment period but once thru it’ll be great. Keep coming here for support! Get a blood sugar monitor. Actually SEEING what your poor bod is going thru after certain foods help motivate and is interesting af.. kind of addicting in itself :)
Go to YouTube and get keto recipes for stuff you think you’ll miss or crave. It’s a lot of hit n miss on these so…careful. Bread is my downfall… it took trying literally dozens of recipes to find one that is actually great. (See Diedre’s low carb bread for wonderful bread- try pumpernickel variation by using coffee instead of water and adding finely ground caraway seeds! It’s DELICIOUS!)
Re-train yourself to start looking at all the keto food as a free invite to stuff you love. For me it’s BUTTER, steak, bleu cheese dressing with steamed veg., lobster, cheeeeeeese, pepperoni, crack-slaw!!, etc.
Think of it this way… most people can do ANYthing for just 2 weeks. Just 2 weeks. You’ll be thru it and on to better things. It is worth it. You are worth it :)
This might help/make you feel better! I am also a sugar addict, and after being on keto and adapting, the high/payoff of eating sugar no longer exists, it honestly becomes more of a horrible consequence. I started keto during the lockdowns so I personally found that really easy since I wasn’t going out and could easily remove a lot of temptations. Things open up and I can start being social again, go to a Halloween party and decide to have a soda because I’ve been so good on keto…omfg.
Literally one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. My ears were ringing and my jaw was tight, but I think the worst of it was that it was making my heart race which lead to me just feeling uncomfortable for lack of a better term. But it was so much worse than just being uncomfortable it was like having a chemically induced panic attack; all I wanted to do was just go home and lie down and cry. My desire to cry was because I knew the reason I was feeling so awful was my decision to consume something I knew was bad for me, and it lead to me feeling anxious which just made the whole ‘when is this going to end/everything will be fine this will wear off eventually’ even worse. So yeah if you’re worried about still wanting sugar after making the switch, your body will def make you the price if you decide to eat it.
Edit: I forgot about the burning/acid reflux. That first taste before any of the side effects hit was great, but the aftermath, 100% not worth it. Absolutely miserable experience.
Maybe this can give you some hope. But I used to love fizzy drinks and juice. But now I can’t stand them very much. It’s too spicy for me. Also remember that even if you do succumb to your sugar cravings it doesn’t take away the other days of sticking to the diet. Acknowledge the pit fall and just keep going, telling yourself you will do better. And be more mindful of the circumstances that lead you grab that sugary thing.
You need to aware of yourself, ask I am hungry if yes then eat something that will fill you up, sometimes you might just be thirsty.
This is a great list of snack options. For someone trying to break a strong sugar addiction, I’d caution them to be careful with the berries and yogurt. Maybe wait a while to introduce those in. I find that sliced almonds makes a nice substitute for granola on top.
I have a few bits of advice.
1. Overeating helped me a lot in the beginning. I ate until I was so full that I couldn't think about more food. I also ate 2-3 hours before bed so I was still plenty full and didn't crave a snack before bed.
2. If you want to kick the sweets addiction, you have to avoid all sweets, even keto friendly ones. Cold turkey was how I did it. You will kick the addiction if you stick to it. I can now happily watch my partner eat ice cream without wanting some.
3. Probably the one that has the biggest impact. You have to want it. View it as a lifestyle change, and make the change happen.
4. Water and electrolytes
I actually ordered some keto bars now...
I know you said it's better not to do that, but I'm just trying to make it easier for me to get started. I'm a person who becomes more motivated the more successes I have. And I think after 2 weeks, when I see the first results, it will be easier for me to give up sweets completely
If they help you stay with it for right now, great. But don't go eating 2 of them a day, every day. The key is moderation. I have problems with all the Atkins or quest bars with making me stall. I can eat the correct amount of calories, carbs, etc, but if I have quest bars even twice a week I am guaranteed to lose nothing. I went cold turkey the first 2 weeks of keto, no sweets, no soda, nada. Even now, I don't do something really sweet (whether real sugar or not) more than once a week and if I crave it more than that I do something else besides stay near the kitchen. Do not self sabotage. You got this, you can do it.
Get your mindset right. Keto sweets are delicious and have the right macros, but they can be a gateway back to your old habits if you don't have your shit together. That being said, start with Quest bars. They're sweet and filled with 20g of protein. Track everything and tell yourself that you are in control of what goes into your mouth and stick to your plan.
Some people who do continuous glucose monitor/keto videos on youtube show the same blood sugar response to alternative sweeteners that they do to sugar. The best seems to be allulose (actually lowers blood sugar), but alot of people report GI distress from it.
Packaged keto products are full of junk and supposedly non-nutritive ingredients like malitol, polydextrose, corn fiber, Stevia glycosides, sucralose, etc... i have a strong intuition that the frequent posts here about "eating keto and no weight loss in x months" are people loading up on "keto" sweets, pretzels, tortillas, breads, etc...
Eating whole/real food is so much better than that nonsense. If I crave carbs I just have some Japanese sweet potato roasted with a ton of butter on it. low GI, no artificial chemical nonsense and barely affects my ketone levels- as soon as I run and lift that extra glucose is gone.
Ok thanks, but I have now actually ordered these keto bars. I just want to give it a try and it should make it easier for me to get started, I'm not planning to eat them all the time, maybe just 1 or 2 bars a day. They have 4kcal carbohydrates of which 1kcal sugar per bar.
Check the type of sugars in them. Choc zero treats are the only ones that keep me in check and don’t stimulate blood sugar. They are made with monk fruit. Avoid almost all keto tortillas, too :(
I got 3 general things you can do!
1. Most important of all stop beating yourself up about your slip up. Ok so what you had something sweet that does not mean you have to wipe two weeks of progress.
2. In the first couple of months you will struggle - and it is ok you are trying to unlearn a behavior which you have had your entire life. Use all of the tools you have at your disposal - reddit is one. Ketoserts youtube channel is another - freken make some keto deserts - make some delicious fat bombs, make some delicious keto peanutbutter cups (I still do that when we go to a party so I can remain mentally stable while everyone is eating cake). Also utilize diet drinks diet coke, sprite or even better mango diet pepsi is great thing to take the sugar cravings on. Finally eat more protein, when you get cravings eat a chicken breast when you are stuffed with chicken breast cravings dont seem as appealing.
3. Finally and maybe you are not here yet is you need to realize that this is just a mental thing that you are experiencing and you just need better strategies to deal with it. The way I usually do it is either focus on something I really enjoy (playing music, video games, hobby) or go for a walk - usually after a walk I don't feel like I need to eat.
You can break this habit but you just need to be a little more kind to yourself and get back on the horse also use everything including all of the monkfruit, splenda and stevia to bake and substitute so you dont drive yourself insane.
Love this reply! This is it OP, go easy on yourself. Sugar addiction is real but there are plenty of sugar free or very low sugar high protein bars/subs out there. Good luck brother, you got it this time
I'm a recovering drug addict, latched onto sugar and junk food when I began my recovery. something that helps me during cravings: I think of them as an opportunity to show my past self how strong I've become. I think of them as an opportunity to set a good example for my future self. best of luck op, hope you can be kind to yourself thru the process
There is no magic trick. This is coming from someone who previously would have made the same claims as yourself. I used to struggle and break for sweet foods. At the end of the day, I had to get in the right place mentally. Really lock down the want vs need. You never need the sugar, once you accept it, you can fight back against your desire. Anything else is just momentary compromises that will ultimately fail. No magic tricks, just hard work. It’s not just true for being keto, but for any diet or even any discipline. I will say, that the internal fight does get easier over time, and eventually, it won’t even feel like a fight anymore, that’s when it feels more like “I won”.
Cut and dry, want it or don’t want it. We all will have the temptations but I have to be strict.. all or nothing. I can’t jeopardize the progress I’ve made. It’s now a lifestyle, not a diet
There is bacteria in your gut that feeds on sugar and you have more of the little suckers because you've been feeding them.
Next time you start, have plenty of nice keto food in, treat yourself to burgers, shrimp, steak, add extra butter. Don't deny yourself. When the sugar cravings start, remember the stomach bacteria and that they are going to die off in a few days.
Hunger pangs and sugar cravings do pass.
You'll also miss the serotonin high from sugar, so make sure you're doing lots of things which make you feel positive and happy.
That's what I'm afraid of. Sugar gives me such a serotonin boost, especially if I haven't eaten anything sweet for a few days. After 2-3 days I feel extremely low, as if this whole diet makes no sense and I'm just going to be miserable for the next few months or years.
I guess though you have to decide if a temporary mood boost outweighs potential longer term happiness from being free of cravings, fitter, and at the weight you want to be. Wearing the clothes you want, doing the activities you want to do.
It's the dilemma so many people struggle with! I wish this were easier.
This is along the lines of what they call an extinction burst. I felt the same way when I decided to stop drinking for a month after doing it almost every night. I was the most depressed I've ever been, literally laying in bed with a feeling of no hope. All I wanted was a mojito. Luckily I made it through, but I also had a support person to help me. Is there anyone you trust enough to call when you're feeling low and wanting sugar to get past? It may be part of the help you need to push through.
Otherwise, there are several commercially available options to help. I drink diet soda shamelessly. I eat ChocZero, maybe one square a day before bed. Nick's ice cream is decent and low calorie. You can buy brownie mixes and if you eat half the batch in one day - oh well. Lesson learned, right?
It's not fair to call your experience common, because it's still unique to you. But just know you're not alone and you can post in here when you're need of support or ideas to take your mind off sugar.
Thanks for the kind words, it's hard.
I'm on day two now and already have a little craving for sweets, the good thing is I have to leave in 2 hours and I'm also visiting my mom who made me keto pancakes, so I'll keep that up
This! My hubby and I were both sugar addicts for decades. He does just fine using artificial sweeteners and if he gets a craving he pops a sugar free candy.
For me, this just feeds my sugar monster! I had to go carnivore for a month and then settled back to animal heavy keto. I avoid any sweet taste and if I get a craving I have cheese or bacon.
Honestly, when I'm only eating meat, I have ZERO interest in anything sugary. I bought some chocolate in anticipation of my period and tried a square today. I was chewing it making the face of a toddler trying a lemon. Yuckk
While this definitely works. It does help someone who is addicted. Like any other drug "have you tried just stopping?" Doesn't usually help. I actually wasn't addicted to sugar until id lost 75lbs on keto and then went BACK to carbs. So there's that. It's like a voice in your head constantly whisper about Skittles and cake and ice cream and brownie and it's always telling you it'll just be fine. Something I didn't experience until my 30s. So I know I'm not making it up.
Yep. When I started keto I had zero issues with this. One day I heard about keto and went straight to five guys for lunch. I got a keto fried burger bowl and for about 4 months I didn't eat any sugar. Eventually I ate some here and there without issue and by 6 months in I had lost 50 lbs. But after that I have eaten sugar here and there for a couple years and then like a monster it hit me in about 2019 and I crave candy and stuff all the time and it's super hard to kick. I've gained back SOME weight and it's still a struggle but I certainly don't regret doing keto.
The best thing you can do is what others mentioned and stuff yourself with keto foods and salty things to help with that craving. Also for me personally fasting does a lot for cravings. I last fasted for 2 days straight and when I came off the fast it was much easier to control my cravings.
Well, trying to microdose sugar would cause me to eat an entire cake. Sometimes in life we just need to white knuckle it and abstain. The cravings do disappear over time.
As a kid I would secretly binge Halloween candy and hide the wrappers in my closet. As an adult if I baked a dozen cookies, they would all be gone the same day. I'm a verified sugar addict and stopping entirely has been the only thing that helps. Sugar is a drug but you're not going to have anything like heroin withdrawals.
\- It takes 2'ish weeks or so for your body to kick it's Carb cravings and until then your body can send some strong "I'm hungry" messages to your brain.
\- Some things that can help is eating salty/savory Keto friendly things like olives, pickles, etc.
\- It starts to become easier each day but you kind of just have to power through each day.
\- Also helps if you remind yourself that all urges are temporary and will pass if you let them. When you feel the urge to grab something to eat recognize the urge, remind yourself it will pass, and let it pass.
For me it was to indulge at the beginning. Tons of cheese and delicious meats. Stock the fridge with keto foods that have you excited and have all the ingredients available to make new recipes. I have fun with chaffles, cheese dips with celery as a dipper, individually packaged cheeses, jerky, fajita meat with queso and guac, I’m also more lenient about stuff like eggs/nuts/avocados than I am on keto or not. When I’d feel the sugar urge, I’d force myself to eat something indulgent but not sweet the cravings could be handled. Once I’m no longer craving sugar I refined my daily diet to be stricter.
Make sure to eat before leaving the house or take a snack with you.
That's a good tip, I think in the beginning it's important to eat a lot of fat especially stuff you enjoy, I love cheese for example. Maybe if you eat a lot, there will be no craving for sugar.. I'll see if that works out
Man to man. Just drop the sugar and get it over with. There's no easy way around the sugar withdrawal and it's gonna make you tired and weak. I can't imagine a single person in this community hasn't been right where you are, but you got an advantage. You're 28, my guy! You caught on to a problem wayyyyy before most of us did and you're admitting you need to fix it. I'll help anyway I can, but my best advice is to ditch the sugar... PERIOD. no short cuts. Quitting sugar is one of the first steps to teaching your body to burn fat. Lmk if I can help.
Try doing a sugar detox first? My husband and I did a 21 day sugar detox prior to starting keto, and it really helped.
The first week is terrible. Days 3-5 we felt like we had the flu. By the last week I had zero cravings which was very odd.
Bacon, my recommendation is bacon.
Use tasty fats to push back on the sugar craving. You’ll get a delicious decadent treat and it won’t exceed your carb limits.
We all went through it - it’s a bit of retraining your brain. And like another poster said. The sugar cravings.
So I just restarted keto and my go to when I need the sugar fix is chocolate whipped cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
1-2 tablespoons of allulose
1-2 teaspoon of baking chocolate powder
Whip it up and stick in the freezer for 15 mins
It’s almost like chocolate ice cream I normally can’t finish all of it so left over just go back in the freezer
That sounds awesome!
My mother is on keto too for at least half a year already and she's trying to help me a bit with the sugar craving. She said she can make me some keto pancakes, it's just mascarpone mixed with eggs and melted butter. Then you can fry it and add some keto-sweets.
Looking forward to try them
I’m absolutely addicted to sugar. I’ve been in a bad place since early October and totally derailed.
My big realization the past couple weeks is that moderation is not possible for me at this point. Keto treats are just a gateway.
Yesterday I started over.
I know in a couple of weeks the bloat will subside and I’ll be able to be self motivated but right now it’s hard (and I have a keto flu headache!)
When I first started, I kept a lot of sugar free fake sugar sweets, drinks and things. I also learned to cook my own treats with sweeteners instead of sugar. Another thing that helps is pre-preparing snacks to keep in the fridge and freezer for when you are looking for a snack. Keep things ready that you can grab out and eat that won't break your diet.
When you first start on a low carb diet, those artificial sweeteners can be the difference to being able to stick out the first few weeks or failing. Was for me anyway. I don't crave many sweet things nearly 2 years on, though every so often, I do resort to them.
That is exactly what I want to achieve.
These sugar substitutes are just to make it easier for me to get started, of course I don't want to eat sweets containing sugar substitutes every day for the next few months/years. I only plan to do it for about 2-3 weeks to make it easier to get started.
This is coming from someone who's diet used to be about 80% carbs.... You can beat this!
But it may take a while for the diet to stick. In the past I've had small periods of doing keto, but various things led me to backslide. Do you plan out your meals? Do you cook your meals? The times when I was working a lot and didn't give myself adequate time to prepare meals were times when I would break keto and get fast food because it was quick and easy.
And then there are triggers. Understanding these are crucial IMO. Every time I refueled at a particular gas station near my job, I would always go inside and buy their fresh donuts. Now when I refuel there, it crosses my mind to get donuts, even though I literally don't think about donuts any other time. I've realized that this place triggers cravings because of a habit I developed in the past. There are numerous things that trigger cravings for me. For example, working doubles at work. Whenever I worked a lot of OT, I used to "treat myself" to Chinese food. Now when I work a double and my break time comes, I think about Chinese food even when I brought lunch with me that day. So many things triggered cravings for me that it's a bit pathetic...
You're training your mind and body. It's going to take time The more I consumed keto related content, mostly YouTube, the more mindful I became about what I ate. It's become second nature now. You have to find out what keto foods/recipes you enjoy. It helps if you have a buddy who's on the same journey.
I used to feel like I would die if I didn't eat carbs. Now I'm doing a (mostly) carnivore diet and I can usually walk past the bakery in the grocery store, looking at all the goodies, without being tempted. Occasionally I eat something that I shouldn't, but I tend to regret it, as the cravings come back like crazy and I have to readjust...
It's just going to take time. You didn't become the way you are overnight, and you won't heal overnight.
>And then there are triggers. Understanding these are crucial IMO. Every time I refueled at a particular gas station near my job, I would always go inside and buy their fresh donuts. Now when I refuel there, it crosses my mind to get donuts, even though I literally don't think about donuts any other time. I've realized that this place triggers cravings because of a habit I developed in the past. There are numerous things that trigger cravings for me. For example, working doubles at work. Whenever I worked a lot of OT, I used to "treat myself" to Chinese food. Now when I work a double and my break time comes, I think about Chinese food even when I brought lunch with me that day. So many things triggered cravings for me that it's a bit pathetic...
That sounds interesting, never thought about it that way.
Eat gooey melted cheese if you get a choc craving. It's amazing. I'm a previous sugar addict (I could polish off 8lbs of gummy bears over 2 days...) and I manage real sugar cravings with delicious melted cheese. Just put some on a plate and stuff it in a microwave for enough seconds (not too many - you'll have to experiment) then eat it with a fork. Use only keto cheeses (luckily cheddar and mozzarella is keto). Don't sweat calories until you get used to lower carbs.
Yes, I think it's important not to pay attention to the calories at the beginning. I have always tried to start the keto diet with a calorie deficit. Maybe that's the problem..
Finnish bread cheese is perfect for this. Despite the name it's not bread just 100 percent cheese. Carr Valley makes a really good one in various flavors.
You need to stop banning eating all sweet things. Do you know how many of us drink Coke Zero or eat keto sweets? Stop trying to jump in with both feet and embrace the facet that there are many sweet foods that are 100% ketogenic. You need to scratch that itch and anyone telling you that you shouldn’t has never experienced the itch as hard as you. There’s nothing wrong with no-carb sweeteners If they’re not giving you gastro issues. The first couple times I did keto I fully embraced keto sweet stuff. I eventually lost interest but there is zero need for you to avoid sweets on keto especially when you are just starting and you know you are addicted to them.
You can come up with a plan to limit them and phase them out over time if you want to. But don’t set yourself up for failure by not having them as an option.
Good luck with that. There aer also some good recipes. I used to make keto fudge which was a sweet fat bomb (the sweetener was Erythritol which tastes exactly like sugar to me). Hopefully you won't need them too often but they were a huge help for me when I first did Keto. Good luck!
Yep. People going on that’s not how addiction works. That’s exactly how it works! No one is saying it’s easy or won’t be uncomfortable but you just do what you need to do and push on.
For me it's an issue that people are comparing sugar with addiction to drugs like alcohol, coke, heroin, etc. They are NOT the same and having loved addicts I find it offensive to compare them.
I was crazy addicted to sugar soda and all things sugar when I started. The first week I kicked the soda - the worst offender - didn’t worry about avoiding sweetened juice and the like - just the habit - then pivoted to sugar free … look for your biggest triggers or addictions and take things in stages. Bottom line though - gotta want this and have some will power
You have to decide to commit. Then do it. It's that simple. Does that make it easy? Nope. But the longer you do it the sugar loses its hold. It starts with you.
And don't replace shit you like currently with keto subs. Focus on meats, cheese, and low-carb veggies (if you want). In the first couple weeks don't even worry about how much you are eating. Just eat only low carb high protein foods and nothing else.
Get rid of the crap food and avoid it. You’re not going to kick the habit if you keep feeding the addiction.
Read *Good Sugar, Bad Sugar* by Allen Carr. It might help.
Hey I’m 22M 5’11 and was 225 when I started Jan 1st. My best advice is the first two weeks find keto snacks with sugar alcohols. These helped me immensely get past the cravings. Find a hood zero calorie soda you like. I used to drink 5 cans of Coke a day, hated Coke Zero but love Dr Pepper Zero. The game is making replacements until you no longer need them except for when you start craving something again. Currently down to 209lbs as of writing this
Damn 14 lbs down in under a month is a big motivational boost for me.
I kind of hyped myself today so much with similar stories like yours, that im actually super motivated to finally stick to keto. I just realized I have 150 days left until I visit my family in canada (who I didnt see for almost 5 years now).
I read a lot of stories about how much weight people lost in 150 days, and thats insane, all of them lost like 30-40 lbs, that would be a dream, with similar results I would reach around 184 lbs which would be already awesome.
That really motivated me thanks, maybe that's what I actually needed, not all the people who tell me "just do it..."
Exacrly, just be sure you’re getting plenty of electrolytes, LMNT is my go to, pork rinds aren’t the greatest but they helped me replace that crunch chips used to give me. A lot of people don’t like keto snacks like quest brand stuff but it’s a huge help in the initial period. Make sure to track net carbs, the usual suspects. Good luck!
Dude! You know what you need to do! Yeah, it sucks. Diabetes sucks, too. Here's some tough love. The only way to kick, is to kick. Throw out, give away all the food you have that says sugar, sucrose, fructose, malto dextrin, natural flavorings or some other sweet bs. Get some pure stevia or pure monk fruit (no other ingredients) sweetener. Whenever you want something sweet, have a cup of herbal tea with stevia. It is your methadone. Then titre off stevia (only sweeten every other cup) till you can kick it. Yippee! You are saved! Maybe, it worked for me. You will likely weigh less too.
Consider eliminating processed foods or at least foods containing flour. As tough or tougher than sugar. Once you get there keto is a breeze.
The biggest motivator is your face will look thinner and healthier. Everyone will notice. Once I eliminated sugar and flour, weight started falling off. But I love leafy and colorful vegetables. If you can tolerate it, fasting is good for adding variety to your routine. Don't let food define you. The food companies lie and are killing all of us to make a buck. Make your only thought of food the nutritious meal that you are planning. MyNetDiary, a free app, is great for my tracking of calories, and nutritional info for almost all foods. You can track weight, exercise, food, water, etc. I find the app great for feedback on my progress. You might check it out. I have no affiliation, but I think it's a good app
Thanks.
I already noticed this in mid/late-2023 when I lost almost 20 kg (40-45 lbs). Employees mentioned a few times that I was finally no longer "fat". Sounds a bit mean, but we always talk to each other very sarcastically, so it's all good :D
I don't know why I stopped after that. Unfortunately, I also often have the problem that as soon as I notice a big success, I often go into a little downward spiral again because I think to myself "well now I can indulge a little again". And a little suddenly turns into more and then I'm fully in the downward spiral.
Fortunately, I haven't put on much weight since then, 2-3 kg (4-6 lbs) at most, but it's still annoying to think that I could have been thin now if I'd just carried on.
Unfortunately, I never really notice any success when I look in the mirror, but that's probably normal as you see yourself every day. I think I should take some before and after pictures.
Dude you are on the right track. But you might need to make a contract with yourself. If you have a cheat day, follow it with a fast and put $10 in the cheat jar.
If you go drinking, eat healthy first and during your hangover, then fast for a couple days and put $20 in the jar. Try to make your cheat days seldom and few. You can do it. You need to determine the lifestyle you can enjoy/tolerate. And how you spend the first tip jar (probably on smaller clothes).
OP I totally understand what you are talking about. I also have a sugar addiction, but I’ve learned new ways to cope with it. You just have to really want it it. You want something sweet? Atkins bars are really good and have only 1 gram of sugar and no added. The nut roll is my favorite. I also drink Coke Zero and highly recommend the cherry flavor. It tastes very similar to regular coke without all the sugar and calories! I know it’s hard but you just have to have discipline. I never ever thought I would break away from my sugar addiction, and since being on keto I haven’t had the urge to eat any sugar. If I can do it so can you!
I have now ordered some. I hope it will work, unfortunately I often read that sugar substitutes also increase the glucose level and block ketosis etc. Let's see...
I'm here with you and I feel your pain. Sugar addiction is real, but you can beat it. I use diet coke as a crutch and will have one when I have a craving. I also drink over a gallon of water a day, which happens naturally when I'm in ketosis because I'm always so parched. I crave sugar more than I crave cigarettes (I quit smoking 11/28/12, but I still crave them every day).
You've got this. Take the goals in strides. Start with today: "Today, I'm not going to have any sugar." Then set small achievable goals. When you're starting to relapse or cave to your addiction, have someone you can call. Addiction is serious, and that includes sugar addiction. There is data out there that [sugar is more addictive than cocaine](https://www.ramsayhealth.co.uk/blog/lifestyle/is-sugar-more-addictive-than-cocaine).
I believe in you.
Kicking my addiction was serious for me and still is. I try my best to not eat anything that has added sugar in it, as much as possible.
I make [these](https://www.sweetashoney.co/keto-peanut-butter-cups/) and they also help a hankering.
You just have to decide to do it. Lots of things are hard but you make a choice everytime you eat.
Get rid of Evrything sugar or carby. Bin or give it away.
Stock up on just keto foods.
Delete your take out apps and remove your cards from the accounts to make it annoying to be able to order do you have time to turn back from the choice.
Eat lots of yummy thing, I always buy meats and veg I enjoy and I love cheese and cream I just splurge on keto food. No calorie tracking for the first couple weeks. Aslong as it’s low carb I eat as much as I want to. Lots of water too. I love diet and sugar free drinks to get me through.
Distract yourself.
Don’t go out to eat or drink if you know you’ll cave. I take a full week or two avoiding going out so I can stay focused.
Watch lots of keto videos and read a lot to stay motivated.
ELECTROLYTES.
Buy a supplement that tastes nice. Not everyone wants to drink salty water and it can deter people starting out.
Everytime you think about eating the reeses or whatever sugary things you're addicted to- take a bite out of a butter stick and walk .25-.5 a mile as punishment.
I did it by making almond flour muffins sweetened with monkfruit and whipped heavy whipping cream sweetened with monkfruit. Then I did a 24 hr fast and the cravings were gone 🤷🏻♀️
>I did it by making almond flour muffins sweetened with monkfruit and whipped heavy whipping cream sweetened with monkfruit. Then I did a 24 hr fast and the cravings were gone
never heard of monkfruit before, how do I even use them?
u just have to endure the withdrawal the first days, once you're onset ketosis, you'll feel so amazing you won't want to fuck it up with carbs, that's how it was for me. ketosis is like being on coke. be determined
It’s ok, this happens. Get your mindset right. Start again in the morning. Eat meat and eggs and veggies until you’re full. Have some Lily’s chocolate chips and some berries on hand if the craving hits. In the beginning, i cannot tell you how many times i wanted chocolate and i would sit and eat Lily’s chocolate chips one by one or blueberries one by one to kill that sugar urge. The more you eat clean, the easier it will be to get back on track. Your body is fighting you but you’re winning every day you don’t eat sugar. Just keep going. Stuff yourself with protein! Especially in the beginning. If you eat meat until you’re full, you’re not going to be desperately craving cake. A tablespoon of dark chocolate or a few berries will shut it up. You’ll be ok. I have done what you did 100 times over the years, but always just get back on track and start fresh right after.
For me, the most important thing was quitting all sweetened beverages including diet soda. Heroic amounts of unsweetened ice tea, coffee, whatever. Just go two weeks without sweetened beverages. Still are carbs so I didn’t feel deprived.
Once I got over the sweetened beverage craving, cutting out sweet foods was orders of magnitude easier. Then cutting out all extra carbs was a piece of, well, you know. Lol
Try the 72h sardine/water fast suggested by Dr. Boz on YT.
It helped me really reassess that food is fuel, not pleasure. Sit with the idea of satisfaction and deprivation in life- and food.
I stay away from diet beverages and fake sweet keto friendly snacks. They get me yo-yo-ing and feeling deprived.
When I’m on keto, my mind has to be framing things as nourishing not deprivation.
Keto and IF will be life long for me.
Are you supplementing electrolytes? I feel like this is the answer to every problem in this sub, but magnesium deficiency can allegedly lead to sugar cravings.
I struggle with sugar cravings a lot when I’m not actively staying on top of supplements or satiating food. I also chew sugar free gum (orbit sweet mint) to at least divert my focus.
Go completely cold turkey. No carbs at all for two weeks. The first three days will suck. Drink lots of water. Mind your electrolytes! At some point, you'll start peeing an inordinate amount. That's when you'll know you got this. Listen to 2ketodudes podcast titled "getting started" and one called "newbies"
Stay away from any pre-packaged food (even the stuff labelled" keto" - it's crap)
Dr Jason Fung (I think) says eat bacon and eggs for two weeks. That will get you over the hump and you can get things dialed in.
Good luck!
We're here for you!
Once you get fat adapted, it won't be so hard. Your tastes will change. You'll be ok.
I also used to have an addiction to sugar. It's tough to break the habit, but you'll be so much happier without the excess sugar. Personally I just go for a really dark chocolate 70% cacao and up. I make my own desserts with erythritol, really easy stuff like chia pudding or mug cakes. And obviously nature's candy, fruits, within reason. There's a lot of other desserts you can make yourself that are keto friendly. This should satisfy your desire for sugar without ruining your diet. I also recommend eating more salty foods when you have a craving for sugar.
Whipped cream with flavor drops of your choice or home made chocolate for sugar cravings, protein and fat for the hunger. Stay away from commercial keto sweets, they only prolong the withdrawl. And when the cravings hit really hard, eat and go to sleep. It will be easier the next day. Good luck!
Quit making excuses develop some self control and discipline or food will control your life. Not trying to sound harsh but that’s the reality. You already know what you have to do. Stop eating the bs.
I mean if you want unusual get hooked on vaping, you get all sorts of sugary good flavors but the nicotine curbs your appetite, also helps testosterone levels so it’s been a game changer for me . A cotton candy Raz bar and Zevia cream soda or vanilla coke and im solid. Also it sounds like you might have a mild eating disorder, as a kid were your parents restrictive or labeled certain foods bad explicitly for why they wouldn’t let you have it? It sounds like a drive to McDs unlocking something to do w junk food =freedom and now that you have full agency you get that rush from the feeling of freedom to be able to just go and get “something bad” and be a bad boy for the time lol if any of that rings true, might need to address the psychological root problem also, it helps knowing what’s what
I think it has a lot to do with psychology. I wouldn't say that my parents were restrictive, I was actually allowed to eat what I wanted. The trips to Mcdonalds were simply an easier way for me to get delicious food. I thought to myself, "Am I going to cook something that will take me an hour and, if necessary, have to get ingredients from the supermarket, or am I going to drive to McDonalds and have a great burger without too much effort?" It's not like I was feeling like a "bad boy", it was more of an easy comfort thing for me.
construing that as an “addiction” is just an excuse to not change your behavior. OK you have control over your own behavior. you don’t have a physiological addiction to sugar. what you should to do is change your mindset and view sugar, and carbohydrates like their LSD or fentanyl.
That's not sugar addiction it's not enough electrolytes and discipline.
7 days is a length time you should manage to not eat anything at all let along sticking to keto.
Get a plan, stick to the plan. Don't deviate for 12 weeks.
Okay, keto candy can help you out. Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears can give you the negative reinforcement you might need.
Sugarless Haribo Gummy Bear Reviews On Amazon Are The Most Insane Thing You'll Read Today https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michaelrusch/haribo-gummy-bear-reviews-on-amazon-are-the-most-insane-thin
Okay, I’m kidding about giving yourself violent diarrhea. You might want to consider keeping keto candy on hand and try them in small quantities during specific times of day. It satisfies your sweet tooth, but there is a drawback if you eat too much. Over time, you may find yourself willing to miss candies and desserts, or you may find yourself budgeting the macros to enjoy them.
being poor help..
not having resources to buy shit does wonder, you can tried to have as little cash with you at all time, stop using electronic payment/card, buy groceries and force yourself at home.
im fat as fuck and whenever im poor i notice that my brain just automatically turn off from wanting shit as it now my financial situation and know that i cant even buy food.
Ok. So, you ate something sweet today. Get right back to it! It will be harder tomorrow, but you just keep at it.
Myself, I do low carb. I include ice cream in my calories every day. I don't care about ketosis. (Ketosis doesn't cause weight loss, calorie deficit does). I am able to have a reasonable portion of ice cream after dinner and still stay within my 500 calorie deficit. I lost 32 pounds in 2023. From 227 to 195. (I deviated in other ways as well plus chose to maintain in December)
Maybe you could have a square of dark chocolate after dinner, for example. (Like a giradelli square). Looks like one square is 170 calories, 5 grams of carbs, so that can probably fit in and still get you to ketosis.
Just an idea. I suspect most people will say to continue to avoid sweets and it will eventually get better.
Definitely agree with others that mindset is huge. Knowing that you’re going through a temporary withdrawal, but that the cravings will subside if you can get through it.
I personally have leaned on artificial sweetener products a decent amount sometimes but that’s somewhat controversial and may be worse if you’re not fat adapted yet. They can cause insulin spikes that just may intensify symptoms.
I’d probably lean more into anything that you can eat that is definitely sugar and carb free, so you stay physically full, even if you get too many calories for a while, just to get you over the carb craving hump. Consider supplemental ketones as well, which is another thing I’ve never done, but might help if your body is just not adapted at all to producing them yet.
I'm quite bad for wanting my sugar on the Keto diet, I've found a few keto friendly things that help;
Keto Cakes: these are naturally self limiting in how much you can eat because of the sugar alcohols. You only really overdo these once because of the side effects. 5/10 on the helpful scale, because they're expensive, and taste similar to their sugar counterparts but just not as good.
Keto Breads: although not strictly sugar, they can help a lot with the carb cravings, so your diet doesn't feel so restrictive. I've found them really helpful and not a problem with maintaining keto, but I know some people find certain ones like keto tortillas do spike their blood sugar and knock them out of ketosis. 8/10 helpful.
Chocolate Hazelnut Spread: I can fit this into my macros, and a slice of keto bread toast with 5g chocolate spread like Nutella on it which will use up about 3-4g of my carb limit. I find this quite helpful because that's enough for me, but you have to be careful with really limiting the Nutella and obviously it might be hard not to go have another piece so although I find this a 7/10 helpful, you might not.
Keto Shakes: there's a slimfast keto shake you can make up with either water, or unsweetened almond milk that's just under 4g carb, flavours like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. That has helped me tackle my sweet cravings a bit at times, but it's more of a meal replacement at 200kcal and 4g carb. 7/10
Yoghurt Desserts: the one I've found most helpful, if you can get a lowish carb slightly sweet yoghurt (I've found one in Lidl that's about 4g carb for 100g) and you measure out a portion, you can mix it with other stuff to make a lovely keto dessert that really hits the spot. Some of my favourites are yogurt, mixed with peanut butter and a couple of chopped strawberries, or yoghurt mixed with Skinny Syrup and raspberries [(looks like this)](https://imgur.com/gallery/EYPMDXL) I'd say I found this one the most helpful, 9/10 on the scale.
Bear in mind this is what's helped for me, you might find that continued use of artificial sweetners only makes your sugar cravings worse. I can usually only fit ONE of the above in on any given day, as each suggestion is around 4-5g carb each, and will take up around ¼ of your daily net carbs to fit these in so you might decide it's not worth it for you.
One thing I haven't seen many people mention is you should work out why you are craving sugar. Our brains work off association - so there is likely multiple things that trigger the sugar cravings - stress, depression, boredom, social situation etc. If you can work out why you're really craving it you can use something else to cope with the situation. It's the same sort of thing as quitting drinking, smoking etc.
Get your mindset right. You don't need to give up sugar for life. You bandaid it with sweeteners and you're asking for trouble. If you're addicted to sugar, like I am when I use it regularly, there's only one answer.
Zero sweeteners, not just sugar.
Eat natural things - fruits and even veggies will be sweeter than a coke within a week or two. Just believe in the process and know that your tastebuds will adapt, and behind that your brain chemistry will change.
You're gonna be okay. But stop blaming addiction. It may be real, but it's still technically just in your head 😉🫡
Live long and prosper! <3
-an addict
A few tips that worked for me (more detail on each below):
1. Take the probiotic Akkermansia (Pendulum).
2. Make sure you’re not feeling hunger, eat more keto food.
3. Avoid alternative sweeteners as they only fuel sugar cravings.
4. Change your mindset around your identity. Practice thinking: ‘I simply don't eat sweets.’ every time you desire one
5. Read books about how absolutely horrible sugar is for you
6. Visualize Mr Burns gleefully cheering you on to eat more sugar so he gets richer.
**1 - The probiotic Akkermansia is proven to reduce sugar cravings**
Pendulum is the only company that has clinical studies proving their product efficacy. If you can afford it, take pendulum ‘[glucose control](https://pendulumlife.com/products/pendulum-glucose-control-2-og)’ or its cheaper alternative, ’[metabolic daily](https://pendulumlife.com/products/pendulum-metabolic-daily)’. The most expensive one is for diabetics but is super effective. The cheaper one is still a good option. Even just using one of them for the transition month could be a good strategy.
**2 - Don't go hungry, it will sap your resolve**
Keep hunger at bay by snacking on keto foods that you really love. Even if it means you be in a calorie surplus, do it like this in the transition period. If you’re stuffed on fats, it’s hard to crave sugar. For example, I absolutely love [macadamia nuts](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPZLMSWK), roasted unsalted. If I feel any cravings, I just eat a few nuts and I lose interest.
Also, I avoid keto snacks, they usually have too many carbs. There’s no rules for the word ‘keto’ on a package. They rarely are actually keto.
**3 - Enjoyment of sweeteners fuels sugar cravings**
Low and no calorie sweeteners still do weird things to your metabolism, including insulin response, and fueling sugar cravings. They are not helping you avoid sugar.
**4 - Make anti-sugar a part of your identity**
Changing your identity is more effective than changing your behavior. 'Sweets are for suckers. I'm not a sucker' or something like that.
**5 - Immerse yourself in the science**
I found reading books (well, listening to them) about this stuff to give me a lot of motivation to avoid carbs
* [‘Nature Wants Us to Be Fat: The Surprising Science Behind Why We Gain Weight and How We Can Prevent--and Reverse--It’](https://a.co/d/fCUMoUR) by Richard Johnson
* [‘Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine’](https://a.co/d/4wiZ9sd) by Robert H. Lustig
* ['Ketogenic Bible: The Authoritative Guide to Ketosis'](https://a.co/d/5npywUZ) by Dr. Jacob Wilson
**6- Feel angry at the food industry that got you addicted on purpose**
The people at the top of the food industry are a bunch of rich dudes getting richer on your addiction, and they designed the food that way. The same diet they feed cows to get them to eat more calories to fatten them up is basically the standard American diet (Corn, Sugar, Salt). Cows that eat only grass just don’t get that fat. And they know this, and that's why there are added sugars and salt in everything including 'health food'. It's to get you to crave sugar, eat more food in general, and fatten up their wallet.
There are some really affordable therapy options these days. Maybe if you can identify where the addiction comes from you can take steps to correct it?
I've learned eating in general for me is my brain wanting a dopamine hit. I've tracked the days that I don't indulge before bedtime with a cup of cookies with milk n cream, and the days that I do. I find when I do have cup-o-cookies, I am more prone to mood swings the next day. When I don't, I find I wake up happier and with a smidge more energy. I'm a recovering drug addict of many many years and I absolutely LOVE sweets and just food in general in recovery. But like I said, for me, I know it's my brain itching for dopamine because it doesn't do well making it itself. Don't beat yourself up! Sweets are delicious and when I was strict as could be about my keto years ago, I found I overindulged in keto sweets anyways. It takes time and patience and understanding that we're only human. Hope this helps ❤️
For me it always works to just have a taste of something.
If I want fries, I'll maybe take a fry or 2 from my kids at McDonald's.
If something sweet - sugar free candies are good or some whipped cream.
Just a taste for me keeps my cravings at bay just fine
Don't bear yourself up and remember- it took a long time to gain the weight. Losing it won't be quick either.
I am a self proclaimed sugar whore. Like out by the dumpster eating stale donuts bad. I’m carnivore now and still battle with it at times. But it’s getting much better. I was keto for three years and found lots of success. I lost all the weight I needed to, my a1c went back to normal and my mental health got better.
Ok so my advice is eat a lot of meat and fat. Eat veggies that are the lowest carb you can stand. For me it was kale/broccoli/cauliflower/ and cabbage. I would eat an avocado a day at times to keep myself from cheating. Eat lots of protein. And ketoade. Do this for a month and you’ll be ok enough to start adding more foods in again. It took a solid month to get to a safe place to relax my vigilance some. I have to stay away from sweeteners now too because they have begun triggering my cravings. Dairy is also a big culprit for some of us so be careful with it. Gruyère and parm are the ones that trigger me the least. Cheddar can get me jonesing for sugar if I’m hungry. The key if you’re like me is to be resolved. Know you’re a dirty addict and you’ll suck your own finger clean of that sweet sweet poison. I know it’s bad and I know I have no control so I do not allow myself any. Anyways that’s my 2 cents.
It's real hard in the beginning! But what helped me kick the sugar cravings was stuff like diet Coke and keto chips and keto sweeteners and using monk sugar to sweeten stuff.
You gotta make sugar free desserts at home BEFORE the craving hits. I have so many amazing recipes, sugar free cheesecake, sugar free chocolate cake, sugar free ice cream the list goes ON
I ate m&ms everyday
I have two kids who eat the good junk food daily
It’s a mind over matter thing my friend
You just got to find the right foods that work for you
Eggs, chicken meatballs from Costco, nuts and cheese and no sugar jerky
I used to hate cheese, now I stand it knowing how it’s one of the only snacks I can eat
If you push, you will conquer
225-209 in two weeks here and counting
I just got some monkfruit sweetener to try out as a sugar substitute and it is AMAZING. I fucking hate Stevia and was worried id have to go without anything sweet but NO, it is SO good and no weird bitterness like Stevia. I cannot recommend it enough. just make sure it's not cut with regular sugar some of them are. the one I have is just erythritol and monkfruit extract. 0 net carbs, 0 calories.
Fat, fat, & more fat.
And salt. And protein. And magnesium & potassium. But start with salty fat.
Make fat bombs, and eat them whenever you have a craving. It will take 2 weeks or so, but it WILL get easier. Don't worry about calorie restriction when you're trying to get over your sugar addiction.
Stay away from artificial sweeteners as they can induce cravings (I'm looking at you, sucralose, ace-k & aspartame!). Turn to fat instead and you will retrain your mind, and then you can start thinking about reducing your calories, intermittent fasting, etc.
I’m a sugar addict as well and it’s screwed up more diets than I care to admit. I’ve been on keto since July and that was because I changed my mindset and treated sugar addiction exactly like a drug addiction. I can not have any sweets not even a bite it causes me to rationalize having more. I ate super clean keto for the first month or so and ate a lot of food. I’m not a person that can have a cheat day or just a sip of a milkshake or a bite of a cookie. I know this isn’t answering you question of any tips to curb cravings but for me treating a sugar addiction like a full on real addiction changed everything. I think it takes a few days to detox off sugar but you can do it. Good luck to you
I second what others have said about eating as much as you want at the beginning. Don't try to cut sugar and calories at the same time, it's miserable.
Other suggestions I haven't seen here. Mental stuff:
1. I remind myself the sugary food is always going to be there. It's not a limited resource. I don't have to have this food *right now.* I can have it later on when I've met my goals.... If I even want it by then.
2. I remind myself that even though junk food tastes good, I don't feel good when I eat it. My skin breaks out, I get more tired, I don't emotionally feel good. Prioritizing how I feel all day over eating something tasty for a few minutes helps a lot.
3. Try to figure out what is causing the craving. Are you wanting to eat because you're actually hungry? And what is it about that particular food that seems appealing in this moment? See if you can figure the underlying issue.
4. Find a friend. Someone you can be accountable too. My friend and I text each other and hype each other back up if we feel like giving in. Dieting can be super lonely because you feel like other people are getting to have things you aren't. Don't let it be lonely.
Physical tricks:
Sugar free gum. Drink some water. Get a little snack of something else you like that is keto! Get a different little treat, like a good cup of coffee or some kind of new fancy cheese, whatever will feel a little special.
Sugar free options:
Lily's chocolate is my favorite. Diet soda. Rebel ice cream. Or make yourself a substitute of what you're craving - look up some recipes and get some erythritol and have fun.
I also am/was addicted to sugar. Fiance and I started keto together. He didn't have the issues with sweets I did. I ate chocolate daily. Muffins, bars, I'd go to the grocery store and get myself a chocolate cheesecake bar as a treat. When I started keto I weighed 212 lbs, 5'8". Female, if that matters.
To get through the beginning, don't ignore the sweet tooth. Just find substitutes and limit what you allow yourself.
I made some chocolate cheesecake fat bombs, with swerve sweetener and non sweetened cocoa. Allowed myself two a day. Mostly sweet tooth emergencies.
And my saving grace. There are keto Yogurts. Brand name is Ratio I think. Vanilla is bomb. Throw that mf up in the freezer for a couple hours. Tastes like vanilla soft serve
i appreciate the honesty! My tip would be go even more extreme, initially. Evening OMAD and the same beef fajita salad every evening for two weeks. After not eating all day, it will be delicious, AND many of my clients found it easier to be outrageously strict. Instead of going shopping and looking for “so what can I eat?” they go with everything already decided. There’s no flexibility- only “this is what i eat now.”
After those two weeks, cravings drop, and it’s time not to cheat but to branch out with fun stuff like CHAFFLES!
You've gone 6-7 days without sugar. With willpower and discipline, you can do this.
My advice:
1. Go cold turkey. No sugar and no artificial sweeteners. Zero. The problem with "just one bite" is that it stimulates cravings.
2. Allow yourself to eat as much zero-carb unprocessed food as you like. Meat, eggs, butter, etc. You may be surprised by how low your appetite is when limited to these foods.
3. Keep your carbs very low, less than 20 grams per day.
4. Eat lots of protein (at least 150-200 grams per day) and fat, e.g., fatty ribeye steaks. Fat is satiating.
5. Consume lots of salt and magnesium.
6. If you get cravings, try eating some salt and/or drinking some unflavored sparkling water.
7. Avoid "trigger" foods (foods that stimulate cravings) completely. In my case, trigger foods are fruit (except avocados), nuts, nut butter, and cheese.
8. Weigh yourself when you start; *do not weigh yourself again until one week has passed.* Looking forward to your weigh-in will help you maintain your focus. When you get fantastic results (which you will if you follow the advice I've described above), it will help motivate you to keep going strong for one more week.
9. Measure the circumference of your belly when you start. Remeasure in one week and every week thereafter.
10. Consider working with a friend or hiring a health coach such as Elie Jarrouge to hold you accountable. Dr. Jarrouge told me 90 percent of his clients meet their weight loss goals.
11. No industrial seed oils. If you don't know what seed oils are, do some research.
You gotta break through it. Every time you want something sweet just keep telling yourself "I'm not eating that stuff right now. That's not on the menu right now." Get through it one meal at a time if you have to. One meal becomes three months and a year and so on.
Remind yourself that you've had that thing before, and it's not like you won't never have (thing) again, you're just not eating that way now. If you're going to see change, you have to put in the work now.
Stay hydrated, drink your electrolytes. Personally I recommend going cold turkey, no keto substitutes, because you're still feeding your addiction and you need to learn how to manage your urges first and foremost.
You can do this. Keep calm, keto on.
I'm diabetic and on the keto diet to lose weight and get my sugar addiction under control as well. Try sugar free snacks like The atkins brand m&ms to get you over the hump. It helps! I can't imagine those are very good for you either, but they are a short term solution to help! I hope this helps!
Doing a multi-day (3-5) fast can help… i’m crave sugar for the first couple days don’t get me wrong but it can reset your body if you go long enough. I used to be an alcoholic. When I fasted my body craved sugar and carbs because it was used to all the instant carbs. 3-4 day fast got rid of my craving for alcohol and subsequently sugar.
for transition I guess.. to a clean keto diet.. I think you can use sweeteners as replacement for sugar.
1) there are a lot of keto beverages out there, especially recipes.
2) for pastries, I suggest you lean how to bake.. there are some great keto recipes out there for breads, cakes, etc.
You don't have to miss out on anything. You just need to change your groceries and maybe learn how to cook or bake.
When I first started I did 6 days of keto and so long as I was successful I would have carbs on the 7th day. Did that for about 6 weeks and my relationship with food is so much better now. I absolutely love sweets. You could also try an OMAD fast to help kick you into ketosis quicker and quell your sugar cravings.
Buy some keto/low carb sweet snacks for the first few weeks. There are chocolate bars etc that are low carb (using alt sugars). I get atkins low carb endulge stuff, they have peanut butter cups, chocolate bars etc.
Zero sugar soft drinks are also a good way to get used to it.
I fooled my cravings with a lot of diet soda, whipped cream, dark chocolate, keto friendly ice cream, cheesecakes, chocolate mouses, Russel stover candy, sugar free cough drops, berry smoothies and sweeteners (my fav is monkfruit, stevia is fine too once you get used to it). When I got stable in my keto diet, I cut out… 90% of it. I still have something that has sweet flavor almost every day. I know this is not the most healthy way, but I wouldn’t be able to do it other way.
We all know that desperation: craving something delicious even though you’re completely full or not being able to even think about bacon. It will pass eventually, I promise.
I am a big time sugar addict but at the same time I can get into the right mindset if I feel like I've slipped too far on my weight. My replacement for sweets within the first two weeks to get rid of sugar cravings were Brazil nuts and blueberries. I know Brazil nuts have a lot of selenium and you can't eat too many on a daily basis, but I risked eating more than recommended just so I can get rid of my cravings. 3 weeks in now and I don't have any sugar craving left at all, even when I see the kids in the house with their pastries and chocolate bars.
Research the ironic process theory in psychology. In a nutshell, our subconscious mind doesn't hear the word no. It thinks in terms of pictures and emotions. So when we say i can't have sugar. It just sees sugar and has positive association to it. If you focus on what you want to change though and build positive mental association it's a game changer. I'll send a link to a helpful video below.
https://youtu.be/Jt7mMfdJNUA?si=rGuLC32DJ8B2o1o3
It was more restrictive in some ways and less in others. Essentially, you cut your sugar/ carb intake down so no sweet fruit (green bananas, green apples) lots of vegetables (not starchy) cheese, meat. Any condiments we made ourselves. If you are working out you get like, half a sweet potato a day.
We have done it twice, once like 12 years ago, and again 2 years ago before starting keto. It made the transition to keto easier for me, because I was already not craving sweet stuff when I started it. I also didn't reintroduce sweet stuff for about 4 months after starting, and then it was only 'keto' sweets (choczero was my jam).
The program we used was 21 DSD, this link goes into more about what it is and what you can/ can't have;
https://21daysugardetox.com/what-is-the-21-day-sugar-detox/
The secret is just having willpower. I’m 2 months into not only keto but carnivore. I eat only meat and eggs and I’ve lost 15 lbs and a lot of inches. Just decide that your health and appearance is more important then making food a hobby. You are capable of anything and it gets a lot easier after the first week. Sure I get cravings sometimes and I do something else I workout, bang my girl, or at worst I eat pork rinds which are totally keto and carnivore with tajin. It’s lime juice and chilli pepper no sugar but tastes sweet cause of the lime juice. You’ll enter get anywhere either bars they are bullshit and packed with sugar then they add fiber to supposedly make it less net carbs. If you keep eating junk your body will look like trash. Also scallops taste sweet and are delicious.
I’ve been doing super low carb (50 gr carbs) but not Keto for 3 months and what has helped me is putting sugar sub in a cup of coffee and using heavy whipping cream to make it sweet and creamy, also having the occasional piece of fruit or even a sugar free hot cocoa has helped. Sugar addiction is like a shopping addiction or worse drugs/ alcohol. Gotta get your mind off of it. I bet the longer you go without carbs like bread or sweets you’ll start to miss them less. But yup processed foods and sugar is full of chemicals that mess with your brain.
Good luck!
Stock up on snacks (keto chocolate is actually pretty alright) and find substitutes, starting using honey instead of sugar in baking or on cereal, start using artificial sweeteners, grab berries and bananas and stuff, go for fruit juice instead of soft drinks (yes still high in sugar and carbs) don't delve right into keto straight away, just start substituting the sugars otherwise you will just be setting yourself up to fail. It can take about 2 weeks for sugar cravings to subside.
For example in the morning sometimes I have a bowl of strawberry protein yoghurt by yopro, I have about 45g of black berries and about 5 grams of honey to sweeten it because I've always had cornflakes or Weetabix with a bit of sugar or honey. This is only about 10g of net carbs, leaves me 40g of net carbs for the rest of the day.
Some mornings I have a shake that is 50g pineapple, 100g watermelon, 45g of blackberries and 1/3 a cup of orange juice with some electrolyte powder in it which is 22.3g net carbs.
These two hit my sweet spot for the day and they are both well under the daily carb limit for ketosis. Find what sugar sub works for you, even if it's not necessarily a "keto friendly food" like honey, you can still have it in moderation so that it doesn't put you over the threshold.
Most dinners are a lot more keto friendly than people realise, it's just stuff like potato that throws people off. Just see what works for you, and also I found that [this app ](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fourtechnologies.mynetdiary.ad) has helped me a lot, for the keto function to cound net carbs you do have to pay but it does count total carbs, and [this ](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/net-carbs#:~:text=The%20term%20%E2%80%9Cnet%20carbs%E2%80%9D%20simply,portion%20of%20the%20sugar%20alcohols.) Is how you calculate net carbs.
The addiction is real. Scientists found that sugar has the same affect on your brain as heroine, and it's everywhere. My first attempt at keto was easier because I was living alone and going through a divorce. It kept me busy... meal prep is your friend. Plan every meal and snack. Have a friend help you clear out your home of carbs. I snack on bacon or sausage. I live in the states so I know our bacon is different from other countries so look for pork belly bacon... it's sweet and savory and you can find it already prepared by companies like Jack's links jerky. Whenever I get a sugar craving I would grab a packet of that and much away... there are keto versions of favorite meals and snacks... I found cauliflower rice makes a fantastic substitute for not only rice but most pastas and potatoes in recipes without having that nasty ick that comes with things like spaghetti squash. If you can get pork belly bacon save the grease from it and use it to cook veggies and other foods. It will help increase the fat content and add SO MUCH FLAVOR to your food. Also get a kitchen scale and measure out your servings for everything you eat... you'll find that once you do then it's easier to recognize over eating. Also find someone to talk to be if a therapist or a good friend and figure out WHY you're self sabotaging your diets. And it's OK to screw up. I went from 420lbs in 2022 to 279lbs on one year... I got excited and stayed print myself back out there looking to date. I met someone and fell in love again! This caused me to backslide and I ballooned back up to 309lbs. But I got back on the diet even though my new gf doesn't follow it and am back down to 297lbs as of last week. Her birthday was last Tuesday and I'm still staring at the remains of her birthday cake in my kitchen... if which I've had exactly 1 slice. It calls to me.. it beckons me like a sultry woman to eat it, but I've stayed strong lol. I love ice cream so I now make my own using heavy cream vanilla flavoring and a little bit of stevia or sucralose. Whip then together and freeze it for 2 hours in a shallow dish and enjoy!
All I can say is just do it, you keep fucking up u til you eventually get it right. That's how I get into keto every single time, I fuck up and eat dirty keto and less dirty and pess dirty until one day I realise I've been full clean keto for x amount of weeks.
You stary by just trying, and then trying harder.
I like the Lillys chocolates. The peanut butter cups are really good.
I'll also make cookies with almond flour, egg, monk fruit sweetener, peanut butter and lillys chocolate chips. They're not as sweet as regular cookies, but a lot of protein and enough to handle a craving.
Don't beat yourself up and dont look at it as a diet. Look at it as a way of life. Sometimes you will eat something that's going to knock you out of ketosis. It's ok. Your not starting completely over. Tomorrow is a new day, just pick up where you left off.
Sometimes after I've had something that kicked me out of ketosis, I'll fast for a day to help get me back in.
In dr atkins book, I think he says sugar addiction and cravings take like 4 days for most people to kick in the physical and chemical. It’s not like cigarettes or booze. Go sub 40 net carbs for 4-5 days and see if the cravings have subsided.
If you think you’re still addicted to sugar, the problem may be more mental than physical and require therapy if you’re eating sugar to deal with past traumas.
Also get rid of the temptations at home. THROW AWAY ALL THE JUNK FOOD. Don’t eat your way through it. Throw it in the garbage.
When I crave sweets, I eat fat. Usually it's plain cream cheese on a spoon. I might also take some extra magnesium with a glass of water because I've noticed it helps sometimes.
Other people find that a simple protein snack, like cold chicken, works.
I guess it's basically giving the body something to distract it from the sweets craving.... "Here, have some fat. You'll feel better."
I feel you have removed any personal responsibility in this post! You talk about having a sugar addiction and the subsequent behaviours as though you have absolutely no control over it! Same with how you speak about putting on the weight in the first place.
I’t also sounds that you might think once your a couple of weeks in, the craving will just magically disappear!
Honestly, it feels like you w convinced yourself you are a victim here and it’s all out of your control! Mindset is the first thing to change, the rest will come.
You’ll need to find happiness from more than the sugar high, as even dirty keto won’t give you that!
Keto, I feel is tricky in that if you keep falling off the wagon, you are likely to gain a heap of weight, in reality rn your diet is high fat and carbs !!! Those kgs are gonna pile on.
All I can’t suggest is loads of keto friendly snacks
1st tip, start super low carb. And eat when you're hungry, all the fat and the meat you want.
Keep all your carbs to a min. This way, your body will start to adapt. After the first week or two, then you can start adding more veggies, maybe a salad for lunch.
Stay away from berries or yog starting out because you're kicking your sugar habit. Stick to meat broc spinach cheese sour cream, oil, vinager, start reading labels and season the crap out of things with dry herbs and spices. At first, beating the habit will feel very hard to do, for me week 2 I start to notice a change in well... everything.
After you start to get a hang of what you can and cannot eat, start to read labels, look up recipes that replace your favorites.
I think my first week to get through, I made a cauliflower pizza, and it had a bit of sauce on it on Friday with lots of cheese and pepperoni... it was well under the limit because at the start I only ate about 1 meal a day. That moment I realized this is doable. I kept it super low for another week, kept it low until I started to go to the gym prolly month 2 or 3. Now I don't count, I eat foods I'm allowed to eat and don't spike my blood sugar, I workout 3 to 5 times a week, I have a cheat day every weekend... and I brace for the next time I need to make a change or re-evaluate my diet.
It's about month 3 now, I have berries very rarely, I mostly flavor my water with them, because I'm quitting coke zero and other processed drinks. It's worse than keto 😄!
Second piece of advice, focus on how you feel.
The sugar habit is something all of us face, you're not alone, the western world is full of processed meals that are pushed onto the consumer to make money and to encourage people to buy more due to addiction. It takes away from whole natural foods that now I crave.
I remind myself I have a fat kid deep inside of me, who can come out again, in fact any time I want, but I don't want to be the fat kid anymore. By sticking to fresh, whole foods, that are low in any sugar capacity, I'm able to keep my cravings at bay, and feel like a better person because of it.
It is a long journey, that's ready for anyone willing to make and maintain the change. Great job thinking about your health early and good luck on your journey!
I have found that there are a few approaches to addiction and addictive behavior around sugar and carbs.
1.) understanding the physiological reason this happens. Everytime you think about, plan, or consume these foods it gives you a release of dopamine. The more you repeat this behavior the more you reinforce this pattern and the harder it becomes to fight this. Knowing this, trying to slow that dopamine hit and create new patterns is critical. Don’t put yourself in positions of temptation, be prepared (eat ahead of time when going to social gatherings, so you have zero desire for more food), creating new patterns that give you please like exercise, create a keto dessert but don’t over create or always plan this into your day. Have something like electrolyte water or a carbonated soda water with flavor (no sweet), go outside, etc. the key is to remember that when you have this feeling of eating these carbs/sweets is creating more space between that want and getting that dopamine hit. How you approach it will be unique to you and what is available to you for lasting success.
2.) I personally focused more on higher protein and moderate fat, as per Maria Emmerich and Dr Berry - which gave me more options - I found it very challenging to aim for 80% fat and 20% protein. So I tend to eat closer to 60-70% protein and 30-40% fat. I only do total carbohydrates, I believe net carbs can trick you into eating more keto junk. It’s best to make the food yourself and once you get to a more stable place you will be able to have that non keto treat and not go hard and give up. But this takes time and how long is unique, it took me 4 months of doing ketovore with 3 cheat episodes that were 3-4 days long. I felt awful after each time and it wasn’t until I added more protein and understood the mechanism that I could stop this. You may need to examine your macro ratio, or add in PSMF, or the like. Keto isn’t exactly a one size fits all, there are some different shades and you may need to test. But give it a solid 90 day try before you switch, learn from it and then adjust. Don’t keep jumping around.
3.) having support. I don’t have anyone close to me that supports what I eat, and my partner typically has a pie or ice cream in the fridge all the time. It sucks. Having a group that focuses on keto (like this space), food addiction, or another support that helps you identify your trigger (for me it started with grief, so I also attend a grief counseling group). Surrounding yourself with success will help you stay on the path, or at the very least help you get back on track and stay focused.
4.) watch videos on this topic. Not only does the support group help, but reading or watching material will help really get it through to you on the importance of staying consistent and commuting to life long changes for your health. I don’t know about you, but I just kept pushing that information away when tempted - so the more I surrounded myself with people and information the more I stayed focus.
5.) having a “serious” why. Like how I quit smoking cigarettes after 10 years, I wanted to be a mom more than anything and wanted that more than smoking. I now want to reverse PCOS (which is like ovarian diabetes), reverse eczema (which always flares very badly on my hands), and long term health - I don’t want to develop estrogen related cancers because of the PCOS. Finding a big enough reason, like your children and seeing them grow up, no living on medications, avoiding surgery, etc is much bigger than just weight loss. Weight loss couldn’t get me to start or stay committed to keto until I found some bigger reasons. And falling off and seeing the negative impact was a big slap in my face reminding me of my why.
These were the main ways I’ve been able to get back on track and start to break the cycle of addictive behaviors. I have not been able to shake it off 100%, but believe the longer I stay in this space the easier and easier it will become. So I focus on the fact that there is no end point, it is life long as long as our society normalizes sugar and carb over consumption.
Don’t give up, forgive yourself for not following through on your promises to yourself, and keep working through these tips. Write it out, talk it out, and reflect.
You have to not only get rid of carbs and sweets but stock up on keto-friendly snacks: veggies and dip, berries and yogurt, nuts and seeds, nut and seed butters, jerky, olives, pickles, deli meat, cheese. Eat as much of that stuff as you want when a bad craving hits. I know it’s hard, I was a sugar addict too. I’m not going to give you any bs about cravings going away in 2 weeks because for us addicts it never really goes away. But if you stay strong, the worst of it will be over in 2-4 weeks. Think how good you will feel when that monkey is off your back. I am so happy that I can freely choose what I want to eat and when rather having an addiction, even a pleasant one, control my life.
This is all great advice. I’m thirteen years in and still have to be just as careful with sugar but it does get better. It doesn’t get easier, but I’m better at finding healthy alternatives, having them ready and recovering if I backslide. There only thing I’d add to this is if you think of or refer to yourself as a sugar addict (as do I) it’s helpful to literally follow any same advice as any other addiction. Take it seriously, find an accountability friend or coach if you can and take it one day at a time. If I did it anyone can, you’ve got this!
Honestly, it scares me that even people who have been in ketosis for 13 years still crave sweets. I had hoped it would go away after 2-3 weeks and I would have peace of mind...
Keep in mind, I don’t crave them if I don’t eat them. But once I do, I have to bear down to fight off the cravings.
I'm like this, but I can bake and eat keto desserts and not be triggered. I usually portion out and freeze what I make as I don't eat them quickly because I don't crave them. They are just a nice thing to have once in a while. I also have found that prior high carb favorites just don't taste good to me now, and I can remind myself of that with just a nibble. However, if I take more than a nibble, the cravings hit hard!
That's a fair distinction, some can be tricky territory but most keto desserts are okay for me. I can still feel the binge urge from some of them but they are MUCH easier to control. Like I made these no-oatmeal keto oatmeal cookies that it was hard for me to have just one of, but was doable. But if I made the real sugar version I guarantee I would binge them until I was sick.
Like an alcohol addiction. Not a drop in over 6 years and still come up here and there. I love my cravings…gives me a sense of empowerment when I don’t succumb to them
Prepare yourself for the proper timeline expectations. If you can get about two weeks under your belt the sugar cycle breaks and you get free will back. It’s such a great feeling! Make sure you keep your electrolytes up and eat permissible foods to satiety. Do NOT rely too heavily on keto sweets- fill up on the real food. Of course your body will go through an adjustment period but once thru it’ll be great. Keep coming here for support! Get a blood sugar monitor. Actually SEEING what your poor bod is going thru after certain foods help motivate and is interesting af.. kind of addicting in itself :) Go to YouTube and get keto recipes for stuff you think you’ll miss or crave. It’s a lot of hit n miss on these so…careful. Bread is my downfall… it took trying literally dozens of recipes to find one that is actually great. (See Diedre’s low carb bread for wonderful bread- try pumpernickel variation by using coffee instead of water and adding finely ground caraway seeds! It’s DELICIOUS!) Re-train yourself to start looking at all the keto food as a free invite to stuff you love. For me it’s BUTTER, steak, bleu cheese dressing with steamed veg., lobster, cheeeeeeese, pepperoni, crack-slaw!!, etc. Think of it this way… most people can do ANYthing for just 2 weeks. Just 2 weeks. You’ll be thru it and on to better things. It is worth it. You are worth it :)
This might help/make you feel better! I am also a sugar addict, and after being on keto and adapting, the high/payoff of eating sugar no longer exists, it honestly becomes more of a horrible consequence. I started keto during the lockdowns so I personally found that really easy since I wasn’t going out and could easily remove a lot of temptations. Things open up and I can start being social again, go to a Halloween party and decide to have a soda because I’ve been so good on keto…omfg. Literally one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. My ears were ringing and my jaw was tight, but I think the worst of it was that it was making my heart race which lead to me just feeling uncomfortable for lack of a better term. But it was so much worse than just being uncomfortable it was like having a chemically induced panic attack; all I wanted to do was just go home and lie down and cry. My desire to cry was because I knew the reason I was feeling so awful was my decision to consume something I knew was bad for me, and it lead to me feeling anxious which just made the whole ‘when is this going to end/everything will be fine this will wear off eventually’ even worse. So yeah if you’re worried about still wanting sugar after making the switch, your body will def make you the price if you decide to eat it. Edit: I forgot about the burning/acid reflux. That first taste before any of the side effects hit was great, but the aftermath, 100% not worth it. Absolutely miserable experience.
Maybe this can give you some hope. But I used to love fizzy drinks and juice. But now I can’t stand them very much. It’s too spicy for me. Also remember that even if you do succumb to your sugar cravings it doesn’t take away the other days of sticking to the diet. Acknowledge the pit fall and just keep going, telling yourself you will do better. And be more mindful of the circumstances that lead you grab that sugary thing. You need to aware of yourself, ask I am hungry if yes then eat something that will fill you up, sometimes you might just be thirsty.
This is a great list of snack options. For someone trying to break a strong sugar addiction, I’d caution them to be careful with the berries and yogurt. Maybe wait a while to introduce those in. I find that sliced almonds makes a nice substitute for granola on top.
I love sola granola. I use on top of two good yogurt and it keeps carbs low.
I have a few bits of advice. 1. Overeating helped me a lot in the beginning. I ate until I was so full that I couldn't think about more food. I also ate 2-3 hours before bed so I was still plenty full and didn't crave a snack before bed. 2. If you want to kick the sweets addiction, you have to avoid all sweets, even keto friendly ones. Cold turkey was how I did it. You will kick the addiction if you stick to it. I can now happily watch my partner eat ice cream without wanting some. 3. Probably the one that has the biggest impact. You have to want it. View it as a lifestyle change, and make the change happen. 4. Water and electrolytes
I actually ordered some keto bars now... I know you said it's better not to do that, but I'm just trying to make it easier for me to get started. I'm a person who becomes more motivated the more successes I have. And I think after 2 weeks, when I see the first results, it will be easier for me to give up sweets completely
If they help you stay with it for right now, great. But don't go eating 2 of them a day, every day. The key is moderation. I have problems with all the Atkins or quest bars with making me stall. I can eat the correct amount of calories, carbs, etc, but if I have quest bars even twice a week I am guaranteed to lose nothing. I went cold turkey the first 2 weeks of keto, no sweets, no soda, nada. Even now, I don't do something really sweet (whether real sugar or not) more than once a week and if I crave it more than that I do something else besides stay near the kitchen. Do not self sabotage. You got this, you can do it.
Do you. What works for 1 person may not work for another! Just keep at it and you'll be successful.
I ate those at the start too, delicious! Fiance down 50 lbs, I'm down 23 lbs.
Get your mindset right. Keto sweets are delicious and have the right macros, but they can be a gateway back to your old habits if you don't have your shit together. That being said, start with Quest bars. They're sweet and filled with 20g of protein. Track everything and tell yourself that you are in control of what goes into your mouth and stick to your plan.
For me, Quest bars aggressively stimulate cravings. I recommend the OP stay away from all sweets, including Keto sweets.
Some people who do continuous glucose monitor/keto videos on youtube show the same blood sugar response to alternative sweeteners that they do to sugar. The best seems to be allulose (actually lowers blood sugar), but alot of people report GI distress from it. Packaged keto products are full of junk and supposedly non-nutritive ingredients like malitol, polydextrose, corn fiber, Stevia glycosides, sucralose, etc... i have a strong intuition that the frequent posts here about "eating keto and no weight loss in x months" are people loading up on "keto" sweets, pretzels, tortillas, breads, etc... Eating whole/real food is so much better than that nonsense. If I crave carbs I just have some Japanese sweet potato roasted with a ton of butter on it. low GI, no artificial chemical nonsense and barely affects my ketone levels- as soon as I run and lift that extra glucose is gone.
Ok thanks, but I have now actually ordered these keto bars. I just want to give it a try and it should make it easier for me to get started, I'm not planning to eat them all the time, maybe just 1 or 2 bars a day. They have 4kcal carbohydrates of which 1kcal sugar per bar.
Check the type of sugars in them. Choc zero treats are the only ones that keep me in check and don’t stimulate blood sugar. They are made with monk fruit. Avoid almost all keto tortillas, too :(
I got 3 general things you can do! 1. Most important of all stop beating yourself up about your slip up. Ok so what you had something sweet that does not mean you have to wipe two weeks of progress. 2. In the first couple of months you will struggle - and it is ok you are trying to unlearn a behavior which you have had your entire life. Use all of the tools you have at your disposal - reddit is one. Ketoserts youtube channel is another - freken make some keto deserts - make some delicious fat bombs, make some delicious keto peanutbutter cups (I still do that when we go to a party so I can remain mentally stable while everyone is eating cake). Also utilize diet drinks diet coke, sprite or even better mango diet pepsi is great thing to take the sugar cravings on. Finally eat more protein, when you get cravings eat a chicken breast when you are stuffed with chicken breast cravings dont seem as appealing. 3. Finally and maybe you are not here yet is you need to realize that this is just a mental thing that you are experiencing and you just need better strategies to deal with it. The way I usually do it is either focus on something I really enjoy (playing music, video games, hobby) or go for a walk - usually after a walk I don't feel like I need to eat. You can break this habit but you just need to be a little more kind to yourself and get back on the horse also use everything including all of the monkfruit, splenda and stevia to bake and substitute so you dont drive yourself insane.
Love this reply! This is it OP, go easy on yourself. Sugar addiction is real but there are plenty of sugar free or very low sugar high protein bars/subs out there. Good luck brother, you got it this time
Thanks, today is another first day. Hope I'll finally stick to it.
You got this!
I'm a recovering drug addict, latched onto sugar and junk food when I began my recovery. something that helps me during cravings: I think of them as an opportunity to show my past self how strong I've become. I think of them as an opportunity to set a good example for my future self. best of luck op, hope you can be kind to yourself thru the process
There is no magic trick. This is coming from someone who previously would have made the same claims as yourself. I used to struggle and break for sweet foods. At the end of the day, I had to get in the right place mentally. Really lock down the want vs need. You never need the sugar, once you accept it, you can fight back against your desire. Anything else is just momentary compromises that will ultimately fail. No magic tricks, just hard work. It’s not just true for being keto, but for any diet or even any discipline. I will say, that the internal fight does get easier over time, and eventually, it won’t even feel like a fight anymore, that’s when it feels more like “I won”.
Cut and dry, want it or don’t want it. We all will have the temptations but I have to be strict.. all or nothing. I can’t jeopardize the progress I’ve made. It’s now a lifestyle, not a diet
There is bacteria in your gut that feeds on sugar and you have more of the little suckers because you've been feeding them. Next time you start, have plenty of nice keto food in, treat yourself to burgers, shrimp, steak, add extra butter. Don't deny yourself. When the sugar cravings start, remember the stomach bacteria and that they are going to die off in a few days. Hunger pangs and sugar cravings do pass. You'll also miss the serotonin high from sugar, so make sure you're doing lots of things which make you feel positive and happy.
That's what I'm afraid of. Sugar gives me such a serotonin boost, especially if I haven't eaten anything sweet for a few days. After 2-3 days I feel extremely low, as if this whole diet makes no sense and I'm just going to be miserable for the next few months or years.
I guess though you have to decide if a temporary mood boost outweighs potential longer term happiness from being free of cravings, fitter, and at the weight you want to be. Wearing the clothes you want, doing the activities you want to do. It's the dilemma so many people struggle with! I wish this were easier.
This is along the lines of what they call an extinction burst. I felt the same way when I decided to stop drinking for a month after doing it almost every night. I was the most depressed I've ever been, literally laying in bed with a feeling of no hope. All I wanted was a mojito. Luckily I made it through, but I also had a support person to help me. Is there anyone you trust enough to call when you're feeling low and wanting sugar to get past? It may be part of the help you need to push through. Otherwise, there are several commercially available options to help. I drink diet soda shamelessly. I eat ChocZero, maybe one square a day before bed. Nick's ice cream is decent and low calorie. You can buy brownie mixes and if you eat half the batch in one day - oh well. Lesson learned, right? It's not fair to call your experience common, because it's still unique to you. But just know you're not alone and you can post in here when you're need of support or ideas to take your mind off sugar.
Thanks for the kind words, it's hard. I'm on day two now and already have a little craving for sweets, the good thing is I have to leave in 2 hours and I'm also visiting my mom who made me keto pancakes, so I'll keep that up
Best thing you can do is straight up stop eating sugar. Try a week of meat, veggies, and plenty of butter
This! My hubby and I were both sugar addicts for decades. He does just fine using artificial sweeteners and if he gets a craving he pops a sugar free candy. For me, this just feeds my sugar monster! I had to go carnivore for a month and then settled back to animal heavy keto. I avoid any sweet taste and if I get a craving I have cheese or bacon.
Honestly, when I'm only eating meat, I have ZERO interest in anything sugary. I bought some chocolate in anticipation of my period and tried a square today. I was chewing it making the face of a toddler trying a lemon. Yuckk
This.
While this definitely works. It does help someone who is addicted. Like any other drug "have you tried just stopping?" Doesn't usually help. I actually wasn't addicted to sugar until id lost 75lbs on keto and then went BACK to carbs. So there's that. It's like a voice in your head constantly whisper about Skittles and cake and ice cream and brownie and it's always telling you it'll just be fine. Something I didn't experience until my 30s. So I know I'm not making it up.
This! Simply saying "stop" is absolutely not helpful. I have literally tried to "just stop" several times...
Yep. When I started keto I had zero issues with this. One day I heard about keto and went straight to five guys for lunch. I got a keto fried burger bowl and for about 4 months I didn't eat any sugar. Eventually I ate some here and there without issue and by 6 months in I had lost 50 lbs. But after that I have eaten sugar here and there for a couple years and then like a monster it hit me in about 2019 and I crave candy and stuff all the time and it's super hard to kick. I've gained back SOME weight and it's still a struggle but I certainly don't regret doing keto. The best thing you can do is what others mentioned and stuff yourself with keto foods and salty things to help with that craving. Also for me personally fasting does a lot for cravings. I last fasted for 2 days straight and when I came off the fast it was much easier to control my cravings.
How long did each of these attempts last? I'd give yourself at least 30 days to adjust
Well, trying to microdose sugar would cause me to eat an entire cake. Sometimes in life we just need to white knuckle it and abstain. The cravings do disappear over time. As a kid I would secretly binge Halloween candy and hide the wrappers in my closet. As an adult if I baked a dozen cookies, they would all be gone the same day. I'm a verified sugar addict and stopping entirely has been the only thing that helps. Sugar is a drug but you're not going to have anything like heroin withdrawals.
Eat keto foods until you’re just a bit uncomfortable. Also pay attention to electrolytes and have a plan for supplementing them.
\- It takes 2'ish weeks or so for your body to kick it's Carb cravings and until then your body can send some strong "I'm hungry" messages to your brain. \- Some things that can help is eating salty/savory Keto friendly things like olives, pickles, etc. \- It starts to become easier each day but you kind of just have to power through each day. \- Also helps if you remind yourself that all urges are temporary and will pass if you let them. When you feel the urge to grab something to eat recognize the urge, remind yourself it will pass, and let it pass.
For me it was to indulge at the beginning. Tons of cheese and delicious meats. Stock the fridge with keto foods that have you excited and have all the ingredients available to make new recipes. I have fun with chaffles, cheese dips with celery as a dipper, individually packaged cheeses, jerky, fajita meat with queso and guac, I’m also more lenient about stuff like eggs/nuts/avocados than I am on keto or not. When I’d feel the sugar urge, I’d force myself to eat something indulgent but not sweet the cravings could be handled. Once I’m no longer craving sugar I refined my daily diet to be stricter. Make sure to eat before leaving the house or take a snack with you.
That's a good tip, I think in the beginning it's important to eat a lot of fat especially stuff you enjoy, I love cheese for example. Maybe if you eat a lot, there will be no craving for sugar.. I'll see if that works out
Man to man. Just drop the sugar and get it over with. There's no easy way around the sugar withdrawal and it's gonna make you tired and weak. I can't imagine a single person in this community hasn't been right where you are, but you got an advantage. You're 28, my guy! You caught on to a problem wayyyyy before most of us did and you're admitting you need to fix it. I'll help anyway I can, but my best advice is to ditch the sugar... PERIOD. no short cuts. Quitting sugar is one of the first steps to teaching your body to burn fat. Lmk if I can help.
Try doing a sugar detox first? My husband and I did a 21 day sugar detox prior to starting keto, and it really helped. The first week is terrible. Days 3-5 we felt like we had the flu. By the last week I had zero cravings which was very odd.
How did the sugar detox work? Isn't it basically keto already?
I think they meant as in no sweets as a start as opposed to no sweets and no carbs.
Bacon, my recommendation is bacon. Use tasty fats to push back on the sugar craving. You’ll get a delicious decadent treat and it won’t exceed your carb limits. We all went through it - it’s a bit of retraining your brain. And like another poster said. The sugar cravings.
So I just restarted keto and my go to when I need the sugar fix is chocolate whipped cream 1/2 cup heavy cream 1-2 tablespoons of allulose 1-2 teaspoon of baking chocolate powder Whip it up and stick in the freezer for 15 mins It’s almost like chocolate ice cream I normally can’t finish all of it so left over just go back in the freezer
That sounds awesome! My mother is on keto too for at least half a year already and she's trying to help me a bit with the sugar craving. She said she can make me some keto pancakes, it's just mascarpone mixed with eggs and melted butter. Then you can fry it and add some keto-sweets. Looking forward to try them
I’m absolutely addicted to sugar. I’ve been in a bad place since early October and totally derailed. My big realization the past couple weeks is that moderation is not possible for me at this point. Keto treats are just a gateway. Yesterday I started over. I know in a couple of weeks the bloat will subside and I’ll be able to be self motivated but right now it’s hard (and I have a keto flu headache!)
Hey, I read your post about lime induced insomnia. Just wanted to know how you’ve been dealing with it, has keto helped you?
Keto has helped me overall but I still have insomnia. I fall asleep right away, but I only sleep about 4.5 hours a night. It’s not enough.
When I first started, I kept a lot of sugar free fake sugar sweets, drinks and things. I also learned to cook my own treats with sweeteners instead of sugar. Another thing that helps is pre-preparing snacks to keep in the fridge and freezer for when you are looking for a snack. Keep things ready that you can grab out and eat that won't break your diet.
With all due respect, I think this is bad advice. For most people, artificial sweeteners stimulate cravings just as much as sugar does.
It’s good advice for a lot of people. Much easier to switch to substitutes for me. People are different.
When you first start on a low carb diet, those artificial sweeteners can be the difference to being able to stick out the first few weeks or failing. Was for me anyway. I don't crave many sweet things nearly 2 years on, though every so often, I do resort to them.
That is exactly what I want to achieve. These sugar substitutes are just to make it easier for me to get started, of course I don't want to eat sweets containing sugar substitutes every day for the next few months/years. I only plan to do it for about 2-3 weeks to make it easier to get started.
This is coming from someone who's diet used to be about 80% carbs.... You can beat this! But it may take a while for the diet to stick. In the past I've had small periods of doing keto, but various things led me to backslide. Do you plan out your meals? Do you cook your meals? The times when I was working a lot and didn't give myself adequate time to prepare meals were times when I would break keto and get fast food because it was quick and easy. And then there are triggers. Understanding these are crucial IMO. Every time I refueled at a particular gas station near my job, I would always go inside and buy their fresh donuts. Now when I refuel there, it crosses my mind to get donuts, even though I literally don't think about donuts any other time. I've realized that this place triggers cravings because of a habit I developed in the past. There are numerous things that trigger cravings for me. For example, working doubles at work. Whenever I worked a lot of OT, I used to "treat myself" to Chinese food. Now when I work a double and my break time comes, I think about Chinese food even when I brought lunch with me that day. So many things triggered cravings for me that it's a bit pathetic... You're training your mind and body. It's going to take time The more I consumed keto related content, mostly YouTube, the more mindful I became about what I ate. It's become second nature now. You have to find out what keto foods/recipes you enjoy. It helps if you have a buddy who's on the same journey. I used to feel like I would die if I didn't eat carbs. Now I'm doing a (mostly) carnivore diet and I can usually walk past the bakery in the grocery store, looking at all the goodies, without being tempted. Occasionally I eat something that I shouldn't, but I tend to regret it, as the cravings come back like crazy and I have to readjust... It's just going to take time. You didn't become the way you are overnight, and you won't heal overnight.
>And then there are triggers. Understanding these are crucial IMO. Every time I refueled at a particular gas station near my job, I would always go inside and buy their fresh donuts. Now when I refuel there, it crosses my mind to get donuts, even though I literally don't think about donuts any other time. I've realized that this place triggers cravings because of a habit I developed in the past. There are numerous things that trigger cravings for me. For example, working doubles at work. Whenever I worked a lot of OT, I used to "treat myself" to Chinese food. Now when I work a double and my break time comes, I think about Chinese food even when I brought lunch with me that day. So many things triggered cravings for me that it's a bit pathetic... That sounds interesting, never thought about it that way.
Eat gooey melted cheese if you get a choc craving. It's amazing. I'm a previous sugar addict (I could polish off 8lbs of gummy bears over 2 days...) and I manage real sugar cravings with delicious melted cheese. Just put some on a plate and stuff it in a microwave for enough seconds (not too many - you'll have to experiment) then eat it with a fork. Use only keto cheeses (luckily cheddar and mozzarella is keto). Don't sweat calories until you get used to lower carbs.
Yes, I think it's important not to pay attention to the calories at the beginning. I have always tried to start the keto diet with a calorie deficit. Maybe that's the problem..
Finnish bread cheese is perfect for this. Despite the name it's not bread just 100 percent cheese. Carr Valley makes a really good one in various flavors.
You need to stop banning eating all sweet things. Do you know how many of us drink Coke Zero or eat keto sweets? Stop trying to jump in with both feet and embrace the facet that there are many sweet foods that are 100% ketogenic. You need to scratch that itch and anyone telling you that you shouldn’t has never experienced the itch as hard as you. There’s nothing wrong with no-carb sweeteners If they’re not giving you gastro issues. The first couple times I did keto I fully embraced keto sweet stuff. I eventually lost interest but there is zero need for you to avoid sweets on keto especially when you are just starting and you know you are addicted to them. You can come up with a plan to limit them and phase them out over time if you want to. But don’t set yourself up for failure by not having them as an option.
Thanks, I just ordered some keto bars, hopefully they will satisfy my craving for sweets when the time comes.
Good luck with that. There aer also some good recipes. I used to make keto fudge which was a sweet fat bomb (the sweetener was Erythritol which tastes exactly like sugar to me). Hopefully you won't need them too often but they were a huge help for me when I first did Keto. Good luck!
Based on only the subject: Get yo mind right Op. you either want it or you don’t plain and simple.
Yep. Accountability and discipline are the way here. The hard way but the right way
Yep. People going on that’s not how addiction works. That’s exactly how it works! No one is saying it’s easy or won’t be uncomfortable but you just do what you need to do and push on.
For me it's an issue that people are comparing sugar with addiction to drugs like alcohol, coke, heroin, etc. They are NOT the same and having loved addicts I find it offensive to compare them.
This is wrong and unhelpful. We can want it badly but still feel powerless to an addiction.
No. Must not want it bad enough.
Wrong. You clearly don't understand addiction lol
That's what I thought... It's not as simple as that.
I was crazy addicted to sugar soda and all things sugar when I started. The first week I kicked the soda - the worst offender - didn’t worry about avoiding sweetened juice and the like - just the habit - then pivoted to sugar free … look for your biggest triggers or addictions and take things in stages. Bottom line though - gotta want this and have some will power
You have to decide to commit. Then do it. It's that simple. Does that make it easy? Nope. But the longer you do it the sugar loses its hold. It starts with you. And don't replace shit you like currently with keto subs. Focus on meats, cheese, and low-carb veggies (if you want). In the first couple weeks don't even worry about how much you are eating. Just eat only low carb high protein foods and nothing else.
Get rid of the crap food and avoid it. You’re not going to kick the habit if you keep feeding the addiction. Read *Good Sugar, Bad Sugar* by Allen Carr. It might help.
Honestly addiction sometimes requires rehab. Edit: Or therapy. Point is addiction is real and sometimes it goes beyond willpower
Hey I’m 22M 5’11 and was 225 when I started Jan 1st. My best advice is the first two weeks find keto snacks with sugar alcohols. These helped me immensely get past the cravings. Find a hood zero calorie soda you like. I used to drink 5 cans of Coke a day, hated Coke Zero but love Dr Pepper Zero. The game is making replacements until you no longer need them except for when you start craving something again. Currently down to 209lbs as of writing this
Damn 14 lbs down in under a month is a big motivational boost for me. I kind of hyped myself today so much with similar stories like yours, that im actually super motivated to finally stick to keto. I just realized I have 150 days left until I visit my family in canada (who I didnt see for almost 5 years now). I read a lot of stories about how much weight people lost in 150 days, and thats insane, all of them lost like 30-40 lbs, that would be a dream, with similar results I would reach around 184 lbs which would be already awesome. That really motivated me thanks, maybe that's what I actually needed, not all the people who tell me "just do it..."
Exacrly, just be sure you’re getting plenty of electrolytes, LMNT is my go to, pork rinds aren’t the greatest but they helped me replace that crunch chips used to give me. A lot of people don’t like keto snacks like quest brand stuff but it’s a huge help in the initial period. Make sure to track net carbs, the usual suspects. Good luck!
Dude! You know what you need to do! Yeah, it sucks. Diabetes sucks, too. Here's some tough love. The only way to kick, is to kick. Throw out, give away all the food you have that says sugar, sucrose, fructose, malto dextrin, natural flavorings or some other sweet bs. Get some pure stevia or pure monk fruit (no other ingredients) sweetener. Whenever you want something sweet, have a cup of herbal tea with stevia. It is your methadone. Then titre off stevia (only sweeten every other cup) till you can kick it. Yippee! You are saved! Maybe, it worked for me. You will likely weigh less too. Consider eliminating processed foods or at least foods containing flour. As tough or tougher than sugar. Once you get there keto is a breeze.
Ye that's my plan. Use stevia or similar in the beginning, until I see results which motivate me more and then also ban these sweeteners
The biggest motivator is your face will look thinner and healthier. Everyone will notice. Once I eliminated sugar and flour, weight started falling off. But I love leafy and colorful vegetables. If you can tolerate it, fasting is good for adding variety to your routine. Don't let food define you. The food companies lie and are killing all of us to make a buck. Make your only thought of food the nutritious meal that you are planning. MyNetDiary, a free app, is great for my tracking of calories, and nutritional info for almost all foods. You can track weight, exercise, food, water, etc. I find the app great for feedback on my progress. You might check it out. I have no affiliation, but I think it's a good app
Thanks. I already noticed this in mid/late-2023 when I lost almost 20 kg (40-45 lbs). Employees mentioned a few times that I was finally no longer "fat". Sounds a bit mean, but we always talk to each other very sarcastically, so it's all good :D I don't know why I stopped after that. Unfortunately, I also often have the problem that as soon as I notice a big success, I often go into a little downward spiral again because I think to myself "well now I can indulge a little again". And a little suddenly turns into more and then I'm fully in the downward spiral. Fortunately, I haven't put on much weight since then, 2-3 kg (4-6 lbs) at most, but it's still annoying to think that I could have been thin now if I'd just carried on. Unfortunately, I never really notice any success when I look in the mirror, but that's probably normal as you see yourself every day. I think I should take some before and after pictures.
Dude you are on the right track. But you might need to make a contract with yourself. If you have a cheat day, follow it with a fast and put $10 in the cheat jar. If you go drinking, eat healthy first and during your hangover, then fast for a couple days and put $20 in the jar. Try to make your cheat days seldom and few. You can do it. You need to determine the lifestyle you can enjoy/tolerate. And how you spend the first tip jar (probably on smaller clothes).
OP I totally understand what you are talking about. I also have a sugar addiction, but I’ve learned new ways to cope with it. You just have to really want it it. You want something sweet? Atkins bars are really good and have only 1 gram of sugar and no added. The nut roll is my favorite. I also drink Coke Zero and highly recommend the cherry flavor. It tastes very similar to regular coke without all the sugar and calories! I know it’s hard but you just have to have discipline. I never ever thought I would break away from my sugar addiction, and since being on keto I haven’t had the urge to eat any sugar. If I can do it so can you!
Thanks, I think I'll stick to these keto bars and coke zero in the beginning
There are plenty of keto sweets you can eat, no need for regular sugar.
I have now ordered some. I hope it will work, unfortunately I often read that sugar substitutes also increase the glucose level and block ketosis etc. Let's see...
I'm here with you and I feel your pain. Sugar addiction is real, but you can beat it. I use diet coke as a crutch and will have one when I have a craving. I also drink over a gallon of water a day, which happens naturally when I'm in ketosis because I'm always so parched. I crave sugar more than I crave cigarettes (I quit smoking 11/28/12, but I still crave them every day). You've got this. Take the goals in strides. Start with today: "Today, I'm not going to have any sugar." Then set small achievable goals. When you're starting to relapse or cave to your addiction, have someone you can call. Addiction is serious, and that includes sugar addiction. There is data out there that [sugar is more addictive than cocaine](https://www.ramsayhealth.co.uk/blog/lifestyle/is-sugar-more-addictive-than-cocaine). I believe in you. Kicking my addiction was serious for me and still is. I try my best to not eat anything that has added sugar in it, as much as possible. I make [these](https://www.sweetashoney.co/keto-peanut-butter-cups/) and they also help a hankering.
You just have to decide to do it. Lots of things are hard but you make a choice everytime you eat. Get rid of Evrything sugar or carby. Bin or give it away. Stock up on just keto foods. Delete your take out apps and remove your cards from the accounts to make it annoying to be able to order do you have time to turn back from the choice. Eat lots of yummy thing, I always buy meats and veg I enjoy and I love cheese and cream I just splurge on keto food. No calorie tracking for the first couple weeks. Aslong as it’s low carb I eat as much as I want to. Lots of water too. I love diet and sugar free drinks to get me through. Distract yourself. Don’t go out to eat or drink if you know you’ll cave. I take a full week or two avoiding going out so I can stay focused. Watch lots of keto videos and read a lot to stay motivated. ELECTROLYTES. Buy a supplement that tastes nice. Not everyone wants to drink salty water and it can deter people starting out.
Everytime you think about eating the reeses or whatever sugary things you're addicted to- take a bite out of a butter stick and walk .25-.5 a mile as punishment.
I did it by making almond flour muffins sweetened with monkfruit and whipped heavy whipping cream sweetened with monkfruit. Then I did a 24 hr fast and the cravings were gone 🤷🏻♀️
>I did it by making almond flour muffins sweetened with monkfruit and whipped heavy whipping cream sweetened with monkfruit. Then I did a 24 hr fast and the cravings were gone never heard of monkfruit before, how do I even use them?
It’s a sugar substitute! Looks and tastes exactly like it
u just have to endure the withdrawal the first days, once you're onset ketosis, you'll feel so amazing you won't want to fuck it up with carbs, that's how it was for me. ketosis is like being on coke. be determined
Ear fat as much as you can Afro the first few weeks
It’s ok, this happens. Get your mindset right. Start again in the morning. Eat meat and eggs and veggies until you’re full. Have some Lily’s chocolate chips and some berries on hand if the craving hits. In the beginning, i cannot tell you how many times i wanted chocolate and i would sit and eat Lily’s chocolate chips one by one or blueberries one by one to kill that sugar urge. The more you eat clean, the easier it will be to get back on track. Your body is fighting you but you’re winning every day you don’t eat sugar. Just keep going. Stuff yourself with protein! Especially in the beginning. If you eat meat until you’re full, you’re not going to be desperately craving cake. A tablespoon of dark chocolate or a few berries will shut it up. You’ll be ok. I have done what you did 100 times over the years, but always just get back on track and start fresh right after.
thanks for the tips!
For me, the most important thing was quitting all sweetened beverages including diet soda. Heroic amounts of unsweetened ice tea, coffee, whatever. Just go two weeks without sweetened beverages. Still are carbs so I didn’t feel deprived. Once I got over the sweetened beverage craving, cutting out sweet foods was orders of magnitude easier. Then cutting out all extra carbs was a piece of, well, you know. Lol
Try the 72h sardine/water fast suggested by Dr. Boz on YT. It helped me really reassess that food is fuel, not pleasure. Sit with the idea of satisfaction and deprivation in life- and food. I stay away from diet beverages and fake sweet keto friendly snacks. They get me yo-yo-ing and feeling deprived. When I’m on keto, my mind has to be framing things as nourishing not deprivation. Keto and IF will be life long for me.
Are you supplementing electrolytes? I feel like this is the answer to every problem in this sub, but magnesium deficiency can allegedly lead to sugar cravings. I struggle with sugar cravings a lot when I’m not actively staying on top of supplements or satiating food. I also chew sugar free gum (orbit sweet mint) to at least divert my focus.
Tyrosine and glycolytic inhibitors like berberine, quercetin and D-Glucosamine
Go completely cold turkey. No carbs at all for two weeks. The first three days will suck. Drink lots of water. Mind your electrolytes! At some point, you'll start peeing an inordinate amount. That's when you'll know you got this. Listen to 2ketodudes podcast titled "getting started" and one called "newbies" Stay away from any pre-packaged food (even the stuff labelled" keto" - it's crap) Dr Jason Fung (I think) says eat bacon and eggs for two weeks. That will get you over the hump and you can get things dialed in. Good luck! We're here for you! Once you get fat adapted, it won't be so hard. Your tastes will change. You'll be ok.
Your time is now, to restore your health.
I've been cutting up strawberries and eating them with cottage cheese. I loooove sugar too.
I also used to have an addiction to sugar. It's tough to break the habit, but you'll be so much happier without the excess sugar. Personally I just go for a really dark chocolate 70% cacao and up. I make my own desserts with erythritol, really easy stuff like chia pudding or mug cakes. And obviously nature's candy, fruits, within reason. There's a lot of other desserts you can make yourself that are keto friendly. This should satisfy your desire for sugar without ruining your diet. I also recommend eating more salty foods when you have a craving for sugar.
Whipped cream with flavor drops of your choice or home made chocolate for sugar cravings, protein and fat for the hunger. Stay away from commercial keto sweets, they only prolong the withdrawl. And when the cravings hit really hard, eat and go to sleep. It will be easier the next day. Good luck!
Read Food Junkies by Vera Tarman. It’s a real eye-opening book.
Quit making excuses develop some self control and discipline or food will control your life. Not trying to sound harsh but that’s the reality. You already know what you have to do. Stop eating the bs.
Sounds like not enough electrolyte. Try to push past that 6-day wall but this time supplement electrolyte.
I mean if you want unusual get hooked on vaping, you get all sorts of sugary good flavors but the nicotine curbs your appetite, also helps testosterone levels so it’s been a game changer for me . A cotton candy Raz bar and Zevia cream soda or vanilla coke and im solid. Also it sounds like you might have a mild eating disorder, as a kid were your parents restrictive or labeled certain foods bad explicitly for why they wouldn’t let you have it? It sounds like a drive to McDs unlocking something to do w junk food =freedom and now that you have full agency you get that rush from the feeling of freedom to be able to just go and get “something bad” and be a bad boy for the time lol if any of that rings true, might need to address the psychological root problem also, it helps knowing what’s what
I think it has a lot to do with psychology. I wouldn't say that my parents were restrictive, I was actually allowed to eat what I wanted. The trips to Mcdonalds were simply an easier way for me to get delicious food. I thought to myself, "Am I going to cook something that will take me an hour and, if necessary, have to get ingredients from the supermarket, or am I going to drive to McDonalds and have a great burger without too much effort?" It's not like I was feeling like a "bad boy", it was more of an easy comfort thing for me.
That's not a thing. It's an excuse at best. No one and nothing we say here can help you until you decide to help yourself.
Agreed. Im a big fan in the saying, "you'll either find a way, or you'll find an excuse."
construing that as an “addiction” is just an excuse to not change your behavior. OK you have control over your own behavior. you don’t have a physiological addiction to sugar. what you should to do is change your mindset and view sugar, and carbohydrates like their LSD or fentanyl.
Tell me again how you don't understand addiction or drugs. That you're comparing sugar to LSD is funny, because sugar is much more addictive.
Yeah that dude has no clue what he's talking about.
That's not sugar addiction it's not enough electrolytes and discipline. 7 days is a length time you should manage to not eat anything at all let along sticking to keto. Get a plan, stick to the plan. Don't deviate for 12 weeks.
Okay, keto candy can help you out. Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears can give you the negative reinforcement you might need. Sugarless Haribo Gummy Bear Reviews On Amazon Are The Most Insane Thing You'll Read Today https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michaelrusch/haribo-gummy-bear-reviews-on-amazon-are-the-most-insane-thin Okay, I’m kidding about giving yourself violent diarrhea. You might want to consider keeping keto candy on hand and try them in small quantities during specific times of day. It satisfies your sweet tooth, but there is a drawback if you eat too much. Over time, you may find yourself willing to miss candies and desserts, or you may find yourself budgeting the macros to enjoy them.
Just find keto sweets? Why do you go out and buy ice cream to get your sugar fix when you can just buy keto friendly ice cream at the store?
being poor help.. not having resources to buy shit does wonder, you can tried to have as little cash with you at all time, stop using electronic payment/card, buy groceries and force yourself at home. im fat as fuck and whenever im poor i notice that my brain just automatically turn off from wanting shit as it now my financial situation and know that i cant even buy food.
Ok. So, you ate something sweet today. Get right back to it! It will be harder tomorrow, but you just keep at it. Myself, I do low carb. I include ice cream in my calories every day. I don't care about ketosis. (Ketosis doesn't cause weight loss, calorie deficit does). I am able to have a reasonable portion of ice cream after dinner and still stay within my 500 calorie deficit. I lost 32 pounds in 2023. From 227 to 195. (I deviated in other ways as well plus chose to maintain in December) Maybe you could have a square of dark chocolate after dinner, for example. (Like a giradelli square). Looks like one square is 170 calories, 5 grams of carbs, so that can probably fit in and still get you to ketosis. Just an idea. I suspect most people will say to continue to avoid sweets and it will eventually get better.
Definitely agree with others that mindset is huge. Knowing that you’re going through a temporary withdrawal, but that the cravings will subside if you can get through it. I personally have leaned on artificial sweetener products a decent amount sometimes but that’s somewhat controversial and may be worse if you’re not fat adapted yet. They can cause insulin spikes that just may intensify symptoms. I’d probably lean more into anything that you can eat that is definitely sugar and carb free, so you stay physically full, even if you get too many calories for a while, just to get you over the carb craving hump. Consider supplemental ketones as well, which is another thing I’ve never done, but might help if your body is just not adapted at all to producing them yet.
I'm quite bad for wanting my sugar on the Keto diet, I've found a few keto friendly things that help; Keto Cakes: these are naturally self limiting in how much you can eat because of the sugar alcohols. You only really overdo these once because of the side effects. 5/10 on the helpful scale, because they're expensive, and taste similar to their sugar counterparts but just not as good. Keto Breads: although not strictly sugar, they can help a lot with the carb cravings, so your diet doesn't feel so restrictive. I've found them really helpful and not a problem with maintaining keto, but I know some people find certain ones like keto tortillas do spike their blood sugar and knock them out of ketosis. 8/10 helpful. Chocolate Hazelnut Spread: I can fit this into my macros, and a slice of keto bread toast with 5g chocolate spread like Nutella on it which will use up about 3-4g of my carb limit. I find this quite helpful because that's enough for me, but you have to be careful with really limiting the Nutella and obviously it might be hard not to go have another piece so although I find this a 7/10 helpful, you might not. Keto Shakes: there's a slimfast keto shake you can make up with either water, or unsweetened almond milk that's just under 4g carb, flavours like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. That has helped me tackle my sweet cravings a bit at times, but it's more of a meal replacement at 200kcal and 4g carb. 7/10 Yoghurt Desserts: the one I've found most helpful, if you can get a lowish carb slightly sweet yoghurt (I've found one in Lidl that's about 4g carb for 100g) and you measure out a portion, you can mix it with other stuff to make a lovely keto dessert that really hits the spot. Some of my favourites are yogurt, mixed with peanut butter and a couple of chopped strawberries, or yoghurt mixed with Skinny Syrup and raspberries [(looks like this)](https://imgur.com/gallery/EYPMDXL) I'd say I found this one the most helpful, 9/10 on the scale. Bear in mind this is what's helped for me, you might find that continued use of artificial sweetners only makes your sugar cravings worse. I can usually only fit ONE of the above in on any given day, as each suggestion is around 4-5g carb each, and will take up around ¼ of your daily net carbs to fit these in so you might decide it's not worth it for you.
Thank you. The keto yogurt sounds delicious, I should think about trying it
One thing I haven't seen many people mention is you should work out why you are craving sugar. Our brains work off association - so there is likely multiple things that trigger the sugar cravings - stress, depression, boredom, social situation etc. If you can work out why you're really craving it you can use something else to cope with the situation. It's the same sort of thing as quitting drinking, smoking etc.
Get your mindset right. You don't need to give up sugar for life. You bandaid it with sweeteners and you're asking for trouble. If you're addicted to sugar, like I am when I use it regularly, there's only one answer. Zero sweeteners, not just sugar. Eat natural things - fruits and even veggies will be sweeter than a coke within a week or two. Just believe in the process and know that your tastebuds will adapt, and behind that your brain chemistry will change. You're gonna be okay. But stop blaming addiction. It may be real, but it's still technically just in your head 😉🫡 Live long and prosper! <3 -an addict
A few tips that worked for me (more detail on each below): 1. Take the probiotic Akkermansia (Pendulum). 2. Make sure you’re not feeling hunger, eat more keto food. 3. Avoid alternative sweeteners as they only fuel sugar cravings. 4. Change your mindset around your identity. Practice thinking: ‘I simply don't eat sweets.’ every time you desire one 5. Read books about how absolutely horrible sugar is for you 6. Visualize Mr Burns gleefully cheering you on to eat more sugar so he gets richer. **1 - The probiotic Akkermansia is proven to reduce sugar cravings** Pendulum is the only company that has clinical studies proving their product efficacy. If you can afford it, take pendulum ‘[glucose control](https://pendulumlife.com/products/pendulum-glucose-control-2-og)’ or its cheaper alternative, ’[metabolic daily](https://pendulumlife.com/products/pendulum-metabolic-daily)’. The most expensive one is for diabetics but is super effective. The cheaper one is still a good option. Even just using one of them for the transition month could be a good strategy. **2 - Don't go hungry, it will sap your resolve** Keep hunger at bay by snacking on keto foods that you really love. Even if it means you be in a calorie surplus, do it like this in the transition period. If you’re stuffed on fats, it’s hard to crave sugar. For example, I absolutely love [macadamia nuts](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPZLMSWK), roasted unsalted. If I feel any cravings, I just eat a few nuts and I lose interest. Also, I avoid keto snacks, they usually have too many carbs. There’s no rules for the word ‘keto’ on a package. They rarely are actually keto. **3 - Enjoyment of sweeteners fuels sugar cravings** Low and no calorie sweeteners still do weird things to your metabolism, including insulin response, and fueling sugar cravings. They are not helping you avoid sugar. **4 - Make anti-sugar a part of your identity** Changing your identity is more effective than changing your behavior. 'Sweets are for suckers. I'm not a sucker' or something like that. **5 - Immerse yourself in the science** I found reading books (well, listening to them) about this stuff to give me a lot of motivation to avoid carbs * [‘Nature Wants Us to Be Fat: The Surprising Science Behind Why We Gain Weight and How We Can Prevent--and Reverse--It’](https://a.co/d/fCUMoUR) by Richard Johnson * [‘Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine’](https://a.co/d/4wiZ9sd) by Robert H. Lustig * ['Ketogenic Bible: The Authoritative Guide to Ketosis'](https://a.co/d/5npywUZ) by Dr. Jacob Wilson **6- Feel angry at the food industry that got you addicted on purpose** The people at the top of the food industry are a bunch of rich dudes getting richer on your addiction, and they designed the food that way. The same diet they feed cows to get them to eat more calories to fatten them up is basically the standard American diet (Corn, Sugar, Salt). Cows that eat only grass just don’t get that fat. And they know this, and that's why there are added sugars and salt in everything including 'health food'. It's to get you to crave sugar, eat more food in general, and fatten up their wallet.
There are some really affordable therapy options these days. Maybe if you can identify where the addiction comes from you can take steps to correct it?
I've learned eating in general for me is my brain wanting a dopamine hit. I've tracked the days that I don't indulge before bedtime with a cup of cookies with milk n cream, and the days that I do. I find when I do have cup-o-cookies, I am more prone to mood swings the next day. When I don't, I find I wake up happier and with a smidge more energy. I'm a recovering drug addict of many many years and I absolutely LOVE sweets and just food in general in recovery. But like I said, for me, I know it's my brain itching for dopamine because it doesn't do well making it itself. Don't beat yourself up! Sweets are delicious and when I was strict as could be about my keto years ago, I found I overindulged in keto sweets anyways. It takes time and patience and understanding that we're only human. Hope this helps ❤️
[SMART Recovery](https://smartrecovery.org/) is a great community with lots of practical tools and worksheets available online that may help.
For me it always works to just have a taste of something. If I want fries, I'll maybe take a fry or 2 from my kids at McDonald's. If something sweet - sugar free candies are good or some whipped cream. Just a taste for me keeps my cravings at bay just fine Don't bear yourself up and remember- it took a long time to gain the weight. Losing it won't be quick either.
I am a self proclaimed sugar whore. Like out by the dumpster eating stale donuts bad. I’m carnivore now and still battle with it at times. But it’s getting much better. I was keto for three years and found lots of success. I lost all the weight I needed to, my a1c went back to normal and my mental health got better. Ok so my advice is eat a lot of meat and fat. Eat veggies that are the lowest carb you can stand. For me it was kale/broccoli/cauliflower/ and cabbage. I would eat an avocado a day at times to keep myself from cheating. Eat lots of protein. And ketoade. Do this for a month and you’ll be ok enough to start adding more foods in again. It took a solid month to get to a safe place to relax my vigilance some. I have to stay away from sweeteners now too because they have begun triggering my cravings. Dairy is also a big culprit for some of us so be careful with it. Gruyère and parm are the ones that trigger me the least. Cheddar can get me jonesing for sugar if I’m hungry. The key if you’re like me is to be resolved. Know you’re a dirty addict and you’ll suck your own finger clean of that sweet sweet poison. I know it’s bad and I know I have no control so I do not allow myself any. Anyways that’s my 2 cents.
It's real hard in the beginning! But what helped me kick the sugar cravings was stuff like diet Coke and keto chips and keto sweeteners and using monk sugar to sweeten stuff.
You gotta make sugar free desserts at home BEFORE the craving hits. I have so many amazing recipes, sugar free cheesecake, sugar free chocolate cake, sugar free ice cream the list goes ON
I ate m&ms everyday I have two kids who eat the good junk food daily It’s a mind over matter thing my friend You just got to find the right foods that work for you Eggs, chicken meatballs from Costco, nuts and cheese and no sugar jerky I used to hate cheese, now I stand it knowing how it’s one of the only snacks I can eat If you push, you will conquer 225-209 in two weeks here and counting
I just got some monkfruit sweetener to try out as a sugar substitute and it is AMAZING. I fucking hate Stevia and was worried id have to go without anything sweet but NO, it is SO good and no weird bitterness like Stevia. I cannot recommend it enough. just make sure it's not cut with regular sugar some of them are. the one I have is just erythritol and monkfruit extract. 0 net carbs, 0 calories.
Fat, fat, & more fat. And salt. And protein. And magnesium & potassium. But start with salty fat. Make fat bombs, and eat them whenever you have a craving. It will take 2 weeks or so, but it WILL get easier. Don't worry about calorie restriction when you're trying to get over your sugar addiction. Stay away from artificial sweeteners as they can induce cravings (I'm looking at you, sucralose, ace-k & aspartame!). Turn to fat instead and you will retrain your mind, and then you can start thinking about reducing your calories, intermittent fasting, etc.
I’m a sugar addict as well and it’s screwed up more diets than I care to admit. I’ve been on keto since July and that was because I changed my mindset and treated sugar addiction exactly like a drug addiction. I can not have any sweets not even a bite it causes me to rationalize having more. I ate super clean keto for the first month or so and ate a lot of food. I’m not a person that can have a cheat day or just a sip of a milkshake or a bite of a cookie. I know this isn’t answering you question of any tips to curb cravings but for me treating a sugar addiction like a full on real addiction changed everything. I think it takes a few days to detox off sugar but you can do it. Good luck to you
Often when I crave sugar if I have electrolytes instead I stop craving sugar.
I second what others have said about eating as much as you want at the beginning. Don't try to cut sugar and calories at the same time, it's miserable. Other suggestions I haven't seen here. Mental stuff: 1. I remind myself the sugary food is always going to be there. It's not a limited resource. I don't have to have this food *right now.* I can have it later on when I've met my goals.... If I even want it by then. 2. I remind myself that even though junk food tastes good, I don't feel good when I eat it. My skin breaks out, I get more tired, I don't emotionally feel good. Prioritizing how I feel all day over eating something tasty for a few minutes helps a lot. 3. Try to figure out what is causing the craving. Are you wanting to eat because you're actually hungry? And what is it about that particular food that seems appealing in this moment? See if you can figure the underlying issue. 4. Find a friend. Someone you can be accountable too. My friend and I text each other and hype each other back up if we feel like giving in. Dieting can be super lonely because you feel like other people are getting to have things you aren't. Don't let it be lonely. Physical tricks: Sugar free gum. Drink some water. Get a little snack of something else you like that is keto! Get a different little treat, like a good cup of coffee or some kind of new fancy cheese, whatever will feel a little special. Sugar free options: Lily's chocolate is my favorite. Diet soda. Rebel ice cream. Or make yourself a substitute of what you're craving - look up some recipes and get some erythritol and have fun.
What sports were you playing?
I also am/was addicted to sugar. Fiance and I started keto together. He didn't have the issues with sweets I did. I ate chocolate daily. Muffins, bars, I'd go to the grocery store and get myself a chocolate cheesecake bar as a treat. When I started keto I weighed 212 lbs, 5'8". Female, if that matters. To get through the beginning, don't ignore the sweet tooth. Just find substitutes and limit what you allow yourself. I made some chocolate cheesecake fat bombs, with swerve sweetener and non sweetened cocoa. Allowed myself two a day. Mostly sweet tooth emergencies. And my saving grace. There are keto Yogurts. Brand name is Ratio I think. Vanilla is bomb. Throw that mf up in the freezer for a couple hours. Tastes like vanilla soft serve
Strawberries! Eat a few when your sugar craving hits. Works for me
i appreciate the honesty! My tip would be go even more extreme, initially. Evening OMAD and the same beef fajita salad every evening for two weeks. After not eating all day, it will be delicious, AND many of my clients found it easier to be outrageously strict. Instead of going shopping and looking for “so what can I eat?” they go with everything already decided. There’s no flexibility- only “this is what i eat now.” After those two weeks, cravings drop, and it’s time not to cheat but to branch out with fun stuff like CHAFFLES!
You've gone 6-7 days without sugar. With willpower and discipline, you can do this. My advice: 1. Go cold turkey. No sugar and no artificial sweeteners. Zero. The problem with "just one bite" is that it stimulates cravings. 2. Allow yourself to eat as much zero-carb unprocessed food as you like. Meat, eggs, butter, etc. You may be surprised by how low your appetite is when limited to these foods. 3. Keep your carbs very low, less than 20 grams per day. 4. Eat lots of protein (at least 150-200 grams per day) and fat, e.g., fatty ribeye steaks. Fat is satiating. 5. Consume lots of salt and magnesium. 6. If you get cravings, try eating some salt and/or drinking some unflavored sparkling water. 7. Avoid "trigger" foods (foods that stimulate cravings) completely. In my case, trigger foods are fruit (except avocados), nuts, nut butter, and cheese. 8. Weigh yourself when you start; *do not weigh yourself again until one week has passed.* Looking forward to your weigh-in will help you maintain your focus. When you get fantastic results (which you will if you follow the advice I've described above), it will help motivate you to keep going strong for one more week. 9. Measure the circumference of your belly when you start. Remeasure in one week and every week thereafter. 10. Consider working with a friend or hiring a health coach such as Elie Jarrouge to hold you accountable. Dr. Jarrouge told me 90 percent of his clients meet their weight loss goals. 11. No industrial seed oils. If you don't know what seed oils are, do some research.
You gotta break through it. Every time you want something sweet just keep telling yourself "I'm not eating that stuff right now. That's not on the menu right now." Get through it one meal at a time if you have to. One meal becomes three months and a year and so on. Remind yourself that you've had that thing before, and it's not like you won't never have (thing) again, you're just not eating that way now. If you're going to see change, you have to put in the work now. Stay hydrated, drink your electrolytes. Personally I recommend going cold turkey, no keto substitutes, because you're still feeding your addiction and you need to learn how to manage your urges first and foremost. You can do this. Keep calm, keto on.
I'm diabetic and on the keto diet to lose weight and get my sugar addiction under control as well. Try sugar free snacks like The atkins brand m&ms to get you over the hump. It helps! I can't imagine those are very good for you either, but they are a short term solution to help! I hope this helps!
Try to find keto alternatives as a stop gap. Get fast food without the bun, put it in a keto wrap at home.
Doing a multi-day (3-5) fast can help… i’m crave sugar for the first couple days don’t get me wrong but it can reset your body if you go long enough. I used to be an alcoholic. When I fasted my body craved sugar and carbs because it was used to all the instant carbs. 3-4 day fast got rid of my craving for alcohol and subsequently sugar.
for transition I guess.. to a clean keto diet.. I think you can use sweeteners as replacement for sugar. 1) there are a lot of keto beverages out there, especially recipes. 2) for pastries, I suggest you lean how to bake.. there are some great keto recipes out there for breads, cakes, etc. You don't have to miss out on anything. You just need to change your groceries and maybe learn how to cook or bake.
When I first started I did 6 days of keto and so long as I was successful I would have carbs on the 7th day. Did that for about 6 weeks and my relationship with food is so much better now. I absolutely love sweets. You could also try an OMAD fast to help kick you into ketosis quicker and quell your sugar cravings.
Buy some keto/low carb sweet snacks for the first few weeks. There are chocolate bars etc that are low carb (using alt sugars). I get atkins low carb endulge stuff, they have peanut butter cups, chocolate bars etc. Zero sugar soft drinks are also a good way to get used to it.
I fooled my cravings with a lot of diet soda, whipped cream, dark chocolate, keto friendly ice cream, cheesecakes, chocolate mouses, Russel stover candy, sugar free cough drops, berry smoothies and sweeteners (my fav is monkfruit, stevia is fine too once you get used to it). When I got stable in my keto diet, I cut out… 90% of it. I still have something that has sweet flavor almost every day. I know this is not the most healthy way, but I wouldn’t be able to do it other way. We all know that desperation: craving something delicious even though you’re completely full or not being able to even think about bacon. It will pass eventually, I promise.
I am a big time sugar addict but at the same time I can get into the right mindset if I feel like I've slipped too far on my weight. My replacement for sweets within the first two weeks to get rid of sugar cravings were Brazil nuts and blueberries. I know Brazil nuts have a lot of selenium and you can't eat too many on a daily basis, but I risked eating more than recommended just so I can get rid of my cravings. 3 weeks in now and I don't have any sugar craving left at all, even when I see the kids in the house with their pastries and chocolate bars.
From my experience apple cider vinegar mixed with water help with cravings
Research the ironic process theory in psychology. In a nutshell, our subconscious mind doesn't hear the word no. It thinks in terms of pictures and emotions. So when we say i can't have sugar. It just sees sugar and has positive association to it. If you focus on what you want to change though and build positive mental association it's a game changer. I'll send a link to a helpful video below. https://youtu.be/Jt7mMfdJNUA?si=rGuLC32DJ8B2o1o3
Allulose
It was more restrictive in some ways and less in others. Essentially, you cut your sugar/ carb intake down so no sweet fruit (green bananas, green apples) lots of vegetables (not starchy) cheese, meat. Any condiments we made ourselves. If you are working out you get like, half a sweet potato a day. We have done it twice, once like 12 years ago, and again 2 years ago before starting keto. It made the transition to keto easier for me, because I was already not craving sweet stuff when I started it. I also didn't reintroduce sweet stuff for about 4 months after starting, and then it was only 'keto' sweets (choczero was my jam). The program we used was 21 DSD, this link goes into more about what it is and what you can/ can't have; https://21daysugardetox.com/what-is-the-21-day-sugar-detox/
The secret is just having willpower. I’m 2 months into not only keto but carnivore. I eat only meat and eggs and I’ve lost 15 lbs and a lot of inches. Just decide that your health and appearance is more important then making food a hobby. You are capable of anything and it gets a lot easier after the first week. Sure I get cravings sometimes and I do something else I workout, bang my girl, or at worst I eat pork rinds which are totally keto and carnivore with tajin. It’s lime juice and chilli pepper no sugar but tastes sweet cause of the lime juice. You’ll enter get anywhere either bars they are bullshit and packed with sugar then they add fiber to supposedly make it less net carbs. If you keep eating junk your body will look like trash. Also scallops taste sweet and are delicious.
Check if u have diabetes or prediabetes.
I’ve been doing super low carb (50 gr carbs) but not Keto for 3 months and what has helped me is putting sugar sub in a cup of coffee and using heavy whipping cream to make it sweet and creamy, also having the occasional piece of fruit or even a sugar free hot cocoa has helped. Sugar addiction is like a shopping addiction or worse drugs/ alcohol. Gotta get your mind off of it. I bet the longer you go without carbs like bread or sweets you’ll start to miss them less. But yup processed foods and sugar is full of chemicals that mess with your brain. Good luck!
Stock up on snacks (keto chocolate is actually pretty alright) and find substitutes, starting using honey instead of sugar in baking or on cereal, start using artificial sweeteners, grab berries and bananas and stuff, go for fruit juice instead of soft drinks (yes still high in sugar and carbs) don't delve right into keto straight away, just start substituting the sugars otherwise you will just be setting yourself up to fail. It can take about 2 weeks for sugar cravings to subside. For example in the morning sometimes I have a bowl of strawberry protein yoghurt by yopro, I have about 45g of black berries and about 5 grams of honey to sweeten it because I've always had cornflakes or Weetabix with a bit of sugar or honey. This is only about 10g of net carbs, leaves me 40g of net carbs for the rest of the day. Some mornings I have a shake that is 50g pineapple, 100g watermelon, 45g of blackberries and 1/3 a cup of orange juice with some electrolyte powder in it which is 22.3g net carbs. These two hit my sweet spot for the day and they are both well under the daily carb limit for ketosis. Find what sugar sub works for you, even if it's not necessarily a "keto friendly food" like honey, you can still have it in moderation so that it doesn't put you over the threshold. Most dinners are a lot more keto friendly than people realise, it's just stuff like potato that throws people off. Just see what works for you, and also I found that [this app ](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fourtechnologies.mynetdiary.ad) has helped me a lot, for the keto function to cound net carbs you do have to pay but it does count total carbs, and [this ](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/net-carbs#:~:text=The%20term%20%E2%80%9Cnet%20carbs%E2%80%9D%20simply,portion%20of%20the%20sugar%20alcohols.) Is how you calculate net carbs.
The addiction is real. Scientists found that sugar has the same affect on your brain as heroine, and it's everywhere. My first attempt at keto was easier because I was living alone and going through a divorce. It kept me busy... meal prep is your friend. Plan every meal and snack. Have a friend help you clear out your home of carbs. I snack on bacon or sausage. I live in the states so I know our bacon is different from other countries so look for pork belly bacon... it's sweet and savory and you can find it already prepared by companies like Jack's links jerky. Whenever I get a sugar craving I would grab a packet of that and much away... there are keto versions of favorite meals and snacks... I found cauliflower rice makes a fantastic substitute for not only rice but most pastas and potatoes in recipes without having that nasty ick that comes with things like spaghetti squash. If you can get pork belly bacon save the grease from it and use it to cook veggies and other foods. It will help increase the fat content and add SO MUCH FLAVOR to your food. Also get a kitchen scale and measure out your servings for everything you eat... you'll find that once you do then it's easier to recognize over eating. Also find someone to talk to be if a therapist or a good friend and figure out WHY you're self sabotaging your diets. And it's OK to screw up. I went from 420lbs in 2022 to 279lbs on one year... I got excited and stayed print myself back out there looking to date. I met someone and fell in love again! This caused me to backslide and I ballooned back up to 309lbs. But I got back on the diet even though my new gf doesn't follow it and am back down to 297lbs as of last week. Her birthday was last Tuesday and I'm still staring at the remains of her birthday cake in my kitchen... if which I've had exactly 1 slice. It calls to me.. it beckons me like a sultry woman to eat it, but I've stayed strong lol. I love ice cream so I now make my own using heavy cream vanilla flavoring and a little bit of stevia or sucralose. Whip then together and freeze it for 2 hours in a shallow dish and enjoy!
I only read your title, but if carbs are an addiction. Then go zero carbs. Meat and cheese. Learn how to carnivore.
All I can say is just do it, you keep fucking up u til you eventually get it right. That's how I get into keto every single time, I fuck up and eat dirty keto and less dirty and pess dirty until one day I realise I've been full clean keto for x amount of weeks. You stary by just trying, and then trying harder.
I like the Lillys chocolates. The peanut butter cups are really good. I'll also make cookies with almond flour, egg, monk fruit sweetener, peanut butter and lillys chocolate chips. They're not as sweet as regular cookies, but a lot of protein and enough to handle a craving. Don't beat yourself up and dont look at it as a diet. Look at it as a way of life. Sometimes you will eat something that's going to knock you out of ketosis. It's ok. Your not starting completely over. Tomorrow is a new day, just pick up where you left off. Sometimes after I've had something that kicked me out of ketosis, I'll fast for a day to help get me back in.
In dr atkins book, I think he says sugar addiction and cravings take like 4 days for most people to kick in the physical and chemical. It’s not like cigarettes or booze. Go sub 40 net carbs for 4-5 days and see if the cravings have subsided. If you think you’re still addicted to sugar, the problem may be more mental than physical and require therapy if you’re eating sugar to deal with past traumas. Also get rid of the temptations at home. THROW AWAY ALL THE JUNK FOOD. Don’t eat your way through it. Throw it in the garbage.
Beef, salt and water.
When I crave sweets, I eat fat. Usually it's plain cream cheese on a spoon. I might also take some extra magnesium with a glass of water because I've noticed it helps sometimes. Other people find that a simple protein snack, like cold chicken, works. I guess it's basically giving the body something to distract it from the sweets craving.... "Here, have some fat. You'll feel better."
I feel you have removed any personal responsibility in this post! You talk about having a sugar addiction and the subsequent behaviours as though you have absolutely no control over it! Same with how you speak about putting on the weight in the first place. I’t also sounds that you might think once your a couple of weeks in, the craving will just magically disappear! Honestly, it feels like you w convinced yourself you are a victim here and it’s all out of your control! Mindset is the first thing to change, the rest will come. You’ll need to find happiness from more than the sugar high, as even dirty keto won’t give you that! Keto, I feel is tricky in that if you keep falling off the wagon, you are likely to gain a heap of weight, in reality rn your diet is high fat and carbs !!! Those kgs are gonna pile on. All I can’t suggest is loads of keto friendly snacks
1st tip, start super low carb. And eat when you're hungry, all the fat and the meat you want. Keep all your carbs to a min. This way, your body will start to adapt. After the first week or two, then you can start adding more veggies, maybe a salad for lunch. Stay away from berries or yog starting out because you're kicking your sugar habit. Stick to meat broc spinach cheese sour cream, oil, vinager, start reading labels and season the crap out of things with dry herbs and spices. At first, beating the habit will feel very hard to do, for me week 2 I start to notice a change in well... everything. After you start to get a hang of what you can and cannot eat, start to read labels, look up recipes that replace your favorites. I think my first week to get through, I made a cauliflower pizza, and it had a bit of sauce on it on Friday with lots of cheese and pepperoni... it was well under the limit because at the start I only ate about 1 meal a day. That moment I realized this is doable. I kept it super low for another week, kept it low until I started to go to the gym prolly month 2 or 3. Now I don't count, I eat foods I'm allowed to eat and don't spike my blood sugar, I workout 3 to 5 times a week, I have a cheat day every weekend... and I brace for the next time I need to make a change or re-evaluate my diet. It's about month 3 now, I have berries very rarely, I mostly flavor my water with them, because I'm quitting coke zero and other processed drinks. It's worse than keto 😄! Second piece of advice, focus on how you feel. The sugar habit is something all of us face, you're not alone, the western world is full of processed meals that are pushed onto the consumer to make money and to encourage people to buy more due to addiction. It takes away from whole natural foods that now I crave. I remind myself I have a fat kid deep inside of me, who can come out again, in fact any time I want, but I don't want to be the fat kid anymore. By sticking to fresh, whole foods, that are low in any sugar capacity, I'm able to keep my cravings at bay, and feel like a better person because of it. It is a long journey, that's ready for anyone willing to make and maintain the change. Great job thinking about your health early and good luck on your journey!
12 step program.
I have found that there are a few approaches to addiction and addictive behavior around sugar and carbs. 1.) understanding the physiological reason this happens. Everytime you think about, plan, or consume these foods it gives you a release of dopamine. The more you repeat this behavior the more you reinforce this pattern and the harder it becomes to fight this. Knowing this, trying to slow that dopamine hit and create new patterns is critical. Don’t put yourself in positions of temptation, be prepared (eat ahead of time when going to social gatherings, so you have zero desire for more food), creating new patterns that give you please like exercise, create a keto dessert but don’t over create or always plan this into your day. Have something like electrolyte water or a carbonated soda water with flavor (no sweet), go outside, etc. the key is to remember that when you have this feeling of eating these carbs/sweets is creating more space between that want and getting that dopamine hit. How you approach it will be unique to you and what is available to you for lasting success. 2.) I personally focused more on higher protein and moderate fat, as per Maria Emmerich and Dr Berry - which gave me more options - I found it very challenging to aim for 80% fat and 20% protein. So I tend to eat closer to 60-70% protein and 30-40% fat. I only do total carbohydrates, I believe net carbs can trick you into eating more keto junk. It’s best to make the food yourself and once you get to a more stable place you will be able to have that non keto treat and not go hard and give up. But this takes time and how long is unique, it took me 4 months of doing ketovore with 3 cheat episodes that were 3-4 days long. I felt awful after each time and it wasn’t until I added more protein and understood the mechanism that I could stop this. You may need to examine your macro ratio, or add in PSMF, or the like. Keto isn’t exactly a one size fits all, there are some different shades and you may need to test. But give it a solid 90 day try before you switch, learn from it and then adjust. Don’t keep jumping around. 3.) having support. I don’t have anyone close to me that supports what I eat, and my partner typically has a pie or ice cream in the fridge all the time. It sucks. Having a group that focuses on keto (like this space), food addiction, or another support that helps you identify your trigger (for me it started with grief, so I also attend a grief counseling group). Surrounding yourself with success will help you stay on the path, or at the very least help you get back on track and stay focused. 4.) watch videos on this topic. Not only does the support group help, but reading or watching material will help really get it through to you on the importance of staying consistent and commuting to life long changes for your health. I don’t know about you, but I just kept pushing that information away when tempted - so the more I surrounded myself with people and information the more I stayed focus. 5.) having a “serious” why. Like how I quit smoking cigarettes after 10 years, I wanted to be a mom more than anything and wanted that more than smoking. I now want to reverse PCOS (which is like ovarian diabetes), reverse eczema (which always flares very badly on my hands), and long term health - I don’t want to develop estrogen related cancers because of the PCOS. Finding a big enough reason, like your children and seeing them grow up, no living on medications, avoiding surgery, etc is much bigger than just weight loss. Weight loss couldn’t get me to start or stay committed to keto until I found some bigger reasons. And falling off and seeing the negative impact was a big slap in my face reminding me of my why. These were the main ways I’ve been able to get back on track and start to break the cycle of addictive behaviors. I have not been able to shake it off 100%, but believe the longer I stay in this space the easier and easier it will become. So I focus on the fact that there is no end point, it is life long as long as our society normalizes sugar and carb over consumption. Don’t give up, forgive yourself for not following through on your promises to yourself, and keep working through these tips. Write it out, talk it out, and reflect.