Chocolate

[jenne]

Help why is it I am so good then go and spoil it by having chocolate I exercise every day and eat healthy all week then go and spoil it by having not one but two bars of chocolate then feel like crap

[Itsallanadventure]

But you have been eating healthier and exercising...you could have done nothing and still had the chocolate!

Perhaps limit it to one bar next time i had a flake at the weekend...loved every crumb of it...and licked the wrapper! I eat healthier and exercise everyday...so why not?

This is a life style change...i want to be healthier, but to never have chocolate or wine again... ever....?! No...not happening!

[ThinLizzie]

What a fabulous reply to something i think about all the time. I have got into a nasty habit of buying a bar of chocolate (and not a small bar) every time i went into morrisons, and sometimes a cake too. Now I'm eating healthily, i need to make sure that the bad habit is broken but rewards and treats are still had...cue friday night and my glass of white wine!!

Is the 2 bars of chocolate a habit that needs to be broken?

[Prin]

If its what you love build it in! I think a treat size bag of Milky Way magic stars are only around 70 kal you could even have them every day rather than craving....

[jenne]

Thanks everyone love this site lots of help and encouragement

[Hidden]

Hi Jenne,

Let's be clear here - you can eat things like chocolate and still lose weight on two conditions: 1) you only eat a little of it and 2) you only eat it occasionally! (Once you've lost your weight and go into a maintenance regime you can up your intake slightly, but you may well find by then that you've rather lost your taste for it!)

Like it or lump it, a 100 g bar of chocolate is usually well over 500 kcals with dark chocolate usually being slightly less than milk chocolate.

But you could have a bit (1 or 2 g) of grated chocolate on fruit and fat-free yoghurt, or perhaps a chocolate drink with skimmed milk and then you'd get the chococateyness of it while taking in a lot less calories. You might also be able to use that as a way of weaning yourself off of the chocolate for long enough to allow your tastes to change.

Another approach is to give up sweet chocolate and use 100% chocolate as a savoury spice in/on food. That is, have the chocolate but not the sugar and fat that usually comes with it.

Also, some people find that making sure they're getting B vitamins from other sources in their diet takes the edge off of their yearning for chocolate.

Of course, it may really be the sugar and fat your're after as straight simple "comfort" eating. In which case there are strategies for dealing with that too. I personally think the best one is to find other sources of "comfort" other than food.

I used to have a stock of Twix's/Kit Kat's and the like in my desk drawer for having with a cup of tea. Hell, a biscuit wasn't worth looking at if it didn't have at least some chocolate on it! But now I find the idea of eating a Snickers or a Mars rather unappealling to be honest - it seems just like a nutrionless waste of time eating that sort of stuff.

For sure, I didn't think that way at the beginning of this year, but now I do.

Good luck with your weight loss journey.