Is sugar addiction a real thing?

no seriously, man up. Man up generally translates to have some freakin' will power. That is literally all it takes.

If 1 day a week is too hard, try reducing it to 3 days a week. Like Wed, Fri, Sun. Or after your hard training days and not easy runs.

Then reduce it to 2 days a week, then 1. Sounds simple but by the time you have it down to once a week you'll hardly be craving it. At least that's how it works for me.

codeman wrote:

no seriously, man up. Man up generally translates to have some freakin' will power. That is literally all it takes.

That's not what Richard Simmons says.

Force yourself to go cold turkey for a small amount of time, lets say two weeks, no sugar. It's easy to commit to short term goals. After you've gone without it for a little bit you won't crave it as much, furthermore you'll probably already be seeing health/body/mood improvements in yourself which will further incentivize you to continue staying away from sugar.

You start a long journey through the dedication of those difficult first few steps.

What should my plan of action be? Sometimes its impulsive, walking in and immediately seeing some cookies laid out in the kichen and going to grab it.

codeman wrote:

no seriously, man up. Man up generally translates to have some freakin' will power. That is literally all it takes.

While this statement is true, it's not particularly helpful. What the OP is looking for is some tips to help with will power.

So...

1. Come up with a mantra yo repeat to yourself. No food tastes as good as skinny feels. I like PRs even more than cookies. Whatever works for you.

2. NEVER have sweets in the house. Ever. If it's not in the house, you're unlikely to drive to get it.

3. The more you practice the discipline of right eating, the easier it gets. Stick with it in the initially tough time, and it will get better.

4. Keep yourself busy. Sometimes we eat merely for entertainment, not because we're really hungry.

I have a teammate who will swear he had a Gatorade addiction. He would drink multiple bottles a day, plus several glasses a meal from the fountain at the university dining hall. He would claim to have withdrawal symptoms whenever he went a long time without drinking any, and would always race poorly whenever he didn't drink any before hand. Sounds like a situation similar to what's being discussed here; he is convinced it was a full-blown addiction whereas many of the other guys on the team agreed it was all in his head.

Problem is that other people in the house have sweets in the kitchen (cookies, etc.) which I see whenever I walk in. This always ends up sabotaging me in an impulsive move.

vbvbvbvb wrote:

Problem is that other people in the house have sweets in the kitchen (cookies, etc.) which I see whenever I walk in. This always ends up sabotaging me in an impulsive move.

Then focus on the other three suggestions. Ask yourself, what do I want more? Improved health/performance, or a few minutes of chewing pleasure?

Every time you make a good decision, it reinforces good decision making. Every time you make a bad decision, it reinforces bad decision making. You're training your brain as much as you are your body.

sugasuga wrote:

Is sugar addiction real? If it is, I think I might be a sugar addict. I've always had a sweet tooth, but never kept stuff around the house. I started a new job this year that has food everywhere and I've put on 20 pounds. I'm 6 feet 170. I was 150 when I started this job.

At the new job there are donuts every morning, pastries at every meeting and full candy dishes everywhere. They have weekly lunches with cookies and all sorts of other stupid reasons to have desserts. I started just having small amounts, but now I eat it all the time. I've tried to stop a bunch of times, but I feel like I have no will power.

Please help!!

Yeh, went through the same thing a few years ago.

Basically my way of handling it is to not eat anything provided by work and co-workers. I avoid it all. I'm probably considered "anti-social" by my co-workers because I rarely ever go to company sponsored lunches. I'd much prefer to be considered "healthy" by my doctor and "fit" by by running friends.