Why Do I Crave Chocolate?

The answer may surprise you... but the reason you crave chocolate is because it tastes good!  Besides something sweet on your tongue, something creamy in your mouth, and some calories and fat to ward off any hunger that may occur over the next few hours, it temporarily boosts your blood sugar, and even alters some chemicals in your brain that make you feel better.  The caffeine may help you become more alert, and at the same time the serotonin (a neurotransmitter) more calm.  Why wouldn't we crave chocolate constantly?  It does so much for us!

A better question may be "why do you give into the craving?"  or "Why are you constantly focusing on it?"

Let's look at the second scenario first:

If you are trying to lose weight or eat healthier, you may continue to remind yourself that chocolate is "not allowed" on your diet or it's "forbidden" or it's "bad".  When you tell yourself that something isn't good for you, even though you like it, you are making yourself want it more.  Think about things you were told you could not have as a child.  As soon as something was "forbidden" you wanted it more.  When you were allowed to have it, it lost some of its appeal.

Let chocolate lose some of it's forbidden appeal and let yourself have some.  Not a pound bar.  You might not even want to keep it around the house or your office.  What if you let yourself buy a tootsie roll every day or a peppermint patty?  Is there a reasonable amount of chocolate that you could savor, enjoy, not feel guilty about, and have your craving satisfied? 

Perhaps your answer is "no" because some people simply cannot have one piece.  "I'll eat the entire bag" they say, or "If I can't have a whole candy bar I don't want just one bite".

If you find a happy medium that works for you, like a few chocolate kisses in the afternoon, you may find your cravings aren't monopolozing your thoughts throughout the day.

Okay, then let's address the other question:  "Why are you allowing yourself to give in to the craving?"

Think of some of the impulses we deal with each and every day.  What are you craving that you just do not act upon because it's not socially acceptable?  What if you would just love to plant a big smooch on that new handsome guy at work?  Certainly, you aren't going to do it!

What if you would just love to smack that gum out of the mouth of your coworker who annoyingly insists on chewing as loud as a cow all day long?  Nope, you aren't going to give into that either.

If your friend got a brand new designer purse and you were just aching to take it home and make it your own, would you do it?  No.  Why not... You want it.

Think about other desires you have in your life that you don't act on even though it would feel good in the moment.  What stops you?  Consequences? 

The next time you crave chocolate think about what you really want, how you would feel if you had some, and what the consequences would be.  Not sure?  Let me give you a little tip:  If you eat a 300 calorie candy bar every day for a month, you'll gain three pounds.  Ouch.  Keep it up and you're looking at 36 pounds a year.  Not gaining weight?  This means you are eating the same number of calories your body burns, and on the flip side that would mean that giving up the daily chocolate bar would result in a weight loss of 36 pounds a year.  Some consequences, eh?

Why DO you crave chocolate.  More importantly, what are you going to do about it?

What is Your Payoff For Staying Overweight?

Are you someone who is overweight, wishing you could lose the extra pounds, but never being able to stick faithfully to a weight-loss plan that works?  Have you been overweight for a long time, or did the pounds come on at a certain point in your life, maybe after a major life change?  Consider the fact that perhaps having the extra weight is serving a purpose in your life.

People who carry extra pounds may benefit from sitting down and doing some serious thinking.  What is the reason the weight is not coming off?  What is the reason it came on in the first place?  It could just be as simple as "I lost control of my eating" or "food just tastes too good to resist".  Maybe you just hate to exercise or you have physical restrictions which keep you from being very active.

But maybe being overweight is serving a purpose in your life.  Consider the story of Ernie, a successful loser who tells his story in the book "Thin For Life" by Anne M. Fletcher, MS, RD.  One of his payoffs was that he could avoid certain tasks he didn't want to complete: "I didn't have to mow the lawn on a hot day," he recalls, "because I might have a heart attack".  Do you use your weight to get out of doing something you can't just say you don't want to do?

Some overweight people use their weight as an excuse not to be sociable at times.  They don't want to go out in the evening because they enjoy relaxing at home.  They use their weight as an excuse, "I just don't want to go out as long as I'm overweight--I'm not comfortable dressing up".  Is it possible you could be a healthy weight and tell your friends, "I prefer to relax at home in the evening"?

Women in positions of authority have been reported to carry extra weight in order to appear more imposing and directorial.  They presume that if they were small and feminine, they wouldn't be regarded with as much power.  Perhaps it is the person, not the way the person looks, that commands respect.

Attractive, flirtatious women have been known to put on weight after they marry: In their mind this reduces the chance they will attract another man and have to deal with putting off unwanted advances, or deal with the possibility of entertaining an affair.

And sometimes being overweight just allows us to continue to be inattentive to our diet, exercise, and health in general.  "I can eat whatever I want if I'm fat anyway".  Being too heavy to exercise certainly carries the benefit of having an excuse not to exercise!

How is your extra weight serving you?  Does it allow you to easily avoid social situations; prevent  intimate relationships with the opposite sex; keep your sister from being jealous of your gorgeous figure; or give you another reason to eat whatever you like?

Ernie suggests finding a "less neurotic way to get what you want.  If you don't want to mow the lawn. . . hire a kid to do it".

My Diet Isn't Working: What Can I Try Now??

I am a 55 year old woman who has struggled with my weight most of my life.   Most recently I spent 2 1/2 years on Nutrisystem and I successfully lost a total of 40 pounds.  Now I have gained back 8 since I went off of it in January. I went back to Weight Watchers but have lost nothing -- not even the 8 pounds I gained back. It's been an "up 2, down 1; down 2 up one" kind of thing for months now. I also got a Wii Fit and exercise 30-40 minutes a day - have been doing that now for over 3 months, but no effect on weight. My MD tested my thyroid and she also ran some other blood tests and says that my metabolism is normal.  Any suggestions would be appreciated!  Barbara B.

Dear Barbara,
I can certainly appreciate your frustration with sticking to an exercise and diet regimen and not seeing the weight coming off.  It sounds like Weight Watchers has worked for you in the past, but it's just not working now.  Since Nutrisystem was what worked best for you more recently, what do you think about going back to that program again?  Sometimes the simplest answer is the one that works!

Just one other suggestion I have....I usually find that people are not sticking very strictly to their program when they are not seeing the scale move.  I always recommend keeping a diet and exercise diary.  Since we notice how restricted we feel most of the day and most days per week, we tend to let the diet slide a bit to reward ourselves.  Same with exercise: "since I do it almost every day, I'm going to take a few days off because I'm a little under the weather, I'm busy, the weather is bad" you name it!
If you are totally honest with yourself, have you been exercising literally every single day for three months?  Have you never gone over your points with weight watchers?

Every once in  a while we follow the plan to the letter without good results.  But much of the time it's when we follow it "most of the time" that the weight just isn't coming off.

Good luck!