5 Tips to Curb Cravings When Trying to Lose Weight

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Losing weight can be hard. It seems like once you decide to change your eating habits and start exercising more, the stars align to conspire against you. Whenever I make those changes – again, even after having lost nearly 90 pounds – two things usually happen: my workouts make me ravenous and my cravings go through the roof.

Tips for staying strong when the inevitable food cravings strike

There are a few tricks that I’ve learned to help curb cravings when trying to lose weight or maintain a loss.

1. Drink lots of water. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Drinking water gives my mouth something to do besides eat junk.

2. Indulge, in moderation. Sometimes a little taste will satisfy the craving and I can move on.

3. Remove temptation. For the most part, I don’t even bring into the house foods that might tempt me.

4. Distract yourself. Going for a walk, calling a friend, or removing myself from the vicinity of the temptation can sometimes provide enough distraction to curb cravings.

5. Chew gum or savor a piece of hard candy. Gum and hard candy typically don’t have a lot of calories and can provide a more satisfying option than water for giving my mouth something to do.

Werther's Original Sugar Free

With Option 5 in mind, I was excited to discover the new Werther’s Original Sugar Free candies! Werther’s have long been one of my favorite hard candies, with their smooth caramel taste. Most sugar free foods sacrifice taste with sugar, so I was anxious to see if the Werther’s Originals were any different.

They were. Yum!

They taste just as delicious as the regular Werther’s candies. After tasting one myself, I offered one to Brian. He had the same reaction I did, asking in disbelief, “These are sugar free??”

Werther's Sugar Free Candy

He went on to note that most sugar-free foods have an aftertaste, but these don’t. He agreed that they’re just as good as the original version. And, the kids? Well, let’s just say that I wish they’d learn what a trashcan is for because I’ve been picking up Werther’s wrappers all over the house. The only one who doesn’t like them is Megan and she doesn’t like caramel.

Josh said I should tell y’all that they’re the worst things ever. That’s why he’s being forced to eat them all, so that none of the rest of us will have to suffer the torture. That’s sarcasm for, “These are really delicious, so I’m going to eat as many as I can get away with.”

Sugar Free Candy

The new Werther’s Original Sugar Free candies come in a variety of flavors:

  • Original caramel – my favorite
  • Caramel apple – tart and yummy
  • Caramel cinnamon  – spicy and delicious
  • Carmel coffee – Brian says they’re good. These are the only flavor I haven’t tried. I just can’t make myself do it because I hate coffee. He’s really sad to have the whole bag to himself. Um, yeah.

IMG_8030

My biggest trigger for mindless snacking is being on the computer. That’s why you’ll always find a water bottle sitting next to my laptop. Now, I can add a handful of these Werther’s Sugar Free candies. At just 40 calories for 5 pieces, that’s some pretty guilt-free snacking and, if I can talk myself out of crunching them up, they can keep my taste buds occupied for quite some time.

Would you like to give the new Werther’s Original Sugar Free candies a try? You can “like” Werther’s on Facebook to get a $1 off coupon and a chance to win a gift pack.

Have you tried Werther’s new sugar free candies? Let me know what you thought!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

 

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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14 Comments

  1. I know I wouldn’t like the coffee, but the rest sound great! I have always loved Werthers candies too! They remind me of my grandfather!

  2. I agree that sometimes ‘just a little bit of something’ like gum or hard candy can seriously curb a craving. I have always loved Werthers, but I have seriously cut my sugar consumption lately. So I am happy to hear the sugar-free version is so yummy. I will definitely have to check it out. Thanks for sharing such great tips!
    Blessings,
    Amy O’Quinn

  3. I love them! My dad keeps them as he is Diabetic and he likes them because they keep his mouth busy!!! I may or may not be the one that walks by and swipes a couple off his desk every time I walk by!

    1. Oh, I hadn’t thought about gestational diabetes. I bet they’d be a great treat for that! I had two BIG babies, so I got the fun of taking extra GD tests with the second one. Yuck!

  4. Kris…great tips! I have been changing my diet and exercising every day and have now lost 32 pounds since Feb 10, 2013. I totally agree that a little indulgence at those moments you really want to eat has been the key to my success. I am going to look for the Werther’s at my store because I have pretty much gone sugar free for the last two months and sometimes you just need a little something like this to get over the hump of a craving.

    (I think the Caramel Coffee sounds delightful.)

    1. Congratulations on your weight loss, Barb! That’s great! And, the caramel coffee almost sounded good to me. I love caramel, so having that in coffee would be the most temping it could get, I think. If Brian hadn’t told me that they had a definite coffee taste, I might have tried them.

  5. First I came to your site because of your post on Trail Guide to Learning, thank you so much for that detailed review!

    Second a word of warning about artificial sweeteners, they sound good because they reduce the calories in food but in reality they make you gain weight because they dramatically increase your appetite. If you look around you’ll find there’s a lot of research confirming this to be true.

    1. Yes, that’s why I hate artificial sweeteners and avoid them at all costs. Well, except my Spark, and that’s the only thing I dislike about it. I didn’t see anything in these that I typically avoid, though.

      1. Unfortunately, they are getting creative in their naming on labels. Isomalt and acesulfame K are both artificial sweeteners.

        I understand the Spark. My husband lost a lot of weight with Advocare. When we decided to take our health to the next level, giving up the Spark was hard (took couple years). Now he drinks an occasional Zevia and it seems to do the trick for what its worth.

        1. Yes, it does have the acesulfame K. I knew that was an artificial sweetener of some sort – something has got to replace the sugar – but I didn’t recognize it as one that I tried to avoid. Personally, I’d probably just enjoy the regular Werther’s and take the extra calories that come with the sugar, but it’s nice to know that there are options for people who absolutely can’t have the sugar, like diabetics.

          I tried to give up my Spark. It lasted about 12 hours. Maybe at some point. 🙂

  6. I have not tried the candies but one way I curb cravings is with a cup of green tea. And if the findings are correct, I’m getting rid a belly fat while simultaneously curbing that craving.

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