Hi everyone  I first joined about 18m ago and lost about a stone and a half but being a student and enjoying a drink I put about 2/3 of it back on. Am trying to get rid of that now. Feeling pretty guilty that I ruined all my hard work...But here goes.

Anyway, on to the problem. I'm getting THE WORST chocolate/cake cravings at about 7pm. I struggle for about an hour and then give in because I can't do anything except think about cake! Its a nightmare. This didn't happen last time and I don't know what to do!

I thought maybe exercise through the craving but then I'm 99% sure it'll come back worse post-exercise and then I tried eating fruit instead but that did nothing to stop it at all and I ended up eating the cake aswell as the fruit.. I'm not trying to cut it out completely as I'm a big believer in 'a little of what you like' but this is ridiculous!

Any suggestions?? Please? Before I become consumed by cakey thoughts!! xxx

Yes I get the same cravings. Not EVERY night but when I must, I eat this. Not sure if they are available in GB or not for you but it's worth looking. They are lovely!

Also, a suggestion: Don't keep the goodies in the house you know are tempting. Throw them away!!!

Edit: forgot to add the hyper link the first time...dorky me...

oh i hate those cakey cravings!! I sooo know what you mean, I always plan as the very last thing I eat before bed, a hot chocolate & a chocolate covered rice cake, (id say buy them prepackaged, and not just rice cakes and nutella bcos if you're like me, a nutella nut, you will spread it on thick and keep eating it out of the jar). Its a lovely warm chocolatey taste, really comforting before bed. And i think just knowing you have that to look forward to before bed will ward off any cravings, so I say do give in, work it into your cals, its only about 40 for the hot choc and 80 for the rice cake. Hope this helps!!

I give in, but only eat a little bit.

I have recently become addicted to the aptly named Chocodiction cake from a local chocolatier.  I buy one piece, stash it in the fridge, and try to stretch it out over as many days as possible.  This also helps my wallet, since a piece is about $7!

If you think of it as a habit you have to break, you might be able to master this rather than have it hanging around your neck for the rest of your life.  If you tell yourself it's a craving you can't overcome, that is exactly what it will be.  Your brain is the biggest weapon you have in your weight loss arsenal, but make it as easy as you can on yourself.  I leave the dinner dishes until the am because I'm not tempted my my kid's cookies in the morning like I am around 7pm.  I've read that it takes 3 weeks to break a habit and that you can't break a habit without replacing it with something new.  Try going to bed earlier -- do your whole routine (make up remover, brush and floss, etc) so you won't want to spoil your bed ready state with chocolate.  Stay away from the kitchen, don't even bring the cakey things home so they aren't there to mock and tempt you, distract yourself with something else -- surely you have a to do list a mile long like we all do.  Clean out a closet, write that thank you note, shred your old financial papers, all the stuff you've been procrastinating. 

This summer I have been working on finding/making low-cal cake recipes with mixed success. One thing you can do is buy any chocolate boxed cake mix (try to find at least reduced sugar ones) and instead of adding all the oil and eggs and such, just pour in one can of coke (i use coke zero so there are no added calories) and bake as directed. I used a cherry coke once and that was pretty good, but very crumbly. I also tried a reduced sugar white cake mix added in sprite zero, some banana extract and a banana. This made a great summery cake and the banana helped it stick together. I posted the recipe on here. For a frosting, I mixed sour cream and splenda. Its actually really good and tastes light and creamy. Good luck!

I've been making cake singles from regular mix.  It's 170 calories per serving.  Just measure one serving, two tablespoons of water or diet soda, microwave for 1 min and then let stand for 1 min

It's yummy! 

Did the same with banana nut muffin mix last night :)

I too suffer from the same problem, except for me it's ice cream, but I know this ahead of time and save the calories for my evening treat. I myself buy Edy's Grand Light....120 cals per serving...who eats just 1 right, but I don't feel guilty since I know I have enough deficit to do so!

Also, have you tried angel food cake. I believe it is relatively low in cals and I have seen some fat free versions. Hope that helps.

HAVE YOU TRIED THE CRAZY CAKE II RECIPE ON THIS WEB SITE.  I MAKE IT INTO CUP CAKES SO THAT I MAKE SURE SERVINGS ARE CORRECT MAKES 24.  A LITTLE HIGH IN SUGAR BUT LOW IN CALORIES ONLY 97 PER CUP CAKE. 

whenever I crave something chocolaty... I have chocolate... Either a small peice of dark chocolate and let it melt in my mouth, or a chocolate rice cake with water takes care of the craving some times too...

I too get chocolate cravings at night.  I have found Vitamuffins - deep chocolate to be a great satisfier of my chocolate cravings - and they are "cakey" like.  Only 100 calories and loaded with all sorts of vitamins - even rated an A here on CC.  Try them!  I find them in the freezer section of my supermarket.

I get cravings in the evenings too...mine is for ice cream mostly. But I also love cake. Sometimes both at the same time. I had been having my bowl of ice cream right before bed every evening before I started dieting. That was the hardest thing for me to break. I was able to do it when I went on a strict calorie counting diet and also was in a weight loss pool at work where the biggest loser won the money everyone had anted up at the beginning of the month.

 Anyway, I use low fat whipped topping straight from the freezer as my evening snack if I have the ice cream cravings. It tastes just like vanilla ice cream and is very satisfying with only about 50 calories for a couple large spoonfulls. You can also spread the topping between two low fat graham crackers and wrap individually and then freeze. They taste like ice cream bars and have about half the calories.

A good tip for the cake is to use applesauce instead of oil and egg whites only when making your cake from a box. The taste and texture is the same as if prepared by the instructions and its lower in calories and fat. You can even get the applesauce in sugar-free. If you slice the cake into small servings, wrap well and then freeze, you can satisfy your cravings when you absolutely cant take it and you wont have as many calories to worry about.